The Reed Family Picture Album (as drawn by Les)

Our Life as REEDS

Animals

Dad kept canaries at Crook Street along with a goldfinch. Along the way there were many cats: Tabby, Warrigal, Bell, Melba, Squeaker and of course Peter and Squizzy.
Foster the dog was a character. As well as carrying Mum's brollie and not giving it to her when it rained, he also stole a child's drink (or was it food) in a can. Proudly bringing home his prize came Foster, with the poor weeping child in pursuit. But Foster met his match when the Salvation Army band came by: howling, he cleared the fence and took off. Syd describes Foster as likeable, but brainless.
Paddy was a villain. He once ate all of Ern's 1/4 lb block of chocolate, save for the last 2 pieces. He was cunning (for a dog) and loved the easy life.
Rex was a boy's dog. He was noisy, expectant, tireless and ready for anything. Syd remembers Rex having survived both poisoning and near-drowning.

Bonfires and Fireworks

At Crook Street, there was no room in the backyard for fireworks, let alone a bonfire. We had to use the paddock opposite. But that was redressed at Downs Street.
There were 2 big nights: Empire night and Guy Fawkes night (which always coincided with Bobby's birthday). The dogs went to pieces with fright and hid under the couch: they hated the noise. There were fireworks and a big bonfire: plenty of wood as Dad had just pruned the trees. We had dinner first and then the bonfire. We made Guys out of straw-filled bags tied over a broom.
Les remembers that the crackers which the younger Reeds let off under the canvas blinds of the sleepout actually set the blinds ablaze. Les could not speak to tell his mother what was amiss: but luckily she smelled the fire and quickly doused it.
The fireworks were sensational: Catherine wheels, sky rockets, bon-bons, jumping jacks, sparklers and squibs. Ron thought it was fun to place a lit bung-bung under a tin.

Card Games and Indoor Activities

Ricketty Kate, casino. sevens, old maid, beggar-my-neighbour, cribbage, euchre, 500, solo, donkey, oozles, happy families.
Les was tricked by Len and Syd into receiving a brand new pack of cards without "just a few cards" -- namely the picture cards and aces.
Other recreations that were popular with the Reeds were quoits and Mah Jongg. Any games requiring betting meant using matches: but these had to be replaced in the box when the game was over. And these indoor games were strictly limited to wet days or night-time.
"Bobs" was played with a cue like a billiard cue and ping-pong was also a favourite.

Comics

Tuesday was always comics day -- when they were available in the shops. Stories about school: "Gem" and "Magnet". Detective stories: "Union Jack". "Lot-O-Fun" was black-and-white, but the cover was coloured. These comics sold for either 1d or a ha'penny each. The monthly comics were "Boys Own Paper", "The Captain" and the hard-to-obtain "Chums". The Reeds usually had to await until Christmas for the monthlies in their annual format.
"Chicks Own" was popular, as were "Funny Wonder", "Jester", "Tiger Tim" and "Ginger Meggs". Dad frowned on the children having comics and so Ron hid his under his mattress. He was certain that Mum knew about them, but never let on.
The Saturday "Sun" newspaper contained comic cartoons: "Mr Melbourne". Smith's Weekly surpassed everyone with their cartoons.
And Els remembers "Rainbow", "Playbox" and "School Friend".

Crystal Set

The crystal set was about 2 inches by 1 1/2 inches. First wireless with the cats whisker to feel around for sound. Dad put together our first wireless set himself using much solder in the process. It had coils in it which could be lifted out and replaced if you wanted to change stations. Later on we bought small radios with ear phones. Radio improved very quickly and the content was very "proper".

Father Christmas

He was always a mystery until we became older, recalls Ern. Christmas Day was always spent at the home (in Rose Street) of our maternal grandmother. Uncle Bob always pulled out half-a-sovereign from the pudding (that is, from his pocket but we did not know that). Being too young to realize the trick, Ern asked for more pudding, only to find that the maximum he could dig out was thruppence.
Ron believed firmly in Father Christmas until Ern broke the sad news to him. The Christmas toy (along with a birthday toy) were the only ones we received, and they didn't last long. Hanging up the Christmas stockings was a time-honoured tradition until the Reed wags went for pillow slips instead.
Father Christmas also left indications that he had been: soot on the stove, the apple gone and the glass empty.
Syd remembers the din on Christmas morning when the presents were opened and how marvellous the pudding was. One Christmas, it took Syd 3 serves of pudding to score a coin.
For Les, making all those paper festoon rings for decoration stands out, along with the turkey and plum pudding. New Year meant roast pork with crackling and apple sauce, along with more plum pudding, mince pies and shortbread. All those New Year resolutions -- how long did they last? Bobby recalls that by the end of the holidays, the ham was demolished and the bone was used for soup and stew. He and Les were conned by older brother Ron, who pretended that he had only received a potato from Father Christmas.

