The Tingle Factor Box

Roaming Roy In Quarantine - North Head Quarantine Station Technology

This week, Roy was interested in technology. Roy is fascinated by technology and the amazing ways it has been used in and around not only Sydney, but more widely in Australia. Technology has been adapted to do all sorts of things and to function in all sorts of ways and Roy is always amazed to find some relic of historic technology when he visits a new place. Railways and other forms of transport are something which are of particular interest, and when he visited the Quarantine Station in Sydney, Roy was amazed at the technology they used to make life not only easier for the residents who spent time there, but also safer.

If you would like to visit the Quarantine Station it is located at North Head in Manly, Sydney. To get there you will need to go to Manly. At the Ferry Wharf, turn left and then take the second left (which has a signpost directing you to North Head). Next, turn into Darley Road and drive up the hill. Pass through the stone arch and follow the road until you reach the car park for the Quarantine Station. Park your car and catch one of the shuttle buses (which are free) to the wharf precinct of the Quarantine Station. There is plenty to see and do when you arrive, including a cafe, a restaurant, historic buildings, a beach, museum and various walks.

The North Head Quarantine Station has its beginnings in 1828 when the area was essentially used as a ‘stopgap’ to protect against an outbreak of typhoid. North Head was isolated from more populated areas, making it the perfect location to send people with dangerous contagious diseases. Also in 1828 the Bussorab Merchant ship was quarantined at Spring Cove (North Head)and only four years later in 1832 a formal Quarantine Station was established here. By 1837 the area covered by the Quarantine Station was extended to encompass the whole of North Head, up to the boundaries with other grants and the same year the Quarantine Station was moved from Spring Cove to Quarantine Beach. Permanent buildings were built to house the sick at Quarantine Beach, instead of forcing sick people to remain quarantined onboard their vessels as had been done previously.

Over the years between the first expansion of the Quarantine Station and its eventual closure in the 1970s more buildings were added and improvements were made not only in the accommodations, but also in the conditions and treatment of people who were staying there. Not all people who were in quarantine were actually sick – being in contact with disease would bring on a stay at the Quarantine Station. As time wore on, greater segregation not only of different diseases, but those who were actively sick and those who were simply in quarantine developed. In addition, new technologies were adapted, including the building of a disinfection block and the installation of autoclaves for sterilisation in the early 20^th century. New technology didn’t just ensure better health standards though – technology was adapted to make life easier for those in the Quarantine Station. One example of this was the funicular railway which was built in 1914/1915. The railway was used to transport not only luggage, but also supplies up (and down) the steep incline between the wharf and accommodations. Today the steep incline of the original railway is marked with an enormous set of stairs, but you can see some of the rails which were used near the wharf, or by peeking under the stairs as you walk up (or down!)

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Roaming Roy Asks When Is Graffiti Not Graffiti?

Roy Creates Grandma's Quick And Easy Pudding - Hasty Bake

This week, Roy wanted to make a delicious pudding to share with some friends who were calling in for dinner. Being so cold, he wanted to serve an old fashioned, hot pudding, but he didn’t want to go to too much trouble or spend too long in the kitchen – he far prefers spending time with his guests! His Grandma had lots of recipes for puddings which she made when she had small children, and Roy asked if there was one which was quick, easy and popular. She suggested he try out Hasty Bake, a recipe for a golden syrup pudding, with a crisp but cakey top and a layer of delicious caramel sauce which develops underneath. His friends loved the pudding, so he decided he should share the recipe with his online friends. So this week, Roy Creates Grandma’s Quick And Easy Pudding – Hasty Bake.

You Will Need:

• 1 and ½ cups of self raising flour
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 1 egg
• ½ a cup of milk
• 2 tablespoons of margarine
• 3 tablespoons of golden syrup
• 1 cup of boiling water

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 190 degrees celcius
• In a bowl, mix together the flour and sugar

• Add the egg and milk and mix into a thick, sticky dough

• Spread the dough into an ungreased pudding dish (it needs to be ungreased to spread the dough!)

• Mix together the margarine, golden syrup and boiling water in another bowl and pour it over the dough (pour it over the back of a spoon to avoid making a ditch in your dough)
• Bake for 30 minutes or until crisp and golden on the top
• Allow to cool slightly before serving (it will be exceedingly hot because you have golden syrup sauce underneath the cakey top remember!)
• Serve with ice cream or cream and enjoy!
• This pudding is best eaten the day it is made but leftovers can be reheated in the microwave.

