One of the jobs of the housewife was to keep her stove-top looking clean and new, and a rich black colour. This was a source of pride amongst house-proud women, and also ensured a more efficient distribution of heat on their stove-tops for cooking. It was however one of the dirtiest jobs in the kitchen, requiring a lot of elbow-grease as well as a good polish paste or blacking ink.Two brown pottery blacking bottles, one with a light brown glaze and other is dark brown. Both have shaped wide necks with a lip at the edge for pouring. The contents were used to blacken a stove. blacking bottles, bottles, cooking equipment, cooking stoves, fuel cooking stoves, domestic ovens

Bendigo Central Bottle Club Newsletter - James Lerk Collection, Vol. 6, No. 2 (ca. Nov 1980) No special Bendigo article but 'sketches' of bottles relevant to Bendigo businesses: Curtains (City Club Hotel); T R Jones (Chemist); Alfred Aldworth (Wine & Spirit Merchant)Included are old adverts for Carr and Sons products including shoe polish , and The Maori Boot Blackings.