Genealogy Australia

For many people life in the early twentieth century was not very different from what it has been in the eighteenth century, but after the Second World War standards of living rose markedly with the transition to the almost universal use of gas and electric power.

A lot of items that would have been familiar to householders of the last few centuries are illustrated in this book and placed in the context of the domestic life of the period, describing how they developed and how they were used. Such obsolete household utensils now attract the interest of collectors.

Victorian inventors sought to provide a mechanical solution to every domestic process and produced a wide range of gadgets, some of which developed into the electrically powered devices we use today. The bygones described in this book range from fire irons and the equipment used for cooking on the open fire to the moustache cup and the goffering stick.