REMEMBER THE DEPRESSION?
OLIVE’S TWENTY-NINTH POST
“When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.” Billy - age 4
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Olive
Good evening, everyone. I have four movies in this blob tonight. There’s one about me showing an old iron like we used to use in the old days.
There’s another when I’m explaining my experiences with unions.
There’s a third one when I sing a song, pretty awful singing, but it’s a good song. “Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag…..” Here’s that little film just to give you a taste.
……………………………..click for Ollie’s song
………………………………..And lastly, there’s the story of how I took Barnie to the doctor for his ear. I hope you like them.
Mike
We should say how we work this, Ollie. You being almost 108, and not seeing well enough to type and upload YouTube stuff, you just talk and I do the rest.
Now, here’s what’s on from my side tonight
You remember that I told you about David Potts’s book on the Great Depression in Australia?
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Olive
Vaguely.
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Mike
David has written this provocative book which proposes that the Great Depresson of the thirties was not such a bad experience for many people.
In fact reading his book, I can’t wait for the next one to hit us.
No, Ollie, seriously no one would wish that! But there were some strange side benefits to being plunged into poverty.
I’m going to go over bits in the book to see if the stories spark memories for you as someone who lived through that period. But first, here you are with Evelyn round about 1930.
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Mike
And you with some dog who you loved dearly, it seems.
Look at the shadow of the photographer. It looks like a man. I wonder who he was?
Olive
I can’t see well enough to tell.
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MikeNever mind…………….First thing that’s interesting is that even city people seemed to be able to start growing their own vegetables quite easily.
David’s students, (the interviews were done in the sixties) talked to 2000 folks who had lived though the depression
69% said they grew fruit and veggies in their own gardens around their houses. Here’s a back yard veggie garden from David’s book.
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………………………………….Since horse and carts still did deliveries, there were useful dollops of manure along the roads that did not lie long before they were spread onto a garden.
I guess kids were trained to watch for the horse droppings and pounce. They also collected wood, the valiant little souls.
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…………………………..Did you ever grow your own vegetables, Ollie?
Olive
No, but Mum did in Adelaide. She had vegetables that Billy helped with, Billy was the adopted boy, I told you about.
Mum also had lovely grape vines across a trellis, tiny little grapes hanging hang down in bunches, ever so sweet.
Mike
I know you kept chooks (chickens) at some time, or at least looked after them. We have the evidence.
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Olive
You say that’s me? I’m not sure.
Mike
It’s you all right, but where? I guess we’ll never know.
Here’s a quote from a lady from Adelaide who remembers the depression gardens well.
“We had apricot trees. Mother made jam from them, and peach and fig, plum and nectarine. It was the usual thing for people to make their own jams. We grew most vegetables too, potatoes and carrots, caulflowers cabbages and onions.”
Olive
Mum did that too.
Mike
People lived off rabbits, didn’t they? They shot them or trapped them themselves, or bought them from Hawkers who came around on carts.
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Olive
That’s exactly right. You bought them usually in pairs, either skinned or unskinned. Unskinned rabbits were cheaper. I loved rabbit. I still do.
Mike
Well, the book says that many people got sick of the contant diet of rabbits, Ollie.
One man said: “I hated them.” and another said. “I could never get the taste out of me mouth.” A woman grumbled; “I cant even stand the smell of them now.”
Olive
Not me. I never got sick of rabbits. No fear! Roasted, in stews, any way you like. Just lovely!
Mike
What about bread and dripping? When people could not afford butter, they put dripping on the bread, the book says.
Olive
Yeah, we did that too. We’d break the fat that hardened on top after the roast and we’d dip our bread in the gravy underneath. Then, we’d spread the fat, that was the dripping, on the bread too. Nothing was wasted, yer see.
Mike
Now, here’s something for those who’ve read the previous blogs. I set you folks the task of guessing what a bullocky tart was. Well, here’s the answer. A depression girl remembers it like this.
“Sometimes for a bit of variety, we’d fry the bread and then put jam on it. Dad used to call it Bullocky tart. We used to say, “what are we having for dinner?” and nine times out of ten it would be bullocky tart.”
Olive
I never heard that one.
Mike
After the depression, people went back to butter of course but they still fondly remembered the bread and dripping days.
Food, clothing ,and shelter, each has a chapter in David’s book. There’s lots of interesting things about keeping warm and clothed in the book.
Second hand clothing was passed around of course as it is today. Footwear was harder to get and more crucial. Men tramping the streets looking for work, soon wore out their boots.
Olive
Dad had a shoe last. He used to mend all our shoes and sometimes for the neighbours too. Of course many kids went barefoot.
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Mike
Here’s a bit I like …. The government released surplus army overcoats for the unemployed. And because the coats were khaki, the authorities dyed them all black. Men who got one and wore it came to be called black crows.
