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What was so Great about it anyway?
Free Prozac?
Free Prozac?
What did they do in the Great Depression.
- Thread starter Wishfull
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Ive worked on a few houses made back in that period. They used whatever they had available. The timbers were rarely straight and were tough sawn. Not much was straight and square. They weren't as pedantic as we are now.
Dad and Grandpa used to go night spear fishing with shellite lanterns. They would light a fire on tge beach so they knew where the shore was and walk along the edge of the reefs at low tide with a Hessian bag strung over their backs suspended with a rope over one shoulder to put the fish in thst they had speared. They used to get a wheat bag full almost every time they went out.
The last time I went out was with a halogen underwater light and a motor bike battery over one shoulder and bag on the other. I think I got 5 fish. That was about 10 years ago.
Just not the fish there anymore. The trawlers fixed that.
Dad and Grandpa used to go night spear fishing with shellite lanterns. They would light a fire on tge beach so they knew where the shore was and walk along the edge of the reefs at low tide with a Hessian bag strung over their backs suspended with a rope over one shoulder to put the fish in thst they had speared. They used to get a wheat bag full almost every time they went out.
The last time I went out was with a halogen underwater light and a motor bike battery over one shoulder and bag on the other. I think I got 5 fish. That was about 10 years ago.
Just not the fish there anymore. The trawlers fixed that.
People are now waking up,the bail outs are getting bigger.!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7nGLge9o6Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7nGLge9o6Q
My Grandfather he use to trap rabbits to eat (with onion gravy and roast vegies) and sell to the local butcher
After it finished my Grandmother would never eat rabbit again
and in the 20 years i lived there she would cook them for us at least once a week but would never eat them she said she felt sick just at the thought of it
Also sheep brains was another we would eat
After it finished my Grandmother would never eat rabbit again
and in the 20 years i lived there she would cook them for us at least once a week but would never eat them she said she felt sick just at the thought of it
Also sheep brains was another we would eat
I have heard all the swagman stories during the depression, heard from parents and grand parents.
No one ever mentioned family members being on the road. Guessing many were from the cities. People in the bush, as my family were, did exactly as Bob Moriarty said. Not many places in a city to grow and hunt for food.
ray :sunny: :cloudy: :sunny: :cloudy: :gemstone: :gemstone: :gemstone:
No one ever mentioned family members being on the road. Guessing many were from the cities. People in the bush, as my family were, did exactly as Bob Moriarty said. Not many places in a city to grow and hunt for food.
ray :sunny: :cloudy: :sunny: :cloudy: :gemstone: :gemstone: :gemstone:
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Gilly47 said:
Back in the depression the "Bush" was 20 miles out of the city center and rabbits closer.
Wishfull said:
Reminds me of the hunting of dugong and turtle up here, where it is legal as long as you use traditional methods (and indigenous of coarse). Some PNG guys were caught by the islanders using nets to capture turtle/dugong. They were busted as they sailed away from their set nets. The islanders kicked up a stink about the use of the nets as it was not in the faith of using traditional hunting methods.
I'm still trying to find the traditional word for "Y-A-M-A-H-A" or "M-E-R-C-U-R-Y".
My maternal Grandfather owned a large flour mill in Kensington (J.A.S. Minifie).
During the depression, hundreds of swaggies would jump ride the grain trains, and they were each given a small bag of flour at the mill.
Grandpa (R.P. Minifie) was the youngest Australian ACE during WWI (flying Sopwith planes with the Royal Airforce UK), and was accredited with 21 "kills"
Later, his mill also developed the O-So-Lite cake mix brand, so mum would get a cake mix twice a week.
We grew up (thanks mum) on brains, kidney, liver and tripe.
During the depression, hundreds of swaggies would jump ride the grain trains, and they were each given a small bag of flour at the mill.
Grandpa (R.P. Minifie) was the youngest Australian ACE during WWI (flying Sopwith planes with the Royal Airforce UK), and was accredited with 21 "kills"
Later, his mill also developed the O-So-Lite cake mix brand, so mum would get a cake mix twice a week.
We grew up (thanks mum) on brains, kidney, liver and tripe.
A lot of blokes grabbed a copy of "Prospecting for Gold" by Ion Idriess (first published 1931), and headed bush. This book has been mentioned many times in the forum and is still a must read.
There are many examples in the Victorian goldfields of depression era activity on the diggings, and other states too I would imagine. An example is a 67 ounce nugget found near Tarnagulla Vic in 1931 by Stan McNamee.
Out of the question now of course.
There are many examples in the Victorian goldfields of depression era activity on the diggings, and other states too I would imagine. An example is a 67 ounce nugget found near Tarnagulla Vic in 1931 by Stan McNamee.
Out of the question now of course.
goldtrapper said:
Haha can you imagine the new age manscaped men going hunting :lol: :lol: if they did catch a rabbit they would fall in love and treat it better than there kids.
The future is if all the city dwellers need to hunt for food they will be on all fours grazing in parks and grasslands like sheep.
But truthfully we are preparing for a rise in stock thefts , with high prices and no income the poos gunna hit the whirly gig soon. Between trail cams , neighbourhood watch and Remington my livestock should be pretty safe.