It's Really Cool! Flip Book

Imagine you are a child living in the 1930s. You have a birthday coming up soon, and your friends are coming to enjoy a simple afternoon tea and cake with you – a little party in celebration! It is very exciting, and although times are tough, you are sure you will receive some lovely gifts. You hope one of your friends might even buy the little flip book of Felix the Cat which you saw for sale – it was inexpensive, but flip books are so amazing!

When I showed the children this little flip book, their reaction was quite interesting. Today, children are used to more high tech entertainment, and the little animated flip book was something many had never seen before. The children were intrigued and enthralled by the way the pictures moved on their own, and the simplicity of the idea behind the book. Many also tried making their own flip books, with varying degrees of success.

Flip books have a surprisingly long history, dating back to the early period of animation and optical toys in the 19^th century. The first optical toys began to appear as early as 1829 (when the phenakistoscope appeared), and the first flip books appeared within 50 years, in 1868. The idea of the flip book was patented by John Barnes Linnett, but at the time they were not called flip books at all, but kineographs (which is the Latin for moving picture). Other names for flip books soon began to appear and even today they are sometimes called thumb cinemas, fingertip movies or hand cinemas. Other styles of flip books were also quick to be developed. German film pioneer Max Skladanowsky even exhibited his photographic images in flip books to create an early, basic style of film in 1894. Skladanowsky had discovered a way to take photographs in a serialised way (so that the photographs were sequential images of movement), and by using flip book formats, he could make his photographs ‘move’, even before he developed a film projector.

So what exactly is a flip book, and how do they work? Like many other optical toys, flip books rely on the phenomenon of persistence of vision. Essentially, if two or more images are seen very quickly, one after the other, the images blend together, creating the illusion of movement. Flip books use this concept by creating images in a sequence, each similar to the one before, and flipping through them quickly. The movement blends the images into a simple animation.

Roaming Roy Marches Up To The Top Of The Hill - Mount York

This week, Roy decided he wanted to venture somewhere interesting, beautiful and wild, with plenty of history. Roy loves the Australian bush, but he also loves historic places and his absolute favourite types of places are those which seem remote and rugged, with a winding dirt road through the bush, but which have historic monuments to admire when you arrive. Mount York in the Blue Mountains is one such amazing place.

If you would like to visit Mount York, it is located in the upper Blue Mountains, beyond Mount Victoria. To get there, follow the Great Western Highway all the way up the Blue Mountains, past Mount Victoria. You will come across a turn off to Mount York Road not far past the town of Mount Victoria. Take this road and follow it until you reach the very end – this is Mount York. There is plenty to explore on Mount York, with historic monuments, heritage roads and spectacular views. There is also plenty of room for the kids to run off some energy and to enjoy a picnic, but make sure you keep an eye on the children as there are cliffs in the area which although fenced would be easy for an exploratory child to access.

Mount York is an area with a huge amount of history, and one which Roy plans to visit again in the future to explore further. It is a perfect place to discover more about the crossing of the Blue Mountains, with monuments to some of the important figures in the history of Blue Mountains exploration. It is the point where Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and William Wentworth first viewed the land to the west of the Blue Mountains in 1813 after their successful crossing of the Blue Mountains, and today you can see the view which was so important to the settlers. The land opens up below the mountains into fertile fields and Hartley Vale can also be seen. There is a grand memorial to their crossing on the mountain.

Although Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson crossed the mountains in May of 1813, they were not the only ones to play a role in finding a route over the Blue Mountains. Later the same year George Evans set out to survey the route for the first road over the Blue Mountains and there is a monument to his important contributions. As well as monuments to these great men, there are also remnants of the first road over the Mountains, known as Cox’s Road – you can even walk a section of this historic road, from the summit of Mount York to Hartley Vale below (Roy plans to do this sometime in the future).  This road was not the only route trialled to reach the plains beyond the mountains and further back along Mount York Road you will also find other historic roads (Lawsons Long Alley, Lockyers Line Of Road and Berghoffers Pass) which were built from the mountains to the plains below, all of which can now be walked.

Roy Creates Cauliflower Pickles, Like Great Grandma Used To Make.

This week, Roy wanted to make something which could be used as a gift. He has a few friends who have helped him out recently, and he wanted to make them something to say thank-you, but he wanted it to be something a bit different. He remembered seeing a recipe in his Great, Great Grandma’s cookbook for Cauliflower Pickles and thought it might be just the thing. He reduced the salt a little (as he has tried a few of these old recipes and thought there was a little too much salt), but otherwise followed her directions and was very pleased with the results. So this week Roy Creates Cauliflower Pickles, Like Great Grandma Used To Make.