Olive
I never heard that either.
Mike
Don’t fret, Ollie. You could probably count on the fingers of one hand the people in Australia who remember that expression today.
Here’s you explaining how the old fashioned irons worked.
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click here to see Ollie with an old iron
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Mike
I guess you mean that when you stood the iron in a draught, the fire inside would flare up and heat the ironing surface. It seems weird though, having coal and carbon around the white clothes you’d be ironing. It’s a wonder the irons weren’t dirty.
One of the main problems of the times was the humiliation of being down on your luck, both from the point of view of looking for work and being shabby.
Women took pride in not only keeping the family warm, but in keeping their men looking as good as possible as they tramped the streets.
One daughter reports that her mother took Dad’s suit, it was shiny with so much use, unpicked the whole garment, and then stitched it back together again inside out, so it was shiny no longer.
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………………………This is what they meant when they said you had to put on a brave face, that you could not drop your bundle. That was a famous expression, wasn’t it?
Olive
Too right! Whatever you did, you couldn’t drop your bundle.
Mike
Did you even hear of a Wagga blanket Ollie? No? ……
Olive
I never heard that
Mike
It might have been just a local expression.
To make a Wagga blanket, this what I imagine you’d do from what the book says. First, collect the following; flower sacks, newspapers and sewing gear.
Cut the sacks and lay them out flat the size of a double bed. Sew the sacks together to make one piece of rouch cloth. Make a similar piece for the top. Now, lay newspapers on the sewn sacks.
Next, make balls of newspaper and spread thickly on the flat papers. These balls should be close spaced. Add another layer of newpapers and then the other sack quilt for the top
Sew the whole sandwich together, being careful that the paper balls do not all bunch up in the same place and that’s a Wagga blanket.
Olive
It would work too. We called that the Menzies blanket. That’s what the men called newspapers when you used them for a blanket, sleeping rough outside under a bridge.
Mike
I never heard that one……Housing was a big problem of course. Surprisingly, a very high number of people owned their own homes in those days. Times had been relatively good before the depression and it was easier to buy a house than it is now.
With strong unions, the basic wage was between 80 and 100 shillings a week, meaning between four and five pounds since there were 20 shillings in the pound.
Well, a house cost between 300 and 500 pounds. That means that, with an annual income of 260 pounds ( five by fifty two) you could buy a house with the equvalent of two annual incomes. Today, it would take between 6 to 10 annual incomes on an average salary to buy a house.
But when the depression came, many people found themselves put out on the street because they could not pay the mortgage just as would happen today and which so many people fear right now.
Olive
I seen that! People put out with their things piled on the footpath. It was so sad.
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MikeBut there was resistance, wasn’t there? The book says that in some places there were bicycle squads who rode the streets ringing their bells to warn the neighbourhood that an eviction was in progress.
Quickly a crowd would gather and block the bailiffs work. Often neighbours would be carrying the furniture in at the back door as removalists were taking it out the front. Did you ever see that, Ollie?
Olive
I seen the crowds but never going in the back door like that.
Mike
The book also says that renters had a good trick up their sleeves. They’d do what was called, the moonlight flit.
Families would be be off in the middle of the night without paying their rent.
Olive
Oh, doing the moonlight flit. Yes many people did that. If you had to choose between putting food on the table or paying the rent, what would you choose?
Mike
Indeed!……….. With the evictions, sometimes it got ugly, though. There was violence.
But in many cases the landlords and the banks did not evict people. It was better for them to have a good tenant or owner in the house than have it empty and, a prey to vandals.
Many landlords assumed that people were honest and that they’d pay the back rent when times improved, and they usually did. Seems like there was much higher trust in each other in those days.
Over all people reported that the banks were surprisingly lenient. A Queensland man remembers that the bank let him pay “What I could afford”
Olive
People were more honest then, yer see.
Mike
It seems to be true. But there was crime of course. Betting was illegal. So away from the racetracks, the “Cockatoos” would stand guard in alleyways to watch for the police as the betting went on down the lane..
When there was theft, it tended to be fruit or chooks from gardens, clothes from lines. etc, petty pilfering.
Prostitution increased, some say. Sometimes sex was used as barter by desperate women. One man tells this story of a memorable night.
“It was tuppence to go home on the tram and I haven’t got tuppence. It was about 11 o’clock at night and I was looking in the shop windows, and a voice says. “Have you got two bob (two shillings) mate?” and it’s a girl about 22.
We got talking and I said, “when did you have a feed?” and she said. “I had a cup of tea this morning.” I said. “I’m broke, I couldn’t even take you home on a tram, but if you’d like to walk home, there is a bed and something to eat.”
So she came home to Drummond st. and she was there a fortnight. She washed our clothes. Cooked whatever there was, did the ironing. Of course she came into bed with me. She didn’t have to but she didn’t mind.”
