australia in the turn of the 20th century (1901-1914)
DESCRIPTION
This is how Australia was from 1901-1914. This includes how Australians lived and how their way of life was compared to us.TRANSCRIPT
By Vipin Kannampuzha
Parramatta Marist High School
On a dark, stormy day I
wanted to go out and play
but it was raining like hell.
So I went back home and sat
down bored. My grandpa
came up to me and said
“Why are you sad lad?,”
I replied in a sad tone,
“Because I can’t play,”
“Well let me tell you a
story about when I was as
young and when Australia
had only just begun in the
1900”
I sat down bored, because my
grandpa was one of those
people who remembered the
old days.
“ The first thing that happened in Australia was in 1901was that on New years day, 6 British Colonies in Australia were officially declared a federation”“My word, didn’t we have a huge celebration, the Harbor Bridge was magnificently lit up with fire works and it was just amazing” Again my grandpa started to have a flashback.“Grandpa..”“O.k” he said
“ In Australia back then we didn’t
have cars, we traveled in horse
carts.”
“Cool” I said, “How was it like”
“ Disgusting, only the rich could
afford a horse cart so we had to
walk and because we used horse
warts, there was Horse dung
everywhere and the stink was
unbearable”
“ Yuck,” I wanted to vomit
“To cross the streets,I had to walk
through mud,dust and horse
manure, which had to be cleaned
up each evening. Flies and rotten
smells were what I had to live with
every day and because of the flies
and other insects I was vulnerable
to diseases like lung disease and
diarrhoea.”
“ If you think how your mum
washes your clothes badly, think
again because we didn’t have
washing machines. We had to wash
clothes in a copper over a fire and
we had to use a wooden stick to stir
the clothes and take it out”
Just then I went up to my room and
took a whole heap of clothes and
dumped it in the washing machine.
“In the 20th century Australia also
had a very low sense of hygiene
and caught many diseases. One
thing that was common to spread
the diseases was the fact that there
were many rats which came from
ships and sewers. We were usually
paid to catch the rat.”
Just then a rat ran past me. I
screamed.
“ You come her” my grandpa
shouted, “I’ve been a rat catcher
for 2 years
“ If I did catch diseases, we
couldn’t go to a doctor because
you had to buy one and they were
terribly expensive so we had to
cure ourselves and your grandma
had to cure me.”
I went and hugged my mum and
then came back.
“You are damn lucky to have a
toilet cause we had to dig a hole
and do our business and cover it
with mud and then dig another
hole somewhere else”
I imagined how I would have to go
far away with no privacy and do
my business.
At the thought itself I wanted to
puke.
“In the 20th century there were no
aero planes or televisions.
However the greatest invention we
had was electricity.
We soon had telephones but
everyone wanted to call so the lines
were mostly engaged.”
I imagined living in a era with NO
Television. It was very hard to
imagine. In fact I couldn’t imagine
“The time I had for fun depended
on my status. There were three
statuses: the rich, middle and the
poor. I was one of the poor people
so I had very little time to have fun.
If I could have fun, it should be on
a Sunday because of the Sabbath. I
also liked to read. They had started
to began having more paper. I
loved Charles Dickens.”
“He is soo boring” I said. I mean,
once I fell asleep trying to read his
book.
For entertainment I had lots of
things to do. One form of
entertainment was music. I
remember going to somebody's
house just to listen to their
gramophone. I also enjoyed card
games. Dancing was also very
popular. Dances also gave me the
chance to look at the opposite sex.
That is how I met your
grandmother.”
“We also had beaches”
“ Cool” I breathed
“ However not quite like now. We
Had to dress up fully and we could
only go to the water to wet our feet
This was because the government
believed that women and men
couldn’t swim together. They
even had separate areas for men
and women and different times so
women could bathe.”
“Public holidays were limited. Theonly holiday was federation dayand empire day. Everyone usually wore costumes for empire day because it was the queens birthday. At night, rich families lit fireworks in their backyards or attended community bonfires to celebrate. I Used to go to every community bonfire lighting because it was fun.” • celebrate.
“When I was working, I had very
poor conditions. The pay was
low and I had to work for long
hours and if I complained I got
sacked. In the city many people
worked in factories from 6 am to
10 pm. Some people were so poor
they even sent 12 year olds to
work.”
“ Children were expected to work
from a young age and even though
schools very important many
children worked from 8 because
they were very poor. Many
employees used children because
they were cheap.”
I shuddered because I was 9 and I
couldn’t even image myself
working in a big factory by myself.
“ Also many servants very women.
And if a women was married she
couldn’t work because she was
expected to do housework. This
is why your grandma never worked
in her life. Many women were paid
low.”
I tried to imagine me doing all the
work. I didn’t even do my chores!
“In the wool industry, the shearers
were paid and treated like scum.
They were paid on the basis of 100
hundred sheep shorn for 2 dollars
or 1 pound at that time. If the boss
was unsatisfied, he wouldn’t pay
them. They even had to go and get
the wool. This meant they usually
paid more than they earned.”
“ The workers got paid badly than
the regular wage so many went on
a strike if the wage didn’t meet
their needs. The employees need
workers badly so they usually paid
the workers what they wanted.
Soon the government was sick
of the strikes so they improved
wages and working conditions.”
“ That was the era that I lived in. Now there is Television, aero planes and computers. You have proper toilets and school is affordable and you get decent wages for working.”“I know” I replied. “ It is sunny now, you can go and play”“ Wait a minute grandpa, How old are you?”
“Jake, wake up. You have to go to school,”
I woke up all of a sudden. Wait a minute. It was 6 a.m. Grandpa was dead
already.
You mean to say I dreamt all of those things. I dreamt of grandpa in
heaven telling me about Australia.
That was inhumane. I must have had a flash back of when he told me a
story or something.
But it felt so real.
I wanted to see my grandpa in heaven again and hear his stories
But did this mean……………………………………..
I went To Heaven ????