Gramophone

Ern brought home the record-player which was installed in the sleep-out doorway (later the maid's room). It was "Carolina in the Morning". The cat stole Ron's sausage from his plate while he was listening. Like Queen Victoria of old -- he was NOT amused! Boy oh boy! Didn't we give that record some work! It became so worn that it almost played both sides at once.
Also Gilbert and Sullivan recordings were favourites.

Hot Summer Days/Nights

First, the garden tap was situated in a cool, shady part of the garden and came in for a thrashing every Summer.
Crook Street proved a hot-box in Summer, due to it's daylong exposure to the sun. Downs Street was more pleasant: you could sit outside in the back yard or on the front lawn at night, feeling cool as you watched the 1000s and 1000s of stars visible in those long-ago smog-free skies. Mum and Dad sat out on wicker chairs whilst the young Reeds lay on blankets on the grass.
Ron also remembers playing cards and Maj-Jongg out on the verandah at night.
When due for a treat, Els made spiders from lemonade and ice-cream for the younger Reeds.
Page A, second drawing: the plague of moths was a Summer diversion. And Bobby writes that they often waited for the southerly breeze -- for the cool change.

Ice Cream

Every ice-cream cart had a bell to draw the children from their play and into the street, especially on a Sunday afternoon. When Ern and Ron were young, the ice-creams were a ha'penny or 1d (according to size). By the time of Les and Bobby, they had doubled in price.
Hygiene was at a low ebb: the ice-cream man would trade ice-creams for old bottles. He stored everything together in his cart and never washed his hands.
Ron's ice-cream song appears on page B, first drawing. There were wafers or cones but no double-headers ... and certainly not covered in lollies or rich sauces as they are now! And didn't the dogs love ice-cream (notes Syd)!

Kitchen Table Homework

The Crook Street kitchen was tiny and at first had no electricity. The Reeds congregated in the kitchen where kerosene lamps illuminated the children's homework, done by necessity at the kitchen table. This tradition carried on to Downs Street. But the kitchen table was also used for ironing (refer the ninth drawing on page H) and for games. Les has depicted many table games over the 14 pages of the collection: ping-pong, tiddly-winks and a Reed version of billiards. Homework was done after tea, often as Mum ironed. And one or more of the cats chased the shadow of the swaying electric cord, as Bobby recalls. As the family grew and aged, Les and Bobby were the only ones left doing homework at the kitchen table.
At Downs Street, when the old kitchen table was shifted out, the workmen found many fossilized crusts hidden under the table on a secret ledge.
But some of the Reeds used the table for its correct purpose. Syd notes that you had to hand in exemplary homework to have your name placed in the school honours book. Which meant extra effort if maps were being reproduced. Syd found homework annoying when more enjoyable activities were in the offing.
Les: The old white pine kitchen table was faithfully scrubbed and thus worn in places. Many a red or blue ink stain spilt upon it with a plea of "Don't tell Dad I did it!" It also served as our dinner table. (Webmaster: I still have possession of some of the snowy white double-damask tablecloths, inscribed in the corner in Indian ink "REED"). We were such a large family. We had to use a bench along one side (Len, Syd, Les and Bobby). Dad sat at the head of the table: Ern and Ron at the other end. Along the other side: Mum, Dot and Els.

Meals and After School Snacks

Bobby: We loved to come home from school to bread and beef dripping with salt and pepper, or bread and jam. But "after school" also meant going out for the messages (with basket) and perhaps even taking "the boys" with you (Reedesque for "walking the dogs"). Les depicts "getting the messages": the sixth drawing on page H.
Les loved Mum's cooking, full stop! Mum turned the apples from the Reed's 4 apple trees into pies and tarts (those that remained after the boys had thrown them at one another). The pie was served with real cream. After school meant shinnying up the nectarine tree (in season) and gorging on nectarines.
Els notes that Dad preferred grilled meat, but all Mum's cooking was wholesome and delicious. Mum and her sister Alice were terrific pastry cooks. After school, one had a "piece" (meaning bread with something delectable spread on top). Favourites were mustard, tomator sauce, sugar, honey, treacle or jam.
Ron recalls the regularity of meals over each week: the Sunday roast stretched out (cold meat in sandwiches, shepherd's pie etc), Monday was stew (because that was washing day and the meal had to cook itself), Tuesday was rabbit, Wednesday was tripe.