We’re all in the same boat, that was how people tended to look on things, it seems. Even if it was not true, even if others were much more comfortable than oneself, you did not dwell on it.
Of course there weren’t the dramatic disparities that there are now between the salaries of top management, the CEO’s, and the worker. No manager was making $10 million a year or its equivalent. There was less reason for envy.
The churches played their part in the crisis.The Salvation Army was magnificent as usual, and the unions fought for their members.
Olive
Oh yes, In Broken Hill the unions did almost everything for you. If you were short of food or firewood, the union bought it to you. If there was domestic trouble, you know fighting in the home, the union took care of it. Here’s me talking about the union
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Olive talks about unionsMike
Really? They were involved to that extent? Even back then, hospitals in Australia were free which is a surprise for me to find out.
Doctors in private practice were, according to David, “drawn or pushed to be charitable.”
OliveI can tell you about that. (In this clip, Olive tells the story of son Barnie and his earache, how she dinked (doubled him) him on Billy’s bike to a kindly doctor. This happened round about 1930. She was 30 and Billy was 10.
Before playing it, here is Barnis with perhaps the very bike that features in the story.
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MikeAnd here is Olive with a bike from around that time
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MikeLastly, Olive and a much older son Barnie, she on a bike again. Bikes were really big in that family it seems
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………………………………….click here for Barnie’s story
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It seems that society worked quite efficiently to mitigate those hard times. There was the dole which got you food stamps. Families were strong in those days and they pulled together. Few people were left to fend completely for themselves.
Olive
We all helped each other.
Mike
You had a very different outlook on life in those days. You thought about material things much less than we do.
Nowadays, people are clients or consumers rather than neighbours or family members. Born to shop is the motto today. You know the expression, Ollie, shop till you drop?
Today, People develop pressing identity needs, things they must have to feel worthwhile. Designer clothes, pampered bodies, certain makes of cars, McMansions, big boats, etc.
The average house these days is three times larger than the one our parents had, and they had more children than we do as well. The list goes on and on of material things people must have if they are not to feel miserable .
Olive
We had nothing and we wanted for nothing. I mean, we had enough to eat and a roof over our heads and if we got a gramaphone or a radio, that was nice. I made the kids’ clothes myself, yer know. We all did.
Mike
David’s book is especially interesting talking about the values people held dear in those days, and what a strange list it seems now. Listen to this.
Sobriety thrift, chastity, cleanliess, punctuality, self reliance. Of course I’m sure few people actually lived up to those standards
There was the six o’clock swill at the pubs and probably more public drunkenness then than there is today, but it’s interesting what their ideals were.
A woman is quoted as saying. “He who steals my purse, steals trash.” What a strange thing to believe, isn’t it?
Olive
I never heard that. But it’s true we did not think much about money.
Mike
Most sayings of that time encouraged people to look on the bright side of adversity. I like this one.
“I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet”
Olive
I remember that one.Now about this? “Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile>”
Olive sings the song in this clip below. The second line is “while you’ve a lucifer to light your fag.” A lucifer was a match and a fag, a cigarette of course.
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click for Ollie’s song
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Mike
“I’ve got plenty of nothing, and nothing’s plenty for me…” They go on on and on such sayings.. Count your blessings. Chin up. Whistle while you work. There’s always a silver lining
I wonder when the next depression comes, if we’ll muster the same optimism?
I read another book about the US recently and the growth of the evangelical churches.
In the areas where all the manufacturing jobs have gone overseas , like Michigan, people flock to these evangelical churches.
And what are they told to do? Not to be self reliant, not grow their own veggies, not to make their own clothes, but to wait for the apocalypse.
The end of the world is at hand those churches teach, and if you are one of the chosen ones, you’ll raptured up to Heaven, leaving all the bad people behind.
I know you are religious, Ollie, here is a lovely photo of you taking communion in your room, but religion should fill us with hope and sympathy for others, not have us resigned to catastrophe.
At least that’s my opinion.
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………………………..Ollie, I’m ending with a story for you. You’ve told me so many (my favorite so far is the steam tram I think or catch the ragman) that I want to tell you one.
Here’s a story form my childhood isnpired by Peter Oakley who I told you about. At 79, Peter, under the code name of geriatric1929, has been telling stories to the youtube camera for about a year now and given a lot of people great pleasure and confidence.
I’m 11 years younger. Hopefully, my story(ies) will do the same. At least i suspect you’ll like this one.
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click for my story about Bateau Bay
Sunday, July 15th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
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39 Responses to “REMEMBER THE DEPRESSION?”
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July 16th, 2007 at 1:30 am
That sure was an interesting post, Mike. I’d like to think people would come together again if we ever have another “Great Depression”, but, who knows?
