This appliance was a time saving method of cleaning floors. It appeared at a time (after World War II) when the domestic pressures faced by mothers and domestic staff was on the increase. The necessary "working parents" was through necessity becoming part of the "typical" family environment. It was the start of the ever increasing demand, from an economical reason, for both parents to work outside their property. Historically the period of the 1950s was one of extreme changes. It was an era where established role models were under pressure from an ever increasing demand for new and advancing consumerism. Communication levels via radio, newspapers and television was expanding at an ever increasing rate. Relatively isolated rural areas were opening up (post war) to foreign ideologies of consumerism. The basic restraints of "this will be alright mate, she'll do" was under a slow but effective take over. "I can get this done faster by this new whiz bang gadget that I saw on the TV last night!" was the new way to live by.This item is very significant in that it demonstrates the new consumerism at its infant stage of the social changes occurring due to greater communication levels between the rural Australian communities and other advancing communities world wide. The Kiewa Valley residents (mainly from the intermingling of rural and post World War II refugees working at the construction of the Victorian Hydro electricity installations, resulted in this rural area becoming integrated to new ways of living (both socially and economically). Once the attitude of "we have always done it this way mate!" was challenged and overcome, the acceptance of new time saving "gadgets" which started to pour in from foreign markets, the relative isolation of the Kiewa Valley (being mainly psychological entrenched), was over.This hoover electric floor scrubber and polisher has a main base containing two brushes (can be replaced with polishing pads). The two brushes/pads are fastened or removed from the base unit by pulling/pushing the heads from the small hexagonal shaft on the bottom of the machine motor. A pressure sensitive wire is inlaid at the brush/pad end to hold the brush/pad unit onto the shaft. The discs body and main body covering the electric motor are made from sturdy plastic. The rest of the appliance materials i.e. upright handle and the u framed attaching arm are made from lightweight powder coated steel. A small (350mm) red coloured foot switch protrudes from the back of the motor to release the the upright handle from the storage position to the action position.There are two fork shaped brackets on the rear of the handle, for securing the 6.5 metre long electrical cord and plug. There is no on/off switch on the appliance. A small stainless steel "u" framed clip (for hanging the appliance in the vertical position) for cupboard storage. Within the circle of the cleaning brush is stamped "1 above S.A.B.351" and on the opposite side P/No: 5023792". On the main plastic head of the brush discs are "TO CLEAN" and under this "USE ONLY WARM(underlined) WATER AND SOAP" on the opposite side, and within a circle is the Hoover Trademark. On the front of the blue coloured plastic dome covering the electric motor is (on a raised domed shaped plaque (on a red background) Hoover in slanted print from left to right(in a diagonal level)domestic appliances, floor cleaning, electric floor scrubbers and polishers

Single page of notes/interview record of Miss Daisy Paddock, teacher at the Ringwood State School in Greenwood Avenue (now Federation Estate) - Interview write-up by Ringwood History Group.Transcript: "Miss Janet Daisy Paddock She was an extremely well-liked and well-regarded teacher at the old RW State School in Greenwood Ave (Now Federation Estate). She taught between the years of 1927 until 1941, then again after the war from 1951 until final retirement in 1961. In fact she was so liked that her former pupils formed "The 2997 Club" , which met in her honour every year for a meal (and, of course, their guest of honour). 2997 was the RW SS number. In some of her letters about early life in RW, she recalls the RW Mail being produced and printed in a small wooden building in Adelaide St. [Adelaide St is officially no longer on the RW map but it went from the highway nearly to Mullum Creek, between Melbourne St and Warrandyte Road.^ In fact there is an unmarked 100 metres of road that is on the west side of Officeworks that ends in a roundabout at the bottom of Eastland carpark. I don't believe it is exactly in the same position as the old Adelaide Street but it pretty close. That would put the old Mail office in the vicinity of the Maroondah Council service centre in Eastland.] She also recalls that there were nearly a dam on every corner. In fact, I recall in my 1950s/60s childhood that there were still many dams around. As I previously mentioned, with the RW-Mitcham claybelt, there wasn't much top soil and the orange clay is very fine, so when the banks of the dam get wet, it wass very slippery. I often remember playing around in those dams, as most boys did in those days. A friend and I spied an old bath used to water some horses so after some trial and errors we made it waterproof and fashioned a couple of paddles out of wooden fence pailings. The first launch in the local dam was fine and we managed to manouver through the bullrushes into the middle. The only thing that I forgot about was that I had a d<^ that went everywhere with me and, rather than bark from the bank, he swam over to us and tried to get aboard. Bath tubs are not known for their seaworthness and he tipped us all in the drink. Of course the bath sank like a rock. We scrambled on the bank and he added insult to injury when, as all dogs do, gave the usual shake and sprayed us with water. My mind often comes back to one dam right next to the Croydon pub - that provided water to the Magg's orchard - dug in the usual fashion on about 3 metres deep scraped in the local clay, it was at this dam in the early sixties that a young boy drowned. After that we were pretty careful around dams. Going back to Daisy's memories, she recalls that the kids often started late on Monday mornings as Monday was Market Day at RW. They used to watch the stock being herded into the yards and people getting off the steam trains. Her family home was at Gruyere and her father used to drive to RW market and stop midway at the Burnt Bridge hotel and rest the horses. [I suspect that he may have watered other things besides the horses.] They eventually moved to RW in Thanet St. Miss Paddock still remembers the old RW school at the corner of RW St and Whitehorse Road, it was very small so they built the new school in Greenwood Ave. RW had a population of around 2,(K)0 when Daisy became an Assistant Class Five. She used to walk through the open paddocks, surrounded by bush and orchards. She goes on to say that the bush was alive with wildlife and a natural playground for the children. Miss Paddock was a member of the Soroptomist Club in RW (equivalent to Rotary), active in the church and local community. At our archives, we have a plaque that grac^ the entrance to the school, naming it the Miss Daisy Paddock library, in honour of a great woman in our city."