Working life in Aus in the 1890’s

Hello everyone want know more about working life in the 189’s Australia continue reading.

Back then the middle and upper classes of people employed large numbers pf people, such a family might employ up to a dozen people in jobs such as coachman to drive the family carriage along with a groom to care for the horses, a gardener and general handyman. Inside the home there would be a cook, several parlour maids and chambermaids. The children would also have nursemaids and maybe even a governess.

Of course in less affluent households there would be less staff to do all the same work. Domestic work of course was considered women’s work.

Now less us remember these were the days before wall to wall carpet instead homes had rugs and carpet squares that had to be taken outside and beaten every day.

The women employed as domestic servants had to sweep, scrub and polish floorboards in the hallways, drawing rooms, smoking rooms, dining rooms and of course bedrooms. There was not to be a speck of dust in order for the mistress of house to find.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries interior decorations was at its fussiest. Apparently there were cloths covering nearly everything with something called an antimacassars used to protect chairs from a mans hair oil. Then there were the coverings used for small tables often using velvet, and even the windows and mantelpieces would be draped with heavy material all of which would have to be cleaned regularly by the housekeeper.

Of a morning the remains of the previous night’s open fires had to be removed and the fireplaces cleaned and blackening applied. Whatever that means……..

The bed clothes had to be shaken and the beds and pillows aired. Servants were expected to do not only strenuous but down right disgusting jobs. Chamber pots had to be emptied into the outside toilet, in those days the toilet would be situated near the back fence so the council “nightman” also called a “pan man” could remove the pans. In fact many homes relied on the “pan man” to remove human waste. In fact my husband Tim can remember the “pan man” coming round and replacing the full pan with an empty one.