The stories sound the same as the depression stories of the U.S. depression. My grandmother told me lots of stories of her growing up during the 1920’s and 1930’s and it all basically came back to family helping family. Nowadays, everyone has their hand out to the government for all their needs. It could be a rude awakening for lots of folks one day.
Congrats on mastering YouTube. I’m really enjoying the videos.
Have a good one and don’t work too hard.
Eric
Eric, it would be very interesting to see a comparison between the impacts of the two depressions. I have the feeling, it may be a a smug bias, that our depression came in a society more set up to care. But as you say, the on the ground stories like those your Gran would tell, we probably indeed very similar.
Do you know any historians in the subject who could compare? P.S. there will be two more videos in the piece soon. OIlie talking about unions and then her telling a story about dealing with doctors at that time. Mike the helper
July 16th, 2007 at 2:05 am
Mike and Ollie, the quote “He who steals my purse, steals trash,” is a quote from Shakespeare’s play Othello. The character Iago is comparing stealing possessions to destroying someone’s reputation, which is what he tried to do to Othello.
Dana, thanks for that. I feel silly not to have known esp, since I made a film about Shakespeare, well the possibilty that Marlowe wrote Shakespeare (Much ado About Something) Mike the helper.
July 16th, 2007 at 7:38 am
Ollie and Mike
That was a wonderful post about the Depression. I wasn’t around then, but I remember my mother and aunties talking about it. However, there was a carry over from those days. We always had our own vege garden, fruit trees and chook. I remember bread with dripping rather than butter and because we weren’t a well off family, Mum turning collars and cuffs to make shirts last longer. I remember helping with bottling fruit and jam making.
All those things were instilled in me and when I married, in the 60s, I did all the same things to save money. I now live on my own so I don’t bother with bottling fruit or making jam, but I do have a small herb and vege garden as do my daughters and they have chooks as well, plus fruit trees.
I loved seeing the videos of you, Olive, and listening to what you had to say. Your memory is phenomenal for your age…congratulations!
Thank you both so much for a most interesting post.
What an interesting answer, Robyn. Hopefully others will come in with their stories too, and with expressions which have fallen out of use. it was a lot of work putting this together with ollie. All we ask is that you tell people about her blog. It deserves to be read in schools I feel. mike the helper
July 16th, 2007 at 9:44 am
It is so very interesting to read about the depression from your point of view, Olive. I enjoyed the photos and the videos, especially the one of you singing!
Someday (soon I hope) your blog and stories will be considered invaluable for the history of Australia and the world!
Naturally I too hope she will be discovered, Jo Ann, especially by teachers. Mike the Helper.
July 16th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Hi Mike and Ollie
Came here via Crikey!
Just curious as to where Olive hales from (see the last name ….) - I’m wondering if we might share ancestors down the track a ways. My lot of Riley’s come from the Hunter Valley, still researching where they come from a bit further back from that.
In any event, enjoyed the chat and the videos.
God bless you both
Don’t thing so, Noel. Riley is the name from her second marriage. She was born Dangerfield in broken hill. If you go back about three posts, you’ll find a film clip where she talks about her name and the problems it caused her. Mike the helper
Noel
July 16th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
Great blog. Remember the Gas Crisis in Victoria a few years (maybe 10) ago? With the gas out in the middle of winter, and Jeff Kennett telling us we had nothing to complain about, it was interesting to see that we came together with our neighbours for the first time. I remember lending next door our solar camping shower.
There you go, Leigh. I’m sure it would be a fascinating thing to live through, a great depression. I like toying with the idea in part because it reminds me that the money I have coming in, and the bit that’s hoarded, are not all that stands between the family and misery, that very different circumstances, might be very stimulating in fact.
We are so inured with the idea that our worth is our net worth when nothing could be further from the truth.
The person with everything, the sleek yacht, the huge house, is constantly worried about slippage and thievery. He or she must needs live behind a barrier, wary of anyone who is not in their income circle. It’s a velvet prison I suspect
And is it really that much more fun out on the massive motor yacht, leaving others in your wake, than me walking Tosca on the beach at Avoca with the lap of the waves at my feet? How many glasses can your raise to your own cleverness as 1000 horses throb below decks and you lay down a carbon print to rival a road train?
l I think I took to Ollie early on in part because she is the same as me and Katya, a lover of the simple. I was fascinated to discover early on that this ex barmaid, this ex egg sorter, loved bushwalking and sleeping overnight in caves at the end of the train line. Mike the helper.
July 17th, 2007 at 6:59 am
Wow… there is something to be learned from each and every post. And this one was not the exception. I don’t know much about the depression since I have always been quite bad at history but your post was like a history class. A lot of kids should read it: they wourld learn so much more from here than from a lot of teachers. Ollie’s persepctive is really honest and personal. Who, better than a person who lived all that, could explain history in such a realistic way? =) By the way, I’m glad to see Ollie is as beautiful and funny as always. Kisses.
