Labour

 A  "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" theme caught me eye this week - "Labor" (or as we prefer to spell it in Australia - labour). How did my ancestors make a living? Have I found an unusual occupation in my family tree? What about the often unsung labour of females ancestors?

One of the things I enjoy about researching my family tree is seeing how our lives have changed so dramatically within a few generations. From the advent of gas and electricity in houses, the number of kids we have, and our occupations. And I was watching Further Back in Time for Dinner on the ABC, where a modern-day family lives through the early 1900s - and I was again struck by how different our very recent ancestors lived to us. And the women, in particular, seemed to just have lots of kids, cook (often very different meat and food), clean (with no appliances), wash (the hard way) - and there was no prospect of anything else. That's all there was to look forward to.

Cecelia, Celie, Susannah and Hazel - love the aprons!

In my family tree (and I suspect a great many family trees), we've gone from predominantly manual labour - either on a farm or factory - to professional "thinking" desk jobs. In fact, I've just discovered that in one century, the nature of work has fundamentally changed - the number of workers employed as domestic servants, in industry and in the farm sector has collapsed dramatically. At the same time, "professional, managerial, clerical, sales and service workers tripled from one-quarter to three-quarters of total employment". If you are interested in reading more about this, "On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs: A Work Rant" by David Graebler (who sadly died this week) is a great essay.

Take a quick look back through four generations - I've listed their date of birth and occupation(s) (I got most of the occupations from either census records or marriage certificates and occasionally newspaper articles):

• Ingrid (1969) - program manager/educator/river manager

• Terry (1935) - public servant (but before that, Army Officer, toymaker, pet food factory worker)
• Heather (1939) - medical record librarian

• Joe (1897) - shop assistant
• Cora (1900) - home duties and occasional dressmaking
• George (1910) - compositor/monotype operator
• Pearl (1917) - nurse

• Gaspar (1855) - seaman, then cleaner/fireman with the railways
• Cecelia (1864) - home duties
• Charles (1868) - confectioner, then a labourer
• Susannah Jane (1873) - home duties
• Arthur (1888) - drayman/carrier/carter
• Emma (1878)- domestic duties
• Fred (1890) - tin miner/labourer
• Elizabeth (1896) - home duties

For the next generation, I'll only give the males - because the records back that far generally don't give female occupations - probably because they didn't have them (if you don't count "home duties" as work):

• Jacob (1818) - master navigator
• Thomas (1829) - farmer
• Jeremiah (1827) - farm labourer
• Thomas (1845) - labourer
• Arthur (1862) - iron moulder
• David (1840) - skipper for Port Jackson ferries and on the Parramatta River ferry service
• William (1860) - tin miner
• John (1845) - tin miner/labourer

I find myself fascinated by the mariners in my family (the seaman and navigators from Croatia) and my recent discovery of a ferry skipper!

We found this photo in my Dad's stuff - we think it's Gaspar (but can't tell for sure)

I would love to find out more about this!

The Monotype System was a typesetting machine that allowed printers to cast fully justified lines of text. It consisted of a 120-key keyboard, a caster and a replacement matirx that held sets of fonts. Using shift keys, the monotype operator or compositor could select characters from any quadrant in the matrix, and types out characters and spacing to produce a paper ribbon perforated to indicate characters and spacing. The ribbon was placed on the caster, which "reads" the perforations and automatically casts the individual characters in succession. I prefer to use Word or InDesign myself! 

The tin miners from Tingha/Bingara would have had it tough! I've been up there in summer and it is HOT. Imagine being out there like this:

A carter is a job that doesn't really exist anymore - draymen used to deliver beer from a brewery, but carters are "night soil carters" - or shit carters or dunny men. Thankfully we have sewage and septic technology now!

A dunny man and his horse at Broken Hill

And finally, an iron moulder made moulds (or molds) from which iron casting were made. The moulder used a special wooden pattern or wax model to shape the mould. My great great grandfather did this work in both England and Australia.

The moulding floor of a foundry

I do find it very interesting to see where I've come from and where I've ended up - certainly in terms of occupation! I'm very grateful to have the opportunity to have an occupation at all. And I'm fascinated by all these occupations that don't exist anymore. And I can't imagine what sort of jobs my kids will have in their lifetimes!