Ingredients:

• Salt and boiling water (the amount of salt will vary depending on the amount of water you need)
• 1 large head of cauliflower
• 1 kilogram of onions
• 2 litres of vinegar. Roy used brown malt vinegar, but if you want a more mustardy colour, use white.
• 2 cups of sugar
• 3 level tablespoons of mustard powder
• ¾ of a cup of plain flour
• 1 level tablespoon of turmeric
• ½ a level tablespoon of cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon of curry powder
• 1 level dessertspoon of ground ginger

Note: Gran's recipe suggests you could add chokos or green tomatoes as well. Without these additions, this recipe made approximately 10 large jars worth of pickle.

Method:

• Peel the onions and cut them into small pieces.
• Cut the cauliflower into small pieces (discarding the base of the stalk and the outer leaves)
• Mix the onions and cauliflower together in a large glass bowl and pour over sufficient boiling water to cover, adding one tablespoon of salt per cup of water. Leave the vegetables to soak overnight. Roy actually needed two bowls to tell the truth - he didn't have a single glass bowl big enough!

• The next day, thoroughly wash the vegetables to remove the excess salt and drain them well.
• Measure out 200 millilitres of the vinegar and set aside for later
• In a large saucepan combine the remaining vinegar and sugar and heat them until the sugar is fully dissolved.

• Add the vegetables to the vinegar mix (this is best done off the heat, as you don’t want to burn yourself)
• Boil the vegetables in the vinegar until the cauliflower is just tender
• Mix together the mustard powder, flour, turmeric, cayenne pepper, curry powder and ginger in a small bowl.

• Add the remaining 200 millilitres of vinegar to the dry ingredients and mix to a slurry (wet paste)
• Remove the vegetables and vinegar from the heat and add the slurry, about a spoon at a time, stirring the slurry into the mix

• Return to the heat and boil until the mix thickens slightly and changes colour to a mustardy colour.
• Bottle in sterilised jars and set aside for a few days before use. (Roy showed how to sterilise jars when he made strawberry jam. To visit that post and find out how, click here)
• Enjoy with cold meat or cheese, or however else you like to eat pickles!

It's Like A Pirate Would Have! Telescope

Imagine you are living in the 1800s and you are the child of a wealthy family. You love learning, and science is a particular passion for you, with all those wonderful things to discover. Your absolute favourite is astronomy though – just thinking about all those stars and heavenly bodies is amazing. Your parents even bought you a telescope for your last birthday so that you could see the glorious night time sky in greater detail.

When I showed the children this telescope, they absolutely loved it. Most of the children quickly recognised what the item was, and were really intrigued to see it up close. Many of the children were particularly taken with the telescope because ‘it’s like the ones pirates use!’ Most intriguing of all though was when they looked through the telescope. Many of the children were absolutely enthralled by the ability to see something in the distance ‘as if it was just there’, but a few who had their own telescopes were surprised to discover that ‘it’s not very powerful, compared to mine’.

Although today Galileo Galilei is immediately thought of as ‘the inventor’ of the telescope, the first known working telescope was actually created by another man, Hans Lippershey. He was a lensmaker living in the early 1600s and in 1608, he decided he wanted to create some sort of instrument which would make things which were far away look like they were much closer. He used his lenses to create the very first telescope. It was the next year, 1609, that Galileo became involved. Galileo was an Italian physicist and when he heard about the telescope, he decided to build his own, improving on the designs of Lippershey. Galileo’s telescope was more powerful and successful and in 1610 he was able to use the telescope to discover all sorts of exciting things about space, like the four largest moons of Jupiter and the physical appearance of the moon (including its craters).

Galileo’s designs were far from perfect though and throughout the 1600s and through to today there have been many improvements to the designs for telescopes. In fact, by 1630, less than 25 years after Galileo first created his telescope, concave mirrors which magnified objects were created by Niccolo Zucchi and the concave lens was replaced with a convex lens to limit distortion of the image, a design change made by Johannes Kepler. Other famous names to contribute design changes, and even whole new designs for the telescope include Isaac Newton, Christian Huygens, Laurent Cassegrain and John Hadley. In the 20^th century, the telescope went high tech, with radio telescopes created which could essentially ‘see’ radio waves which are invisible to the human eye. These were first created by Grote Reber in 1937 but in 1957 Sir Bernard Lovell improved on the designs, creating his famous 250 foot radio telescope. In 1990 telescopes even went out of this world (so to speak) with the Hubble Space Telescope launched into space. If you would like to learn more about the history of telescopes, visit Kids Astronomy at http://www.kidsastronomy.com/telescopesD.htm or NASA at http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/9-12/features/telescope_feature_912.html

