Welcome to my first post about working life in the 1890’s, I found a book I have on the topic and have decided to use it to write a bit about the topic.
Back in the 1890’s working life was hard and insecure, it was a decade of political change and economic uncertainty. Any gains made prior to then disappeared as depression hit and jobs became scarce. Many employers found themselves on the edge of bankruptcy so they cut employee numbers and lowered wages.
It is now believed by historians that about 29% of workers suffered unemployment during the worst years, between 1892 till 1894 before things started to slowly improve in the late 1890’s.
Before European settlement, work for Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders was just part of their daily life. Their effective and appropriate use of the land determined their survival and spiritual well being.
Of course the impact of the white mans ways of working had a negative effect on their way of life causing brave but futile resistance. They had their land taken and were forced to work in the white man’s way on pastoral and other properties.
From the start of white settlement in Australia working life for convicts, Aborigines and the majority of free settlers was extremely hard.
The first Governor Arthur Phillip, decreed that convicts should work an eleven-and-a half hours a day from sunrise to sunset in the summer.
As well as working for the Government on public works such as the construction of buildings and road-making, convicts were assigned to free settlers and at first there was little regulation of their working conditions.
Many of the free white settlers also had it hard with their working conditions while working for squatters and well to do employers.
The Master and Servant Act of 1828 attempted to regulate conditions but mainly in favour of the Masters.
Well here I am at another creature day and this weeks creature is the Armadillo Lizard something many would have heard of.
It measures just 21cm’s in length and covered in spiny scales, it can roll itself into a ball, tail in mouth and underbelly protected when threatened.
Native to the west coast of South Africa, this fierce looking lizard has such a powerful bite that its been known to break its own jaw while eating.
It live in large family groups and eats bugs and spiders, they have a lifespan of around 20 years.
It’s head, body and tail can all be flattened allowing it to squeeze into rock crevices for protection from predators such as eagles, snakes and mongooses.
Well here we are at another cold Monday, I have just seen Sam off to school while we are waiting for his transport to arrive I am shown some weird and funny clips on his phone from YouTube or Tic Tok and it does feel good to have a laugh but now it is time for another well know/famous Aussie that you may have or more likely never heard off till now. This week have Harold Holt.
Harold Edward Holt CH was an Australian politician and lawyer who served as the 17th prime minister of Australia, from 1966 until his disappearance and presumed death in 1967, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia.
He was born on the 5 August 1908, seven months after his parents marriage in January 1908, he had a younger brother Clifford born in 1910.
Born in a suburb of Sydney in 1914 his parents moved to Adelaide while him and his brother remained in NSW with an uncle but it 1916 he went to live with his grandparents in country for about a year before returning to Sydney. Around that time his parents split up and he went to a boarding school.
He was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1932 and set up his own legal practice in 1933, however, due to the depression things were hard and he relied on the hospitality of friends to get by. 1933 was the year he joined the Young Nationalist the youth wing of the United Australia Party.
Drawing on his family connections in show business, he eventually accepted an offer to become secretary of the Victorian Cinematograph Exhibitors’ Association, a film industry lobby group. In this capacity he appeared several times before the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation of Arbitration. This had a positive effect on his own practice, and he eventually took on two partners, first Jack Graham and later James Newman. The firm of Holt, Graham, & Newman was dissolved in 1963, following a financial dispute and subsequently reconstituted as Holt, Newman, & Holt, with Holt’s son Sam as the new addition. Holt’s involvement in the practice declined once he entered politics and ceased altogether in 1949, although he did not formally retire until assuming the prime ministership.