Medicine

Bobby has a funny memory (sparked by the subject of "Medicine"): His tonsils were removed at St Elmo's Hospital. Ern gave Bobby a toy gramophone, which Mum told the nurses was a gift from my eldest son. So (for the duration of his hospital confinement) Bobby always referred to Ern as "my eldest son".
Anyway, Bobby recalls castor oil, Dr Jenner's cough syrup and Greatheads for coughs and colds. You held your nose and Dad poured the mixture from the spoon into your mouth. But Les spat out as quick as Dad poured -- and Dad copped the lot.
Mum always had great trouble getting tablets down.
Les is philosophical ... Simple things like change of season mixtures were part of our lifestyle. A family event; like hot cross buns at Easter and April Fools Day. But if you had a sore throat, that dreaded Greatheads and if you were silly enough to say that you didn't feel well, that repulsive looking purple bottle cmae off the top shelf: castor oil.

Old Sayings

"Get a bag" when the footy player dropped a mark or cricketer fumbled a catch. Bobby always said: "The time has come the walrus said". Syd loved the following: "cocky's joy" (slang for golden syrup or treacle), "like a Bondi tram", "up there, Cazaly", "drongo", "lead in your boot", "bonehead", "Shanks's pony", "gotcha", "arf a mo", "seventh day ventriloquist", "blooming Monday", "down the hatch", "bless my heart", "flaming wet", "like a month of wet Sundays", "fair devil", "strike a light". Les liked these ones: "port-holes in your coffin", "pork pie in Pentridge", "here's sixpence", "there's a joke for you", "struth", "any plum", "what a corker", "love a duck", "so's your fat aunt", "snifter says who", "with knobs on", "but the wheels fell off", "tripe", "by jingo", and "what ho the diddle-oh". Ern was keen on shouting: "Ziff!" when a bearded man want by. Bobby also shouted at the footy: "If it had been a boarding-house pudding, it would have splattered all over you!"

On The Way To School

In Winter, if we dawdled to school we could crack the ice on the top of puddles and horse troughs: good fun! We walked a mile to school, and a mile back home AND we went home each day for lunch. So lots of walking there. Every so often, we stayed at school at lunchtime with a cut lunch: tongue sandwiches. At home the lunch featured tinned herrings and pilchards.
Les remembers the bell tolling in the tower at Moreland big school, hurrying us up; whereas Els fondly recalls the rattle of pencils in the schoolbag on your back.
The one-mile trek passed the blacksmith shop, as well as the little drab shop (near the railway station) run by Fleapowder and Bugjuice (whom Bobby tormented.)
It was tram and bus to High School.

Pantomimes and Outings

[In the photos above, from left: Syd and Jack Carolan paddle all the way from Albert Park to St Kilda. The Reed family tuck-in on an excursion. The P.S. Weeroona.]

Pantos (usually at Christmas time) were a great source of entertainment: "Mother Goose", "Cinderella", "Puss In Boots" and "Aladdin". We liked the "comic man" best; the rest of the story made little impact on us. Mo (Roy Rene) was in at least one of them.
At the old His Majesty's Theatre we used to gather in a side or back lane waiting for the doors to open. When they did, we charged in a mad scramble up several flights of stairs to the "gods". First up got the the best seats. Our main outings were to the Zoo or to South Melbourne beach which was served by cable trams which had to negotiate several turns -- not so good if you were standing up.
There were Sunday School picnics from the Methodist Church in Albion Street to Heidelberg, transported in either horse-drawn wagons or farmer's cart.
And later, trips in the P.S. Weeroona or P. S. Hygeia were very memorable. They travelled around the bay: Dromana, Queenscliff, Sorento and so on.
There were family picnics at Williamstown beach and the Botanical Gardens.

Play-acting and Theatricals

Ern and Ron missed most of these events being more advantageously occupied on life's journey. Dot and Els became the theatre managers: first in the kitchen with the table as the stage and the pantry providing the dressing room. Then they advanced to the workshop over the stables. The screams were life-like: a lady living nearby rushed over to assist one time.
Len always played the role of Bill Sykes, with Syd as a docile brother (not much room for airing one's Thespian talents!) Len was required to knock over a metal tray as he entered each scene.

