Leonard James Laverty Interview

Published on • Blog

An interview with my grandfather Leonard James Laverty

Here’s a list of the points from the interview :

Transport in the 1920s–30s

  • Limited transport options for pioneers.
  • Main means of transport: horse (used for riding or as a pack horse).
  • Wealthier families used buggies, which could carry 6 passengers.
  • Roads were rough (like goat tracks), often blocked by fallen trees or cattle.
  • Travelers carried axes, saws, chains, and shovels to clear roads.
  • Early motor cars began to appear but were rare.
  • No tractors — farm work was done with bullock teams (14–16 bullocks).
  • Bullock teams hauled logs and timber to wharves for shipping to Sydney.
  • Farmers shipped corn to Sydney, but after costs only earned about sixpence per bushel.

School Life

  • Children milked cows before school (took 1–1.5 hours).
  • Walked 2 miles barefoot to school, even in frost (shoes came later).
  • Played on a slippery track home; injuries were common.
  • School had ~35 children, one teacher, and one building.
  • Classroom: blackboard, chalk (sometimes thrown at students), slates with slate pencils.
  • Later used pen and ink with inkwells built into desks.
  • Teachers used canes for discipline, though some students avoided it by helping teachers.

Home & Family

  • Family of 8 brothers (1 died in infancy) and 4 sisters.
  • House: large, well-built, 4 bedrooms with verandah, still standing after 100 years.
  • Children shared beds (2–3 per bed).
  • Blankets scarce — mother sewed corn sacks into quilts.

Farm & Work

  • Family raised cattle, grew corn, later started dairying.
  • All family members (except father) milked cows by hand.
  • A good milker could milk a cow in ~3 minutes.
  • Herds ranged from 30–100 cows; milking could take 2 hours.
  • Milk separated by hand-cranked machine (separator) into cream and skim milk.
  • Cream sent to factory for butter (collected by carrier with horse and wagon, not trucks).
  • Skim milk fed to pigs and calves (taught to drink from buckets using a finger trick).

Food & Cooking

  • Cooking done on wood stoves and camp ovens.
  • Homemade bread baked every second day.
  • Butter churned by hand with a butter churn.
  • Grew their own vegetables (corn, pumpkins, potatoes, melons, etc.).
  • Sweet corn (called “mai” from Aboriginal name) cooked with corned beef.
  • No electricity or gas in the bush.

Entertainment

  • No TV or electricity.
  • Played mouth organ, fiddle, and held “surprise parties” with music and dancing.
  • Used kerosene or grease on floors for dancing.

Toilets

  • School: pit toilets (deep holes, lime added, never emptied).
  • Toilet paper not available — newspapers used instead.
  • Home: pan toilet outside, used in all weather.

Clothing & Supplies

  • Clothes ordered from Sydney stores via catalogues (e.g., David Jones).
  • Orders sent by post; delivery by ship took 1–2 weeks.

Childhood Memories

  • Best memories: swimming, fishing, shooting pigeons and turkeys (not protected back then).
  • Brothers often brought home game for food.

Would you like me to condense this further into a short summary (like a one-page school report style), or keep it as a detailed bullet list like above?