My Mother's Times

The household hints and innovative ideas in this collection have been chosen, along with the illustrations, to provide snapshots of family like in Australia around a hundred years ago.  

The photographs, which come from both private and public collections, include many charming, informal studies, as well as the studio portraits that were so popular at the time.

The result is a window on the past, when life revolved around the home and family.  The hints and photographs reveal both the tough side of that life-the hard work, the demanding daily routine, and the necessity to make do with very limited resources-and the special times provided  by large family gatherings for weddings, a rare holiday, or social events in the community.

Above all, we see the ingenuity, love and humour that sustained a generation of women through good and bad times...