Thread: Anyone know what this is please?

Hi GG,
It looks like something that you would have had your milk and papers put in by the delivery man and the paper boy. Both an extinct species now. The milk would have gone into the top shelf and the paper into the lower shelf. Now I'm really showing my age!!

Regards,

Rob

Wow! Thanks for that - Did people often have that kind of thing? I had just assumed the milk was put on the step and the papers were hurled in the direction of the door!!!

I think it's an umbrella stand. I saw one very similar to that (without the shelf) a few years ago in a second hand store - anyway they had umbrellas in it.

Thanks Bob - I did wonder about the umbrella idea, but the shelf threw me, as well as the size of it!!!

There used to be Milkmen with horses and carts and they would put the milk wherever you wanted it put. You put out the empties and full ones would be substituted. Lots of people had little containers like the one you have to put their milk in. And as for papers, kids used to do paper rounds on their bikes, they'd take the paper from their saddle bags and fold them up and put them into whatever receptacle you had for holding papers. The milk carts (with horses) were still going in the late '60s. Not sure exactly when paper boys died out to be replaced by lethal weapon throwers!

Regards,

Rob

Before milk bottles and pasteurisation, the milkie would come round in the early morning with the milk in a large can and ladle out the amount of milk into a billy can or similar which would have been left out overnight. The milk collector would then come round once a week or fortnight to collect the money for the milk that had been delivered.
Bread was also delivered to the house by horse and breadcart and was brought to the door in a large basket. A full loaf was almost twice a length of the standard loaf of today. You could buy a full, half or quarter loaf and it was handed to you unwrapped. No sliced bread then.
The horses knew their rounds and would plod along the road as the milkie did the deliveries.

Off the topic of the thread I know but a bit of history. My maternal grandparents ran a dairy in Coburg and my father was a breadcarter just before WW2.

This one was similar to the one I saw

Originally Posted by LGS

Not sure exactly when paper boys died out to be replaced by lethal weapon throwers!

Regards,

Rob

I was delivering papers in 1969-70 in Sydney. They lasted a few more years I think.

In the late 60's they were still delivering milk by horse and cart in suburban Melbourne (Carnegie about 10km from the CBD). I lived a block from the depot and the horse would be plodding along with the milkman literally running to do the deliveries and keep up.

Paper boys disappeared in most areas when protective legislation prevented young people from working certain hours or without certain conditions. Now the papers are wrapped in plastic and thrown 'Flintstone' style. On a good day you can unwrap the paper in 10 seconds, on a bad day it can take minutes and you tear the paper trying to get it unwrapped.

Hello Ghostgirl. Wondering what you planned to do with such an item?

Wow, what a wonderful source of information you all are!!! I would love to think I have a little bit of history here.

Artful Bodger - (love the name), I am thinking of stripping it back and varnishing or repainting (despending on what it looks like underneath). After that, I'm not really sure. I have nowhere in our house to put it until we extend!!! (Ours is a little traditional type of Aussie iron cottage). Maybe a toybox? It was an impulse buy. We stopped on our way back from a holiday so our kids could play in a park. I walked down the street to get icecreams, but got sidetracked on the way when I saw a 2nd hand shop that was closing down. ooops...

Originally Posted by cava

I was delivering papers in 1969-70 in Sydney. They lasted a few more years in think.

I was delivering the local rag to every house in an area (900 papers) every Wednesday, before and after school, in 1981-4 and I was walking around the same area blowing a bloody annoying whistle and waking people up on weekends around the same time. I suspect that that area of North Ryde probably has closer to 2000 letter boxes these days.

At around the same time I was also getting paid to programme VCRs to record the TV shows that people wanted to watch and I was involved with a BBS or two and the Commodore 64 user group. So I am pretty sure that there were some significant changes going on then.

I do remember seeing a similar box somewhere in my youth but I remembered it as big enough to hold a milk urn or whatever they were called. I don't know that yours would have held an urn with the shelf in it.

The days of accepting deliveries during the week and paying for them at the end of the week seems so "dated" these days. I can still remember the bottled milk being delivered to our house, red, silver and gold tops on the bottles. There may also have been a green top option but I think that may have been a xmas thing.

I even remember working for the milkman at some point but I was quite young; about 9 or 10 at the time. We moved house soon afterwards and I was 10 when we moved.

Milk, bread, paper and ice were delivered and the toilets were emptied by people who went door to door for a living. I would bet that they saw their fair share of boxes, shelves and cupboards that people had on their front porch for the deliveries. There was a house in Padington (in Sydney) that went to a few years ago for a job and I recall seeing a cupboard door next to the front door; it was a two way cupboard for the milk delivery.

It would be interesting to test the paint on the box and see if it is lead based? This question is being asked just because it is a woodwork forum! I think the cheapest way of testing for lead is to lick the paint, if you don't remember why you licked it you will know that it is lead based paint, or who ever is watching you do it may know it!

Dan

P.S. How old were you when your parents' were the age you are now and do you recall your thoughts about their recollections?

Haha!!! Surely you are not serious?!?! Where I live we had a huge issue with lead a few years back, it was being shipped out of the port and was found in drinking water amongst other things.

When my Mum was the age I am now I was 12. When Dad was this age I was 7.

We never had a milkman etc, but Mum would have as she was in England. Dad was a farm kid like me, so we never had any of that stuff *sigh*. I love their stories. Life is so different now.

The shelf could have been added at a later date, so an urn would have fitted in it before but wouldn't it be easier to place a milk urn in something with an open front?


Anyway thanks for your input!

You should definitely test the paint or assume it is lead based. Test kits are available from big hardware stores. If it is, wear breathing protection & drink plenty of milk when scraping and sanding it.

I only recall milk being delivered in bottles, as far back as the '50s. That was in Sydney, don't know about elsewhere. Before that, we were in the bush in far north Qld. and only had powdered milk. Cairns had bottles, but don't know if it was delivered.

Never had a paper run, but used to do deliveries for the chemist, and also telegrams (remember them) on Saturdays, when they were usually for weddings.

My daughter used to deliver papers when she was in her last year at school, but it was from a car, slinging them into front yards. I suspect the paper run died with the afternoon papers.