Roaming Roy Rings A Bell For History - St John's Anglican Church and Bell Raymond Terrace

This week Roy wanted to visit somewhere fascinating and unexpected. He comes across all sorts of fascinating places on his trips, some of them with a surprising story to tell. He always loves such places as they provide such a fascinating glimpse into our history. One such place he has visited is the St John’s Anglican Church in Raymond Terrace. Roy loves churches, and this one is certainly a beauty, but the surprising thing about this place is not the church itself, but the bell in the grounds which originates from a wrecked ship!

If you would like to visit St John’s Anglican Church, it is located in Raymond Terrace. The Church is on Sturgeon Street, not far from Glenelg Street. To get there, come off the Pacific Highway at Masonite Road and then turn into Adelaide Street. Follow Adelaide Street until you reach Glenelg St and from there, turn into Sturgeon Street itself. You will actually be able to see the church from Adelaide Street (or Roy could, when he visited). There is plenty to do in Raymond Terrace with history, parks, shops, cafes and restaurants abounding. It is a perfect place to break your journey and let the kids stretch their legs.

St John’s Anglican Church is more correctly called St John The Evangelist Anglican Church, and is over 150 years old. Although the first public service was held in 1839 at a local inn, the Church itself was not built until 1862. The Church is an important and unusual example of a ‘rural’ Church designed by the famous architect Edmund Blackett, who is perhaps better know for designing not only Churches in Sydney, but also several buildings at the University of Sydney. Locally quarried sandstone was used in building the gothic style church. The large bell tower, which is separate to the church itself, was built later. The Church has a number of beautiful and historic items, including an historic organ, altar, stone carvings and tablets and spectacular stained glass windows.

The bell in the separate bell tower is of particular interest though. It originates from a ship wreck, that of the Ceres. What is perhaps most fascinating to Roy though is that although many reports about the bell say it was salvaged from a 1935 shipwreck off North Head in Sydney, the only reports about a Ceres to be wrecked in Australia date from the following year, and the wreck was actually closer to Newcastle than Sydney! On a fine, Monday afternoon in August or September of 1836 (reports vary a little), the ship Ceres left Newcastle for Sydney, a trip which was the norm for the ship. By the next evening though there were grave fears for the safety of the ship, a gale having blown in on Monday evening, and a bucket and cable box from the Ceres being washed ashore the next day. Indeed, the ship had been lost, but the crew and passengers were reported to have safely escaped the ship in newspaper articles of the time. Whether this is the wreck from which the bell at St John’s Anglican Church was salvaged, much of the ship was salvaged, including timbers and even boilers (though these were apparently lost again when in transit to Sydney).

Roy Creates Light As A Feather Apple And Pecan Muffins

This week, Roy wanted to create something simple and delicious which could be prepared in advance and served for a late breakfast or brunch when some friends called. He looked through his recipe books and asked his Grandma if he could look in her folder of recipes for ideas to see if anything was appropriate. When he came across a recipe for apple and pecan muffins, he thought they might be just the thing and he was incredibly impressed by how light and fluffy they were, even the day after being cooked. He also discovered that they freeze very successfully, which is always wonderful. So this week, Roy Creates Light As A Feather Apple And Pecan Muffins.

You Will Need:

• 180 grams of butter or margarine, softened
• 100 grams of castor sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
• 2 eggs
• ½ a cup of sour cream
• 2 tablespoons of milk
• ½ a cup of peeled, grated cooking apple (Roy used Granny Smith apples and 1/2 a cup of grated apple was about 1 and a half apples in total)
• 280 grams of self-raising flour
• ½ a teaspoon of baking powder
• 2 tablespoons (extra) castor sugar
• ½ a teaspoon of cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons of chopped pecans

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius and line a 12 cup muffin tray with muffin cases (not Texas muffin tins!)
• Sift the flour and baking powder together and set aside

• Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla together
• Add the eggs and beat them into the mix.

• Add the sour cream and apples to the mix and beat
• Fold in the flour
• Finally, stir the milk into the mix
• Mix together the cinnamon, extra castor sugar and chopped pecans in a small bowl

• Drop a tablespoon of muffin mix into the bottom of each muffin tray and sprinkle over a small amount of the sugar and nut mix.
• Divide the remainder of the muffin mix between the muffin trays

• Sprinkle the remainder of the sugar mix over the muffins
• Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden and cooked through
• Enjoy warm, or at room temperature the next day.
• Note: If you choose to freeze them, defrost them on a cooling rack and give them a few seconds in the microwave to freshen them up a little.