Holt was twenty-seven years old when he entered parliament, making him its youngest member. He kept a relatively low profile in his first few years, but spoke on a wide range of topics. When Robert Menzies became prime minister in April 1939, he made Holt one of four ministers without a portfolio. His inclusion was made possible by the collapse of the coalition with the Country Party previously a certain number of positions had been reserved for Country MPs, but the new ministry was composed solely of UAP members. Although Holt officially had no portfolio, he effectively was an assistant minister to Richard Casey, who headed the Department of Supply and Development. He was given responsibility for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research(CSIR),and also acted for periods as Minister for Trade and Customs and Minister for Civil Aviation and Air, while the incumbents were overseas. Holt’s first stint as a government minister came to an end in March 1940, when the coalition with the Country Party was reinstituted. His replacement was Arthur Fadden, another future prime minister.
He enlisted in the Militia in February 1939, joining a part-time artillery unit for businessmen and professionals. He was given indefinite leave during his ministerial service. In May 1940, without resigning his seat, Holt enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force with the intent of becoming a full-time soldier.
Several of his parliamentary colleagues did likewise at various points in the war. In a press statement, Holt said “as the youngest member of the House, I could not feel happy in my position if I were not prepared to make some sacrifice and take an active part”. He was sent to Puckapunval for training, and expected to be posted to North Africa or Palestine.
More could be said about his early political career but I don’t want to bore you too much so let’s move on to his role as Prime Minister.
He was sworn in as prime minister on 26 January 1966, following the retirement of Robert Menzies six days earlier. He won the leadership election unopposed, with William McMahon elected as his deputy. He was the first Australian prime minister born in the 20th century and the first born after federation. He was almost fourteen years younger than his predecessor, but, at the age of 57, was still the fourth-oldest man to assume the office.
He had been an MP for over 30 years before becoming prime minister, still the longest wait for any non-caretaker Prime Minister. Stylistically, he was more informal and contemporary than Menzies, and his wife accompanied him into the political spotlight. He gave the media an unprecedented level of access, and was the first prime minister to conduct regular press conferences and grant regular television interviews. His press secretary, Tony Eggleton, accompanied him virtually every time he travelled.
He loved the ocean, particularly spearishing, and had holiday homes in Victoria and Queensland. On 17 December 1967, while he was spending the weekend with four companions decided to stop at remote Cheviot Beach for a swim before lunch– he had spearfished there on many previous occasions, and claimed to “know this beach like the back of my hand”. Because of the rough conditions, only one other person, Alan Stewart, joined Holt in the water. Stewart kept close to shore, but he swam out into deeper water and was seemingly caught up in a rip eventually disappearing from view. One of the witnesses, Marjorie Gillespie, described it as “like a leaf being taken out […] so quick and final”.
Holt’s disappearance sparked “one of the largest search operations in Australian history”, but no trace of his body was ever found. At 10 p.m. on 18 December, Governor-General Lord Casey announced he had terminated Holt’s commission as prime minister upon his presumed death.
A police report released in early 1968 made no definitive findings about Holt’s death, while a colonial inquest in 2005 returned a verdict of accidental drowning. It is generally accepted that Holt overestimated his swimming ability. Some have alleged that he committed suicide, but those close to him rejected this as uncharacteristic of his personality. Conspiracy theories have included suggestions that he faked his own death, was assassinated by the CIA or was collected by a submarine so that he could defect to China.
A memorial service for Holt was held at St Paul’s Cathedral Melbourne on 22 December, and attended by numerous world leaders. Aged 59 at the time of his death, Holt became the third Australian prime minister to die in office.
Found a pop tart on my walker this morning, Sam had left it there for me to try, which I did and it was ok but a bit sweet for me.
Had a good morning was able to sit for close to an hour with my feet up, twice during the day an even managed to sit at the computer with only moderate pain in my left knee. I did take a strong anti-inflammatory that Tasha gave me for when the pain is really bad. My GP will not give them to me as they are not good for me in the long run.
I woke this morning from a dream that had me looking for a toilet and some guy beating me to the toilet causing me to find another one, which had me climbing over someone’s bed. Needless to say I woke needing to pee and finding it to 5.10am ten minutes past my normal get up time.
