Item 04: Memoirs of a Colonial Boy by Robert Joseph Stewart, ca. 1971 - Page 141
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[Page 141]
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having by this time become skilled and knowledgeable in this art. He had a great aversion to soap and water, and in the hot sweaty days he really stank. Greta complained to Mother about having him in the kitchen for meals, and Dad was asked to try and persuade Jimmy to have a bath. He procrastinated successfully for some time, and finally rebelled, saying, "I don't believe in this here washing every day". "I believe in a good wash once a year, and it's a swim in a dam then".
After Greta departed, our turnover in maids was considerable: there were just too many unattached prosperous farmers in the neighbourhood, seeking wives. In the country there was a big surplus of males over females: in the 1911 Census the overall (town and country) ratio was 108 : 100 respectively. My mother though, was always proud of the fact that no good type of maid ever left her, except to be married.
In the days before compulsory military training, each of The Great Public Schools furnished a Company in a volunteer Senior Cadet Battalion, the Headquarters being at Newington College, Stanmore. A full-strength Company was supposed to number one hundred other ranks, commanded by a captain and two lieutenants. But "Scots" could only muster a half-company.
The attractive uniform was a dark green tunic with red piped edges, silver buttons, and silver School badges on the patrol collar; Khaki breeches; and dark green puttees above black boots. All topped with a Khaki slouch hat turned up on the left side to show a large silver School badge, and banded by a dark green pugaree with a central red stripe. These uniforms and our single-shot Martini-Henry rifles were kept in an Armoury adjacent to the schoolrooms. There the School Sergeant also periodically ascertained our weight, height, and chest measurement, and recorded these particulars accordingly.
Our Company had weekly drills at the College, and twice a term there was a parade of the whole Battalion in the Outer Domain or Centennial Park: special trams conveyed the cadets from the several schools to the rendezvous. The Armidale School Company was of course unable to attend.