Is It For Smashing Potatoes? - Ice Crusher

Imagine you are a child living in the 1950s. It is a hot day and the walk home from school has been very hard - and hot! You hope that Mum has something nice and cool to enjoy when you get home. She often makes you a cold drink and your favourites are when she makes her special lemonade and pours it over a glass of crushed ice. There's nothing so delicious or refreshing as a glass of icy cold lemonade, and you quite enjoy eating the ice at the end too!

 

When I showed the children this vintage ice crusher, they were entirely perplexed by what it could be for. The children quickly decided it was some kind of kitchen tool as the device was so well made, but they couldn't think of a use for it. Some children eventually suggested it was for smashing potatoes in 'like when you mash them, just a bit and then bake them till they're really crispy'. When I explained that it was actually for crushing ice they thought that seemed more sensible, and enjoyed trying it out. The older children thought it was really very easy to use and did a great job of crushing up the cubes, but the younger children struggled to work the device at all.

Crushed or shaved ice desserts have been popular for possibly centuries, with some suggesting the first use was actually during the reign of Emperor Nero whose servants gathered snow from the mountains and mixed it with fruit to create something delicious. Certainly, Ice has been a popular part of desserts for many, many years. More recently, snowballs, snow cones and Italian ice have been popular. These are all slightly different, with snowballs and Italian ice being shaved. The most famous of these treats though, the snow cone, uses crushed ice.

Snow cones are a staple part of fairs and shows throughout the world, so it is perhaps fitting that it was at such a show that the snow cone made its debut. It was at the State Fair of Texas, 1919 that East Dallas resident Samuel Bert began selling the iced confection. The snow cone was made up of crushed ice and flavoured syrup which was poured over. Bert, affectionally known as King Sammy, patented his ice crushing machine the following year and by the 1950s the snow cone was a staple of fairs and shows. The snowball is very similar, but uses finely shaved ice and more syrup. They have their roots back in the industrial revolution when some ice men, particularly in Baltimore, gave the shavings from their ice to local children whose parents would then add their own flavourings.

Roaming Roy Proclaims Who'd A Thought It! - Quirindi Lookout

This week, with the Queens Birthday Weekend upon us, Roy wanted to share a beautiful place for a picnic. Although, the weather this weekend close to the coast may not be the best for enjoying such a lovely, outdoor activity, luckily Roy has visited plenty of places in finer weather, and decided to share one which he particularly enjoyed. He hopes that some of his online friends might also enjoy it! So this week, Roy is heading to Quirindi to visit the beautiful views from the Who’d A Thought It Lookout.

The Who’d A Thought It Lookout is not far from the heart of Quirindi. To get there, follow the signs out of Quirindi towards Gunnedah, and you will see the Who’d A Thought It Lookout turn off clearly signposted. Follow this road to the lookout itself. There is plenty to see and do in and around the area, and the lookout is a perfect place to take a break, let the kids run off some energy and of course admire the beautiful views over the Liverpool Plains. You can collect all the necessary supplies for a delicious picnic in Quirindi itself.

Who’d A Thought It Lookout actually sits atop a hill which shares the name – Who’d A Thought It Hill. It has amazing views over the town of Quirindi, the Liverpool Plains district and even to the Great Dividing Range. There is a plinth with a sign marking out what you can see from the hill at the lookout. For those interested in geological history, the view includes ridges which were created through volcanic activity and there is also evidence of ancient oceanic coral reefs and beaches in the area around the hill.

You might ask why the hill and lookout which is perched atop it is called ‘Who’d A Thought It’, but unfortunately the most honest answer is that nobody really knows for certain. There was a hotel on the Western side of the hill (also called ‘Who’d A Thought It’) which was built in 1882 and was popular not only for drinking, but also for sports meetings and even horse races. Whether the hotel was named after the hill or vice versa nobody really knows. There is a rather lovely local story though which suggests that a bullock driver was driving his bullocks up the hill and upon reaching the summit, hot and exhausted, was thrilled to see a hotel where he could get a drink. The story suggests it was he who came up with the name, proclaiming ‘Who’d A Thought It’ upon seeing the hotel. The hotel is long gone now, having burned down in 1906, but the lookout remains a beautiful place to enjoy a drink and leisurely picnic meal!