Need advice on washing up? Want to compute the area of an irregular sized paddock? Or maybe you require some hints when ordering windmills? Then check out our 1930s housewifery pamphlets.

Advice for running and taking a bath.

 The Viceroy home guide : useful everyday hints for the home, p 16

These hints usually appear in the back of the pamphlets after the recipes. Advice ranges from the helpful (how to bottle pickles), to the vital (rules for ironing), to the macabre (how to make a will).

 The 'form of will' comes just after the recipes.

The Viceroy home guide: useful everyday hints for the home, p 91

 

Going on holidays? Then don’t forget to stop the clocks and let the police and baker know when you’re leaving. The below holiday list is taken from The Colonial Mutual Life cookery book (p  70).

Advice for steps to take if going away.

And did you know before the wide availability of fridges, flower pots were used to keep food cold?

Helpful advice on keeping butter cool

The Viceroy home guide : useful everyday hints for the home, p 87

And a few simple dont’s for motorists – Don’t empty out the petrol tank, and then go around it with a lighted candle.

Advice of not what to do for motorists

The Viceroy home guide : useful everyday hints for the home, p 67.

For the 1930’s vegetarians: a recipe for mock mince pie, p 63:

One peck green tomatoes, gem-chopped and drained, two tablespoonfuls each of salt,
cloves, cinnamon, and allspice, two pounds currants, two pounds raisins, use half as many apples (gemchopped), as tomatoes, six pounds brown sugar, one tea cup Champions Vinegar; cook slowly for three hours.

Written by Paul Dee
Librarian, Australian History and Literature

This article has 1 comment

  1. “Peck” is a unit of measurement, and quite correct.

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