Thanks Monica, as i mentioned eslewhere, yoiu would not pick that one of the film clips was shot 4 years ago. Mike the helper
July 17th, 2007 at 8:22 am
I’m Bart from Flanders, the Dutch speaking part of Belgium, and I’m very happy about the fact that you’ve recovered, dear Olive, since a 107-year-old definitely hasn’t got much resistence anymore when falling ill or getting sick: gawdy.
Bart, How did you discover the blog? You are the first from Flanders I think. Mike
July 17th, 2007 at 9:46 am
Hello there. These films are great, it’s wonderful to see Olive talking about things “in person”. I hope we get to see many more. I found that my parents continued with many thrifty measures after the depression, and this attitude was also passed to myself and my sisters. I don’t think I’ve had the same success with my own children though! By the way Mike, there were twenty-four shillings in a pound, not twenty. Lynne from Bulli.
Lynne, I’m sure you are wrong about the shillings. The ten shilling note was half a pound. But there were 12 pence in a pound. Mike the helper historian
July 17th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
Well: I sent you a message around the time she turned 107, asking you whether she was still alive, and you sent me a lovely picture of her and two women while blowing the candles for her 107th birthday, plus I found out about her blog (or “blob”, as she calls it herself) => I collect pictures of at least 103-year-olds (both deceased and still alive) with a known exact date of birth (and death) in order to put them online, remember?
Bart, I wewnt to your site and found only music, no 103 year olds. I wonder if I went to the wrong place. Mike the helper
July 17th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
Hi Mike, Sorry I was wrong. There are twenty shillings in a pound, not twenty four. I was getting mixed up with twenty pence in a shilling! Lynne from Bulli.
You are forgiven, Lynne. Anyone got any depression stories from old relatives? Mike the helper
July 18th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
I’m enjoying your YouTube videos, Olive. I continue telling others about them and your movie.
I remember stories my mother (born the same year as you, Olive - 1899) told me. She lived in one of the U.S. midwest states that surround our Great Lakes. Canada is on the opposite shores.
I agree with Lynne, that many of the frugal and conservative attitudes were passed on to my generation (I’m 71.) My Mom grew up on a farm, so she already had the “waste not, want not” attitude. Also, her life style always was “to make something out of nothing.” In other words nothing ever went to waste.
Like you, Olive, she valued what was important in life. She used to say that all anyone needed was “a place to stay, food, clothes to wear” and everything else was extra or a bonus. Seems to me everyone should be entitled to that at least. Yes, others did seem to help others more those years ago, I think. When she did well, she helped others, and when she had rough times they helped her.
July 19th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
Just want you to know, Olive and Mike, that a group of 14 older people in a retirement community nursing home saw your video today. They all seemed to enjoy it from the looks on their faces and their attention to the TV.
I talked to a few of them afterward. They were impressed with how good you looked, Olive, and that you could get around so well. They liked seeing you dance. They especially liked to hear what you said and some of your ideas.
They did say, too, “I felt sad her Mother didn’t treat her better.” They were glad you won the roller skating prize. A couple ladies noted you “had a hard life,” but they were impressed with how you overcame those challenges. Someone else mentioned that “some women here had man problems like you.”
Though I told them in the beginning you were 107 now, almost 108, after the program one lady said to me, “Now, when did she die?” I laughed and said “She didn’t! Olive recently took an airplane trip for a visit; is still going strong.” They really liked your sense of humor and seeing you smiling and laughing.
They’re waiting to get a computer for the patients at that nursing home in a few months. Maybe then they’ll have someone like your Mike to help them see your blog, and send you a comment. I’ll help them get started as best I can then.
Joared/Jo Ann
What a fantastic report, Jo Ann. Where was this. I think you are in the Southern US arn’t you? Did they not have trouble with Olive’s accent. How old was the audience. really old? I wish I’d been there. Mike the helper.
July 20th, 2007 at 4:13 am
No, that’s right though, since it’s just my own website (not updated in seven years, mind you): all those pictures are posted at “Imagestation”.
July 20th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
You’re right, Mike. There were 20 shillings in a pound and 21 shillings in a guinea.
July 20th, 2007 at 6:07 pm
This showing to 80 to 90 yr olds, was in the city of LaVerne, east of Los Angeles in southern California, U.S.A. The first showing, a weekend or so ago, was for a much smaller group in the same age range in the nearby city of Claremont.
Some of the audience had hearing problems, but no one complained about Olive’s accent. I think they’ve become a little more used to listening to people speaking with accents in most nursing homes and hospitals in our part of the U.S. Many of our doctors, nurses and nurses aides have accents since they’re from other countries, though none from Australia.
