I'm currently looking out writing relating to family history which I've posted elsewhere since I began my family history quest in 2010. This process is likely to result in an even more eclectic blog! The following post features something I wrote in 2013 or thereabouts for my 'Armchair Economics' blog ( I still post to it, but very intermittently)... While doing family history over recent years, and with a background in economics, I've found myself reflecting on my family's role in the economy over time - dancers; milliners; coal trimmers; riveters; printers; soldiers; bookkeepers; farmers; bookkeepers and accountants; secretaries; sales representatives/commercial travellers; stonemasons; coal trimmers; teachers and more. I've found myself thinking about the entrepreneurs and the workers; the wealthy and the impoverished, and more. I've also come across evidence of the impact of economic instability in their lives. In a small photograph album created by my grandmother, Lily Hooper, I found this photograph taken during her time as a ballet dancer with J C Williamson in the early years of the 20th Century. The picture is of young dancers working with the J. C Williamson company in the early 1900's--I think perhaps Lily's in the back row - second from your RHS - as I see a resemblance to photos of my uncle at about the same age. My grandmother's family were associated with the theatre 'industry', with at least five Hooper sisters becoming dancers - Edie, Minnie, Violet, Ruby and Lily - and Minnie and Ruby moving on to become ballet mistresses, choreographers and owners of their own dance schools in Sydney. Both went on to become quite wealthy women in Sydney, with large share portfolios and significant estates. There are rich narratives in my family about their stories and they feature heavily on 'Trove' (National Library of Australia's online archive).
I started to wonder whether there is in fact, a field of economics known as 'cultural economics', and it seems there is. Looking into the area of 'cultural economics' seems worthwhile, and timely given Cate Blanchett's eulogy at Gough Whitlam's funeral service, which spoke tellingly of the role of arts and culture in the socio-economic life of Australia. Cate Blanchett referred to the production of culture as an end in itself. The production and consumption of 'widgets' is very different from the way in which cultural goods are produced and consumed as an end product during a performance by hard working, fit, skilful ballerinas at a theatre such as Her Majesty's in Melbourne. My grandmother was one of those dancers. Of seven Hooper daughters, at least five were dancers. While Lily's older sisters, Minnie and Ruby, become highly regarded ballet mistresses for J C Williamson, my grandmother did not encourage her daughters to become dancers, describing it to them as a very hard life. These young dancers worked very hard and may have been exploited. My grandmother's world in the paid work force was competitive, her career had a very limited life, there was an intensity about her life which became the substance of dreams - her trips to New Zealand; the ephemera in her treasured trunk; and now for me, the articles about her world I find in Trove. In terms of family narratives .... forward 50-65 years from the photograph, and I remember my grandmother, with my grandfather (her stage door Johnny)... living on their pension in Caulfield North, Melbourne. They owned their own home, had interesting furniture which they kept well polished and preserved, ate well because they knew how to cook nutritious meals out of 'the basics' and Poppa's well cared for vegetable garden. They didn't have extensive bank deposits, perhaps because my grandfather had been attracted to the 'sport of kings', but also because he had been a commercial traveller, then in older years a men's clothing salesman at London Stores. I always saw them as producers - of nutritious meals, which I loved seeing made and then eating together; of vegetables and lemons from their always to be remembered lemon tree, in front of which their are countless photographs of relatives standing as family photographs were produced. Poppa was always the family 'shoe shine' and repair man; and of course the gardener. They saved their pension to travel to visit their son Lex, an unmarried farmer on a bush block in the North East. While there they would work hard to support him; providing nutritious meals; mending his clothes; cleaning; painting; chopping and piling up the wood heap, and more - often going back to Melbourne for 'a rest'! They would provide child care and food and board to grandchildren, from toddler hood to late adolescence, who always loved visiting them, and provide some respite for their older daughter, my mother - who sometimes needed a bit of extra support. They provided produce to others; my grandmother was always knitting for someone - keeping Poppa and Lex supplied each year with a new cowl neck woollen jumper. They had regular routines and a well balanced life which enabled them to productively contribute to their own and other people's welfare and standard of living. Now I'm out of the paid workforce myself, living on an only very slightly topped up pension, in my own home, and producing more in terms of a 'household economy' ... making instead of buying cakes and Christmas gifts; contributing to my friend's and family members quality of life via family history projects; making my home operate more efficiently in a greenhouse sense; maintaining and updating my own computer system; discarding paper to recyclers, old clothes to opportunity shops for redistributing, and more; until recently providing love and support and assistance with evening meal and monitoring service to my beloved 100 year old mother in a nursing home. While I did most of these things while working - they were less frequently done... I continue to pay someone $25 a fortnight for mowing and tidying my garden, with other expenses paid on an as needs basis eg. pruning; removal of branches and sometimes gum trees... I'm also involved with U3A and have been spending some time testing the website and contributing to its updating and further development. Sometimes I think of the imputed value of what I'm contributing to GDP. The imputed value of the services provided by members in the provision of U3A courses would be considerable - barely reflected at all in the financial accounts of U3A... Armchair theorizing about the role of the Household Economy has begun to preoccupy me more since my retirement , reminding me of the work of the wonderful then Melbourne University economist Duncan Ironmonger who inspired me to think about it during the late 1980's. My memories of my grandparents, Jack and Lily Devitt, provide a rich vein for thinking about this. (Armchair theorizing about: Paid and unpaid work; Gross Domestic Product and the Household Economy; Imputed values; Measuring the Quality of Life; Safety Nets;Traditional and non-traditional gendered roles in work - and more!) |
The Journey ...An 'occasional blog' recording elements of my renewed family history journey. This is the second wave in my 'family history' journey. The first lasted from 2010 to 2014. with intermittent bursts since then. It's time to revisit, to share more stories, to edit, to tackle uncertainties... Categories
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April 2024
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