BigWave said:
That's an interesting family history, but I think you've got the founder's name slightly wrong. "Jas" used to be the usual abbreviation for "James" and I found an online article that apparently confirms my suspicion:
https://wongm.com/2019/10/grain-train-melbourne-kensington-flour-mill/
Not like we are seeing now, panic was not an option. My grandfather told me stories of the many who called by the farm and begged for work in return for a meal and cup of tea. When possible a small bag of flour, potatoes & onions were given to tide them over.
Correct grubstake.grubstake said:
James was my great grandfather. I should not have put in the dots in JAS.
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/minifie-richard-pearman-7600
Gilly47 said:
The 1930s depression hit the cities worst. My mother was in later childhood and lived on a self-sufficient farm in WA. She told me that she only heard about the depression when she grew up, she was not aware of it impacting on their lives. However during that depression city people started to migrate into larger rural towns, looking for work (men, women and children). They formed camps on the edge of town, and were disliked and even feared by the townspeople, who were often very unsympathetic - considered them thieves. There is a famous Australian novel about this, "The Battlers" by Kylie Tennant.
The swagmen were mostly from the cities in the early 1890s depression. The government was afraid that all the unemployed men would result in violence in the cities where there was massive unemployment. However the farms still needed some casual work. So they introduced a system to put the men onto country roads, continually walking only in small groups or alone. Rations were supplied to the farms (flour, tea, salt). You arrived at a farm and did a minor job, were given your government rations as payment (so it did not cost the farmer). You were then required to get on the road and trek to the next farm - you only got one lot of rations at each farm. Australia was broke because it was primarily a supplier of wool, wheat and metals (a lesson there).
The gold mines started to boom again in the 1890s, with towns like Ballarat thumping to the sound of the stamp mills all night and day. The gold upturn died off around 1910, and WW1 probably drove the final nail into the coffin of gold mining with labour shortages (but the mines were very deep and expensive by then).
Some did other things in the 1930s, for example dogging, as in my family. The government paid very well for dingo scalps, so the dingo-trappers did well in the outback. It was also the introduction of many aborigines into the economy, and the end of the officially sanctioned punitive raids against aborigines. For example the Coniston massacre of many Anmatyerr people after the murder of a dogger at Brooks Soak - the dogger "hired" an aboriginal woman from a local elder to look after his camp and provide other services, then failed to pay up, so was killed. The aborigines worked with the doggers, so they started to get an income (and liked it, e.g. the Pitjantjatjara). RM Williams was out their trapping in those days, before he got into marketing station supplies with the following economic upturn (the sale of a hand-made packsaddle to Sir Stanley Kidman started his career). A real bushman and all-round difficult bugger, he actually got on well with and respected indigenous people, and wrote a book about those he worked with (it might have been "Beneath Whose Hand"). My mob had given up camel-driving by then, but Williams did a bit. I worked on the outback stations around 1970, out around Wiluna, and everyone still awaited the arrival of his latest mail order catalogue, and handed it around, placing orders.
My Grandpa who lived next door to where I live now had a dairy farm and an orchard. He used to sell the milk and cream and fruit from the orchard to the local township. He used to say you should only have plants you can eat from in the garden.
He hated the galahs that used to land in his almond trees and strip them. So he'd get his trusty Browning semi auto 12 gauge and blast them. Bastards he'd yell.
The farm land now has 158 houses on it.
He hated the galahs that used to land in his almond trees and strip them. So he'd get his trusty Browning semi auto 12 gauge and blast them. Bastards he'd yell.
The farm land now has 158 houses on it.
With the talk of recession in these troubled times, which could lead to another depression?
During the 30's depression, many died from influenza, pellagra (starvation related), tuberculous and other contagious diseases.
We all know what ended the "The Great Depression" through the 1930's, WW2!
Millions of unemployed were now employed, and deaths escalated, and estimated 75 million died as result of this futile war.
During the 30's depression, many died from influenza, pellagra (starvation related), tuberculous and other contagious diseases.
We all know what ended the "The Great Depression" through the 1930's, WW2!
Millions of unemployed were now employed, and deaths escalated, and estimated 75 million died as result of this futile war.
Uhhmmm..produced less greenhouse gases? O
Where's Greta..she'll give us a few tips.
Where's Greta..she'll give us a few tips.
Probably more (the death toll in china is poorly known, 24 million when it may be 50 million - one million died in a single day, Also the 9 million in SE Asia, Dutch East Indies and the Philippines are usually forgotten, as are the 3 million of Japan itself - Russia is sometimes underestimated (probably at least 24 million).Nightjar said:
And what caused the catastrophe of the 1919 Spanish flu to sweep the world? Returning soldiers from WW1. They caused 40% of the Australian population to catch it and 15,000 died (that would be 75,000 dead with our present population). 500 million people caught it around the world, and probably over 50 million died (some estimates are as high as 100 million, one at 199 million). It killed far more than the war itself. 50 to 199 million deaths then would be 215 to 856 million deaths today (which is why I am amazed when people downplay the risks from coronavirus, saying "as many people probably die of flu every year").
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