Giving Birth

I'm about to push out my third child.... which is actually in the form of a 124pp book.  Foolishly, around this time last year, I put up my hand to write a book to commemorate our primary school's centenary.  What was I thinking?  Of course it has been a task of gargantuan proportions, but I have to say, for the most part, thoroughly enjoyable. 

North Cottesloe Primary School in Perth was established in 1913.  What to say?  Without boring the pants of everyone with the year by year history of the P&C's achievements ("$145.56 was raised at the 1982 voting day cake stall" zzz), I decided to morph it into a social history of childhood in the area, told through the stories of all the ex students I interviewed, who were kids in the 1930s to 1950s.  Each interviewee would start with "I've not got anything interesting to tell you" but without fail they all did, some snippet of life in their mid-century childhoods that is a fascinating (to me anyway) insight into how different life was then.

Thanks to some hard cash from Lotterywest and the Council, we were able to commission a brilliant design agency who have taken my text and pics and turned them into something really stunning. 

Here is a sneak preview of the cover.

 

I'm looking forward to it being finished and getting my life back.  I'm also nervous about how it will go down, no doubt there will be something in there somewhere that someone does not like (I'm not very good at taking criticism).   It's also given me a real appreciation of social history, and I just love all those stories of everyday domestic life, the bread and butter of all our pasts.   Hmm,  maybe there might be another book brewing in there somewhere...

Sign of the times

Having lost my bloggin mojo, it seems to have found me again.  Not that life is any less stressful or demanding or crazy, but suddenly I feel the urge to purge.

 

Picking up on the last post, whilst pulling out the timber frame of the old addition, little wads of newspaper rained out, which dates the addition: 1957.  The people that lived in our house were devout Catholics, so I'm guessing the pages from the tabloid and decidedly saucy Perth Weekend Mail were courtesy the building chaps.

 

This first piece is a classic.  Meet Patsy (another Patsy!), who interestingly comes from the area where we live. 

 

 
She's pretty gorgeous.  Cant quite make out what it she is holding, could be anything.  A radio? Pool ball?

But wait, let's read all about her ....  come hither...... what!  She's only 15!!



I was thinking this would make a fun item to frame and put in the loo, but I have to say, I'm wavering.  Yes it is an interesting piece of mass media that illustrates how times have changed, but do I really want my 11 year old daughter thinking this  is where she might see herself in four years time?  Prudish, I've never been, but I've got mixed feelings here.

Let's see, what else.  Oh my!  Nudist sunbathing in Geraldton!  I also find this pretty out there, for 1957.  Who would have thought that the local tabloid rag in this little town would have been so risque?

 

And now, moving away from salacious gossip, some useful advertising... for asbestos.  We've just spend three grand having all the asbestos in our old addition removed by men in white suits with rolls of black plastic.  There was a shitload of it.  Cheap, readily available and totally indestructable, it formed the fabric of so many Australian suburbs over the second half of the twentieth century.

Now James Hardie Industries face the wrath numerous courtcases and responsibility for many deaths in Australia, from the illnesses associated with asbestos mining and use. 

 

I was glad to see the back of it, as the ute travelled off down the lane, to deposit it in landfill somewhere.  Oh dear.

Ground Zero

Demolition is now complete. The guy is in with his bobcat today to clear away the final debris of our house's rear.   The lavvy was the only thing left by the time he arrived this morning.  As you can imagine, there has been lots of great photo opportunities with the below, which I won't share.

I've been sifting through the soil which was underneath the stumps, the builder thinks I'm mad.  There are lots of little fragments of packaging and other ephemera which are like clues and DNA to the past life of this house and its inhabitants. 

 

I've also been taking photos from this vantage point below nearly every day.  My plan is to do a time lapse series of the old coming down and the new going up.  Given the drip-drip approach to our building budget, that is going to be one hell of a file, if I take one every day.

You can see the old kitchen wall, which would have been original to the house, whereas the section to the right which housed a dining area and bathroom were added in the 50s.  When we were pulling it apart we found a load of newspaper rolled up to fill gaps from 1957.  More on that later.