Tim got up around 10am which is pretty normal for him now days, he has a 1pm doctors appointment but I doubt it as he did the appointment online and didn’t receive conformation of it. I was right when arrived for his appointment it hadn’t gone through, but he was still able to see the doc. He has to have some test done.
I had to go and meet Sam this afternoon as Tim wasn’t home yet and it was Sam’s early day.
A new day and not a cold one, had to change what pants I had planed to wear.
Turned out the weather people were right for a change and it is a very warm day around 26 degrees.
Shopping came without a few things most notable is the missing toilet paper. With Tim’s current diarrhoea issues we are going through a fair bit of it. So Tim will need to go and buy some from the local Coles.
I also didn’t get my banana bread or mini choc chip muffins. I will ask Tasha to get them as Tim will not know what to get and most likely get the wrong stuff.
I had to wear longer, warmer pants when I got up as I couldn’t be bothered trying to find lighter pants.
Kathy was telling me that Summer was swooped by a magpie again yesterday, on her way home from school. So at the moment she wants her mum to drive her to the bus stop of a morning, of an afternoon she is out of luck and has to walk as her mum is still at work.
Had a couple of moments when I was shaking so much I was unable to send Tasha a text was a bunch of letters making no sense.
Tim is having a bad day spending a lot of it in the bathroom, I feel for him. He feels he can’t go far from the toilet.
Tim had a rough night up a few times to the toilet.
At7am my internet started playing I closed the browser hoping that would help but it didn’t. So I did a re-boot and that fixed it.
Sam came down at 7.15am with some clothes that he wants to wear and are still damp, so he wanted to toss them into the dryer while he has a shower.
Kelli sent me a text asking if I could show her how to iron, I said I would but don’t own an iron.
Another day with a lot of back pain.
Kelli canceled at 1pm
I was surprised to see Tasha as I was getting ready for bed, can’t remember why she came but she will help me finish getting ready.
Oh what a headache this computer is giving me this morning, it is running slow and I have to have patience to deal with it.
Rang Sam over and over and over till I ended up ringing his mum and waking her up and asking her to go wake Sam up, gave it 5 minutes and tried ringing Sam again then rang Tasha to see if she would walk across and make sure Sam was awake but she asked me to try ringing again, which I did and Sam at last answered.
Around 9ish it started to rain and it rained most of the day and it has been pretty cold all day.
Tasha had a job interview at Anytime Fitness, she said it went well. She does have a way of presenting herself in a positive as do her sisters.
Tim cut my hair yesterday before I went to bed, I look different with extremely short hair. It is a cold morning and I have a headache might put the heater on for a little bit. I had the heater on for 30 minutes.
I stripped the bed and threw the sheets in the washing machine and have started trying to re-make the bed on my own. Tim hung the sheets outside on the lawn.
I thought Kathy was coming over but I was wrong, she said she will be over sometime tomorrow afternoon.
It’s Friday it is overcast and cool but at the moment not raining, I have been talking to my eldest daughter about her job she is in child care as in she works for a Goodstart Early Education Centre a job she mostly loves and is pretty damn good at.
Anyway she was telling me about a child they have there who has severe Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) now we are familiar with ODD as my nephew has it as does my grandchild Sam but nowhere near as severe as this child my daughter is dealing with has it. He is so bad that other children are afraid of him as well as a number of the staff including my daughter.
The child destroys stuff, hits people and generally attacks other people and is a nightmare to be around.
Now when my nephew was little he was suspended from day care and also expelled from day care for hitting other children and being argumentative with staff. How times have changed this my daughter is dealing with cannot be suspended or expelled because the day care she works for don’t do that. I wish there was such a place when my nephew was little. He attended 3 or 4 day care places before settling kind of into a place.
Now I think it is great the Goodstart are not as strict as the places my mum had to deal with when my nephew was little but the staff and other children should not have to deal with physical abuse from anyone let alone a child of 5yrs old. They will be glad when he starts school and since he is nearly 6yrs old that should be next year. In fact I was surprised he was still in day care at 5yrs old and not already at school.
