You’ve just arrived in the 1950s in your time machine. Mr Cooke, the owner of the local general store, is waiting for you behind this door.
‍
Are you ready to go inside?

Lets go!

“Gosh, that bread smells good.”

“Would you like to buy it?”

Next

“No, it’s too much money. I’ve been making my own bread since the war.”

“Not to worry. Your goods will be delivered this evening.”    .

Next

Mrs Gamble takes the bus home, leaving her grocery list with Mr Cooke to fetch.
‍
She also leaves her housekeeping allowance with Mr Cooke as payment.
‍

What’s a housekeeping allowance?

Back in the 1950s, the husband in each family controlled all of the money.
‍
Husbands gave their wives a housekeeping allowance: pocket money to shop for the whole family. Wives were expected to take care of the home.
‍
This money is what Mrs Gamble just gave to Mr Cooke to pay for her order.

Okay!

What do you think?

Tap your favourite answer!

or

“Where have you been?
You’re ten minutes late!”

Late for what?
Sorry, Mr. Cooke!

Mrs Cooke’s knee is playing up again, so she had to stay home.

I don’t like to keep my customers waiting!

Get to work before I dock your pay.”

Yes, Mr. Cooke!

See the little girl in the store?

Her name is Lucy Figg.

Lucy’s Mum has asked her to pick up some extra fabric for sewing her own dresses. Will you help her collect her fabric?

I’m on the job!

While you collect Lucy’s fabric, click around the shelves to discover what else the grocer has to sell.

Lets get started

Collect a roll of fabric for Lucy.
Click around the shelves to discover what else the grocer has to sell.

Next

For this task, click the coins to take the correct amount of Lucy’s money.

Lets get started

Lucy has chosen her fabric, which costs 10 shillings a yard.
‍She has bought one yard.

Each of these coins is 1 shilling.
Click the coins to take the correct amount of Lucy’s money.

Next
0
Shillings Collected

“Thank you!”

You’re welcome!

It’s time to pack Mrs Gamble’s goods!

x6
x4
• milk
• carrots
• tripe
• iron
• Women's Weekly magazine
• 4 yards linen fabric
All Done!

It’s the chicken man, here to deliver the eggs!

Click on the chicken man to hear some local gossip.

“Goodness, gracious me. There’s been a fox eating everyone’s chickens. Eggs will be very popular this week, because family hens won’t be laying their own. That’s why I brought you double the eggs you usually order.

Next

Time to pack Mrs Gamble’s groceries onto the truck. Your last task of the day!

Click each grocery item to pack it on to the truck.

Next
x4

The time machine has arrived to pick you up and take you back home.

Click on the time machine to get in!

Why were groceries delivered?

When store assistants had to fetch everything, groceries would take a long time. Often, hours. General stores had a lot of customers, and were kept very, very busy. At the end of each day grocery orders got delivered in a truck.

How does your family get their groceries home?

Close

What does “dock your pay” mean?

Sometimes, when workers were late, or if they made mistakes, their boss would take away some of their wages.

Jobs were very hard to get after the war – and even harder to keep!

Do you think this was fair?

Yes
No

Making your own clothes…

Are the clothes you’re wearing bought from a store? Back in the 50s, clothes were only bought by wealthy families on very special occasions.

A lot of women knew how to sew. Instead of buying their family’s clothes for every occasion, they’d buy fabric and sew it all themselves. They also handed clothing down from sibling to sibling. Hand-me-downs were a great way to re-use clothing when you grew out of it.

Have you ever worn hand-me-downs?

Yes
No

What’s a “general store”?

Think of a general store like a cross between a corner store, and a supermarket. In general stores, an assistant would collect all of your goods for you. When big supermarkets came to Australia, people collected all of their shopping themselves for the very first time. They called it “cash and carry”.

Where does your family do their shopping?

Close

Why were groceries delivered?

When store assistants had to fetch everything, groceries would take a long time. Often, hours. General stores had a lot of customers, and were kept very, very busy. At the end of each day grocery orders got delivered in a truck.

How does your family get their groceries home?

Close

After the war…

Groceries were very hard to find during World War Two. When the war ended in 1945, everything was still very expensive. This led to people making their own groceries!

Having chickens instead of buying eggs, getting a cow instead of buying milk and meat, baking their own bread and churning their own butter... It was hard work!

Let’s test your memory. When did WWII end?

1956
1945

What’s a shilling?

Before dollars, cents and credit cards, Australia used pounds, shillings and pence.

There are 12 pence in a shilling. There are 20 shillings, or 240 pence, in a pound.

Can you remember: How many cents are there in a dollar?

240
100

What’s a yard?

1 yard works out to about 91cm – just under a metre.

A yard is what we call an “imperial” unit of length. “Yards”, “inches” and “feet” were measurements we used in the 1950s. In 1966, we switched to the “metric” system: centimetres and metres.

Fabric often still gets sold in yards, and imperial units are still used by a lot of people, especially if they’re older or from the USA.

Can you remember: What kind of unit is a yard?

Metric
Imperial

Tinned Fruit

After the war in the 1940s, fruit was hard to find. It was also very expensive. A lot of people bought their fruit in tins instead.

Flour in bulk

A lot of families got food delivered in bulk, once a month. This meant buying foods like flour and grains in big sacks, to last the whole month.

Cream and Dairy

Cream and dairy had to be kept in big ice boxes, together with the meat.

Sweets!

Popular lollies during the 50s: Glace cherries, sugared almonds, Gobstoppers and Choo Choo bars – a strong, sticky black bar that would last for days.

Bulk Foods

Most people went shopping once a week – but some could only make it once a month. This is why items were sold in huge portions!

Butcher

Some favourite butcher treats from the time included kidneys and tripe. Tripe is made from the intestines of a sheep! This was kept in the ice box, together with the dairy.

Livestock Feed

Rather than buying milk, eggs and meat all of the time, lots of people in the 50s used to have chickens and cows at home.

General stores would often have big sheds out the back, where they kept big sacks of livestock feed for everyone’s animals.

Correct!

You’ve found the fabric that Lucy asked for. Let’s collect it for her.

Collect

You’ve reached the end of your 1950s journey!

Play Again?