Kōrero: Washing, cleaning and personal hygiene

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.