What a morning with my internet being a right pain in the ass, anyway here is this weeks word of the week. Ringleader not to be confused with ringmaster.
Ringleader: A leader of a ring of individuals engaged in improper or unlawful activities.
Hello everyone, how many of you have heard of the Satanic Leaf-Tailed Gecko, I have not heard of it and the look of it isn’t pleasing to my eye but you may think different.
With its demonic red eyes, angular horns and wicked smile, its easy to guess how it got its name.
It is native to the rainforests of Madagascar, it also has an alarming red mouth that it uses to scare off predators. If you don’t scare easily then consider its other defence mechanisms such as camouflage.
It is
easy to mistake it for a leaf instead of the tail of this tiny gecko if you tried to pick it up it is likely to drop its tail and scamper off.
It doesn’t just look like a leaf but it acts like one too, spending most of the day hanging motionless from a tree branch or curled among leafs on the ground.
It is only about 100-110mm (11cm) in length or about 4 inches so pretty small.
Here we are at another Monday so it is the day for another post about a famous Aussie in history and this week it is good old Ned Kelly.
Edward Kelly was an Australian bushranger, outlaw, gang leader and convicted police-murderer. One of the last bushrangers, he is known for wearing a suit of bulletproof armour during his final shootout with the police.
He was born sometime in December 1854 in the state of Victoria and died on the 11 November 1880 when he was hung at Old Melbourne Gaol, in Victoria. He was one of 9 children and had many cousins and extended family.
As stated Ned Kelly was a ‘bushranger’ a person who robbed others and spent his life escaping from the police. He also killed three policemen. There have been many films, songs and books about Ned Kelly. There is even an Australian saying: ‘to be as game [brave] as Ned Kelly’.
Some believe his last words were “such is life”, but what Ned actually said as his last words is uncertain. Some newspapers at the time certainly reported the words ‘Such is life’, while a reporter standing on the gaol floor wrote that Ned’s last words were, ‘Ah well! It’s come to this at last.
Contrary to popular belief and legend, Ned Kelly was not the Australian equivalent to Robin Hood, for he did not rob from the rich and give to the poor. In fact, he actually stole from poor Australians—as well as the rich—even getting violent with them if they did not concede to his demands.
Even though his criminal career was pretty short his crimes were seen as acts of resistance against Australia’s British colonial rulers. He was a man of the people, speaking out loudly against a colonial government that discriminated against the poor.
During his final shoot-out with police, Kelly wore a crudely made set of steel armour. The police didn’t know if they were shooting a man or a monster. A shot in his exposed leg brought Kelly down. He was captured, tried by law and sentenced to death for murder.
For some people he was a hero, this is believed to be because the people of Victoria were longing for a hero during those hard times. Widespread support for Kelly can be assumed from the 32000 signatures on a petition calling for his sentence to be changed from death to life in prison in 1880.
He is also known for his famous Jerilderie leeter,prior to arriving in Jerilderie, Kelly composed a lengthy letter with the aim of tracing his path to outlawry, justifying his actions, and outlining the alleged injustices he and his family suffered at the hands of the police. He also decried the treatment of poor selector families by Victoria’s Squattocracy and, in “an escalating promise of revenge and retribution”, invoked “a mythical tradition of Irish rebellion” against what he called “the tyrannism of the English yoke”. Dictated to Byrne, the Jerilderie Letter, a handwritten document of fifty-six pages and 7,391 words, was described by Kelly as “a bit of my life”. He tasked Edwin Living, a local bank accountant, with delivering it to the editor of the Jerilderie and Urana Gazetteor publication.Due to political suppression, only excerpts were published in the press, based on a copy transcribed by John Hanlon, owner of the Eight Mile Hotel in Deniliquin. The entire letter was rediscovered and published in 1930.
Well I will leave it here, i could tell you more but don’t feel like it, this is just an introduction to the man Ned Kelly…..
Jo-AnneRamplings 