Reading

Dad bought a copy of "Gone With The Wind", which everyone took turns to read. Dad asked Bobby what he thought of it. Bobby's critique was that the story could have been whittled-down to a quarter it's size. Dad agreed.
There are many photos on these pages of the Reeds reading. This usually took place on a warm Sunday afternoon at Sorrento, or in front of the fire on a Winter's day (and especially night) or when it rained too much to go outside. Syd recalls that (as children) there was just too much to do outside to be stuck inside reading.
"The Bulletin" and newspapers were Dad's favoured fare. He teased Mum about their different tastes in literature. He liked sports and politics: she liked her History. Dad even enjoyed the gruesome stories penned by Edgar Allan Poe. Also popular was the Melbourne murder-mystery "Mystery of a Hansom Cab". And W. W.W. Jacobs deserves mention: his many characters were favourites of Dad.

Special Books

Mum's collection of History books (always relating to Great Britain) had pride of place in the Reed household.
Christmas time meant the annuals -- like the "Boys' Own Paper" (often received as presents) -- they were much looked-forward to.
Ern had his own room at Downs Street: this room housed his ever-growing collection of books (which became more inexpensive after WWI) and encyclopedias.
Les jokingly enumerates the many uses for Webster's Dictionary: pressing flowers, pressing tongues, reaching to high places and even for reference.
Els recalls stories which were written about the animals in the Melbourne Zoo. She particularly liked "Molly, the Orangutan".
Father Christmas left for Ern a written account of Shackleton's voyages to the Antarctic. He found this book enthralling.
Bobby received many books from Els, usually on his birthday: "The White Man's Garden", "The Meeting Pool", "The Jungle Book" and "Winnie The Pooh".
Ron recalled Ballantyne's adventure stories: "Coral Island", "The Gorilla Hunters" and so on.

Test Cricket (Reed-style)

England versus Australia tests are not brought to a conclusion simply because the ball disappears into the crowd. But that was likely to occur during the Reed tests: there was no spare ball if it went over the fence and was irretrievable.
Bobby and Kevin Sullivan had their own rules for Test cricket as played in the lane: bowl the other chap out 10 times and then bat yourself for 10 wickets. If required, underarm bowling was permissible.
But the real Reed Test Matches occurred in the back yard at Downs Street. It was played very seriously and very competitively. The pitch was one that Dad put down and was composed of Merri Creek soil (in the best tradition). We used Vigoro balls (not cricket balls) due to the damage which a real ball might cause. Feelings sometimes ran quite high at these matches.

Visits by Aunts and Uncles

The visits (either home or away) occurred on a Sunday afternoon.
To get to the home of Uncle Fred and Auntie Nell and Uncle Syd required a trip on a horse coach from the corner of Lygon and Albion Streets. Mum's brothers and sisters were close-by; Dad's further away.
Bobby recalls that there was a painting of Admiral Nelson on the wall at Downs Street, alongside the studio photo of Ern and Ron as tiny-tots. Auntie Nell pointed to the photo: "And who are those children?" The answer came: "That's Ern and Ron." She then turned her attention to Nelson. "And who is that?" she quizzed. Les promptly replied to his depressing aunt: "Oh, that's Uncle Horatio!"
Les liked Uncle Bob and Auntie Ada best of the visitors: they were cheery, kind and gentle -- always brimming over with devilry. Uncle Will was always brimming-over too, but slightly differently. However, Auntie Daphne was not remembered as ball of fun. Uncle Jack (big and very grown-up), Uncle George (kindly and gentle) and Uncle Norm (likeable, placid, uncomplicated) were also welcome guests.
Syd (disgruntled) points out that the visitors often ate the best food; but that was alright really -- one simply returned the favour on visiting them! Syd agreed with Les on who the favourite visitors were, and added that he found Aunt Cardia's drawl difficult.
The Flemmings were cousins of Dad. Teddy Flemming was Bobby's age and boasted of how well he could fight, until Bobby hit him in the eye.

Wages on a Saturday Night and Lunch Money

The "Saturday wages" for the Reed children began as a meagre 1d per week and then increased to thruppence and by Bobby's time sixpence. The Reeds spent this pocketmoney on lollies. There were 3 lolly shops close by. The lollies most favoured were: Bosca beans, mint tiles, acid drops, aniseed balls, licorice, boiled lollies, Nulla-Nullas, milk poles, snowballs, rose jubes, chocolate stars and funny faces.
The lollies came in a paper twist and a ha'penny bought enough to keep you going at the pictures.
Ron was able to buy his lunch at school for tuppence: a meat pie (1d) and two cakes (at a ha'penny each).