In addition to the numbers I gave you, there was a 50 yr old dtr visiting her mother, a high school age boy volunteer helper, a 30 yr old activities assistant. There may be some more groups elswhere to see your video soon. I’ll keep you posted.
July 20th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
I should have explained that California is on the Pacific West Coast of the U.S. above the country of Mexico.
Jo Ann, Sorry, I just forgot. We all know where the great state of Calif is, I hope. I’ve been there countless times, and in fact studied at Stanford Univ. in the north for two years. Mike the helper
July 21st, 2007 at 6:02 am
Here you can find my galleries, Mike:
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2132650201 (living at age
103)
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2334190093 (died at age
103)
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2334260093 (living at age
104)
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2543575093 (died at age
104)
Hi Bart, I have had a look at your collection of centenarians photos and they are fantastic. What Bart has done, folks, and i dont know how, is collected hudrens of photographs of cents. from all over the world and arranged them in photo books by age.
It is fascinating to click through and see all the faces which have made it it to these great ages. Well worth a visit. Look esp. for an old man, very theatrical looking called, Johannes Heester. An amazing face! He’s in the living 103 years old collection.
I’ve asked Bart it he will tell a bit about himself and how he has built up this collection. I suspect he’s dutch. If he does, then it can be part of our blog. In the meantime. do visit his collection. Mike the helper
July 21st, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Hi! Mike & Olive ..
It’s great to be able to `see’ you live on video.
I enjoyed your `blob’ very very much!!
I should have posted my comment yesterday … being a really special day .. 20072007!!
:)
July 22nd, 2007 at 3:31 am
Thanks Olive for the memory! And Mike for bringing them to us!
Paul I went to the Elders Tribune site. What a good idea. ( http://www.EldersTribune.com ) I left a copy of Olive singing, “Pack up your troubles” there for your readers to enjoy as well. What an amazing medium this is, eh?
Also, I must tell you that I very much wanted to link to your Elders Tribune site and did not know how to do it. I worked it out, to my great pride, and yours is my first successful personally placed link. Day by day, one learns! Mike the helper.
July 23rd, 2007 at 11:07 pm
Dear Olive,
I’m a Swiss journalist. I would like to profile you and your blog. Could you email me, if you’re interested?
Best wishes.
Sure, Barnaby. We’ll be happy to co operate. Mike the Helper.
July 24th, 2007 at 5:30 am
Hello Olive & Mike! My comment is not on any one specific entry, only to say hello from Missouri, USA, and I love to check up on this blog while I’m at work (not much to do, usually!) I originally saw a link to your blog through an e-newsletter I subscribe to on Kim Komando’s website (she publishes tech information & news for the computer inept to the proficient! so helpfull) And today your blog got another plug!! So I just wanted to say, you’re being advertised here in the US, so keep up the good work. I really enjoy reading your posts, it’s a real treat.
Mel from Missouri
That’s good news Mel about the plug from Kim Komando. We work hard on the blog, Ollie and I, and think it’s gong well. Beng able to put up movies, has been a big jump. Mike the helper
July 24th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
Good Morning Olive and Mike from Oslo, Norway! I stumbled upon your site just yesterday and so glad I did. I have thoroughly enjoyed the stories, the video’s and pictures. I spent a couple of hours along with a couple cups of coffee and digested this blog. I’ve shared it with many friends and family here and worldwide and sure they’ll enjoy it as much as I have. I’ve got you bookmarked and truly look forward to more bits from Olive. Just wish I was closer so I could visit with you both, face to face.
You could come sit on my balcony that over looks the beautiful Norwegian Fjords with cakes, coffee’s and pies- anyday! Much Love, Aj
Hi Amy, yours are some of the nicest and most evocative comments we’ve had. thanks so much for taking the trouble, not only to comment, but to pass us on. Cheers, Mike for Ollie.
July 25th, 2007 at 4:03 am
Hi there in Australia!
I came here by chance - and can’t stop reading. It’s such a lovely place on the net to visit and to take part in an exceptional life and share it in a special way - that of Ollie.
I’m from Germany, and I was reminded of my grand-mother who died ten days before her 101st birthday (that date would have been Good Friday in 2005). She once accidentally listened to Metallica while I did, and she liked it. By then, she had suffered of a fracture of the femoral neck, but she was lucky and learned to walk anew.
Ollie, I will check out your blog whenever I have the time to do so, and I wish you all the best in the world.
Take care,
Chris.
Thanks for the lovely message, Chris. Mike the helper.
July 27th, 2007 at 3:03 am
hi there
i`ve found the link to your blog at this side:
http://www.blogigo.de/angelmagia1
i`m absolutly impressed.
just wanna say “hello” with the best wishes an regards from germany.
god bless you.
greetings,
Robert
July 28th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
We didn’t live in Australia during that depression, but my parents were born during the great depression in Europe. Our family arrived in Australia by Qantas on assisted passage in 1961 and went straight to Bonegilla Hostel, near Albury.
