These women are doing the weekly washing outside on a summer's day in the far north in 1904. Hot water is boiling in the background. The woman on the left is using a simple hand-powered wooden washing machine. The moveable barrel agitated the water as a modern washing machine does. The other woman is cleaning items on a wood and glass washboard – rubbing them against the rippled glass removed dirt. The first load of washing is strung along a long line to dry. These two would have spent the whole day washing.
Using this item
Auckland City Libraries - Tāmaki Pātaka Kōrero, Sir George Grey Special Collections
Reference:
AWNS-19041215-15-2
Photograph by Northwood Brothers
Permission of Auckland City Libraries Tāmaki Pātaka Kōrero must be obtained before any re-use of this image.
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