When we left Bonegilla we went to Melbourne and moved into a bedsitter – 5 people and one suitcase, in one room. My father was told Australia was a land of plenty, but one of my earliest images is of my Mum in Australia is growing vegetables - or trying to – in the planter box outside the window of our bedsitter.
We couldn’t speak the language, dad didn’t have a job, we had no money and mum had a baby and two young boys to feed. I now know that the look, I sometimes saw on my dad’s face, was the pained glare of a man depressed.
But the truth is, we were together and we were mostly happy. And you know what – even then, the pushbike was the preferred mode of transport - at least for us. In fact, my dad brought our first television home on the back of his push bike. To this day he still collects old bikes and restores them.
You know there are always reasons why some one is doing it hard. But I like to think that these testing times - like your life during the depression, or the depressive nightmares of trying to make a new life in a new land - make us better people and friendlier neighbours. Live long Olvie.
Great stories, Ivo, just the sort of thing I hoped people would send in. Ollie will love these stories. Thanks for going to the trouble. Mike the helper.
July 29th, 2007 at 8:27 am
Hi, Ollie & Mike! Diary friend Equanimous told told me about you and your diary.
I wasn’t quite old enough to join the armed forces in WW1. Saw troop trains passing by a hundred yards from our home. We lived on an oil lease my dad managed between Kiefer & Sapulpa Oklahoma. In the Great Depression, dad said the price of oil got down to ten cents a barrel(quite a contrast to current $80!).
Ran out of personal things worth writing about ~post 200 and have been using ‘cream of the crop’ gems of wisdom & humor from the many diary friends those early posts brought…and the others since then.
Sent a plea for help to add music to diary. CJA came in answer. I learned, but Her music sense is much better than mine. She does it herself now and adds graphics & gems of her own. The diary is no longer the usual kind– it has become a weekly post of pure entertainment for all, and usually fills the 30,000 character limit allowed.
July 29th, 2007 at 10:00 am
Hello Mike and Olive, found your wonderful “blob” through a quilting group, when someone was googling for Wagga information. She posted up your site address, so expect a flood of new viewers! I’m in NSW Australia, and I volunteer at several historic homes in Western Sydney as a guide and conservator. I really enjoyed your memories about the Depression era Olive, and especially your little video about the old irons. It will add to our knowledge about the old irons in our collections. I hope that I have your abilities when I am older (well, I’m already nearly half your age actually, hee hee) and that I can find my own Mike to record the memories, share them and preserve them. I’ve always felt a bit strange about putting up my photo on my blogs, but I think you’ve inspired me now Olive, and I’ll do it. I like the thought of people in the future being able to see me, and remember me. You’ve really made my sunny Sunday morning even better, best wishes to both of you, and very well done Mike.
Hooroo, from Christine.
http://missmuffettwo.blogspot.com
Christine, What a delightful comment. I don’t understand how the quilting connection worked . was that from Pat Winter in Wisconsin who does amazing quilting things and who sent Olive a small bit of quilt under glass as a pendant. (you can find that story about 7 posts back)
In any case, so glad to have you as a reader. Any depression stories coming down from old relatives? I’m hoping people will send them in. Also very glad to hear that you and others are spreading our blog around. It does deserves more readers. Mike the helper
July 29th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
I learned about you from a friends diary on another blog site called Open Diary, (or blob if you prefer.) You are an inspiration Olive…truly. I am only in my sixties so wasn’t around for the Depression, but I do recognise many of the items in the photos and references you made.
Take care of yourself dear Heart, and please know you have touched lives everywhere….what a great legacy you will leave one day.
Hugs Polly ( OD’s Gypsy Spirit)
Thanks so much Polly. Can you imagine, I think you are the first comment ever from the the land of long white cloud. We were about to Give up on the Kiwis. Seriously, so glad you like it. Mike the helper
July 30th, 2007 at 12:58 am
I suppose I am an incurable conspiracy theorist, but I tend to be suspicious that when the possibility emerges of another Depression that people pop up and say “Hey a Depression’s not so bad, really!”
Intuitively, I would say that unemployment levels of 35% plus would be the bad news. Of course as always the human spirit survives. We have to remember that our ground state of love and compassion is stronger and more enduring than the passions of envy, hatred etc. War too brings out the good values. My father lived through WW1 and the love he had for his surviving comrades lasted all his life. But of course none of that means that we should support wars.
Just so with Economic Depressions, the continued presence of human nobility should not mean we welcome them. What we really need to get hold of is the idea of the eudaimonistic society - one built on human flourishing and not simply endureance and survival.
I could of course go into what causes Depressions and how they are political as well as economic events, but that is for another day
regards
Gary
Thanks Gary, perhaps David Potts will answer. Mike the helper.
August 2nd, 2007 at 2:43 pm
The photo of the evicted family.
Have chanced upon another blog which posted a different photo of the same family, with a tad more information.
http://romeomikes.blogspot.com/2006/05/friday-fotopost.html
That’s very interesting, Steve, Folks you can see the same eviction photo that I took from Dave Potts book at the above blogspot, with an iteresting caption. Mike the helper
August 3rd, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Hello Olive and Mike, what a beautiful song you’ll both singing on the video. It’s nice, it’s sounds sweet….haha, I don’t know the song, is it an old song?
Mmm…it’s early, I’ll be back later, to read this story Olive and Mike. I’ll put al link on my blog to this blog okay?
Oh, I almost forget: Olive, when is you’re birthday?
Greetings and a big hug from,
Monique
The Netherlands
Monique, If you mean the song, Pack up your troubles, it’s a very old song. Round about 1914. But its also the sort of song they sang in the dpression, so it seemed fair to link it to that period. (Readers can find the song in post 29) Olive will actually be 108 in oct.
August 6th, 2007 at 8:06 am
Oh Olive! I have missed you terribly. My old journal locked up and I had your link there..so I had to start a new journal after months of trying to fix the old one. I am so glad to be back and reading about you. The depression…people that lived it amaze me. The stories that come from that time, I could read them endlessly. You had to be a strong and resourceful person. Thank you for emailing and inviting me back to your site. I was so glad to hear from you. You are and always will be an amazing lady. I will be doing much reading and catching up on your blog. Hope your having a wonderful day today.
Glad you are back with us, Kelly. Mike the helper
August 7th, 2007 at 1:17 am
[…] and Mike have been talking about The Great Depression, and, how the good part about it was that people really helped each other. I got an e-mail from […]
Thanks for the comment on your blog, Elizabeth and for passing on to your readers that we love to get depression stories. Mike the helper
August 18th, 2007 at 8:26 am
Hi Olive,
My name is Mike aged 45, I live in MElbourne & I’ve just listened to the program on ABC with GEraldine Dooge and was intrigued to look at your blog. It’s facinating. I loved the story about the horse who drinks beer.
I’ve been trying to get my Mum interested in getting the internetconnected as I think she’d love it. I’m hoping you’ll be a great inspiraion for her and next time she’s over I intend to show your blog to her.
I look forward to reading more of your stories.
Thankyou so much for sharing them .
Yours sincerely
Mike
Glad you caught the program, Mike. Let us know how you go with your Mum. Mike the helper
September 6th, 2007 at 3:14 am
Dear Olive:
I found your depression stories really interesting. Many years ago, I researched a book about the Great Depression in Canada, and spent a lot of time interviewing people from across the country about their experiences. So many people were out of work and unable to find a way to support themselves. But people coped, helped each other. One man told me a story about his butcher, who would always ask him how his dog was (knowing full well he didn’t have one). “Better give you a few bones for him,” the butcher would say, “I’ll find a few with some meat on.” And so he went home, happy. In all the interviews I did, I never heard a single story about anyone turning away someone who came to the door asking for food. Back then, people were generous in the midst of want.
Who knows how we might behave in similar circumstances? That’s was one of things that almost everyone I talked to reflected on. Those who lived through the 1930s didn’t think that we would cope too well.
Keep up the blog, Olive, we all love it.
Barbara
Toronto
Barbara, this is fascinating. If the material is accessible, can you send us more and we’ll devote a whole post of the blog to your stories. I love the one about the dog bones. It’s so touching. it’s also interesting that your reasearch confirms what David Potts found out. I’ll be drawing his attention to what you’ve told us. Please, Barbara, more stories. Mike the helper.
September 12th, 2007 at 9:41 pm
Bravo Madame !
It’s wonderful !
October 24th, 2007 at 10:36 am
Wow, this is very interesting.I really never thought of the great depression that way. However i have one question about the Great depression? Can you tell me how did the great depression imapcted doctors?
Oh Mike and Olive write more stories. Ther are so interesting.
July 18th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Hi,
I found this blog too late, but I really liked it. I think that Olive had a great life and I am happy that she shared her memories with us.
This story about depression touched me, because I lived throw similar times and I am only 30. I am from ex Yugoslavia, and as you know here was war during 90this. So it was tough time, but people were helping each other much more than nowadays.
My mother was teacher and she was giving lessons to butcher’s son during one summer. And he asked her if she wanted money or meet. Of course she sad meet, ooh those were happy days.
It often happened that there was no more food in house, but as my mother says someone would always give us some of theirs.
We also had our own vegetables, and bake our own bread.
But I must say that we had big help from Red Cross and I really don’t know how we would survived without it.
I think it is always like that with people. When everyone are in same trouble people can understand each other, and they are ready to help.