Common soap was made from mixing animal fat with potash a form of the potassium based alkali present in plant and wood material. Early settlers, made their own soap from the waste fats and ashes they saved from their daily work. They did not then have to rely on waiting for soap to be shipped from England and waste their goods or money in trade for soap. In making soap the first ingredient required was a liquid solution of potash commonly called lye. Animal fat, when removed from the animals during butchering, must be rendered to remove all meat tissues and cooking residue before soap of any satisfactory quality can be made from it. To render, fats and waste cooking grease were placed in a large kettle with an equal amount of water. Then the kettle was placed over the open fire outdoors, because the smell from rendering the fats was too strong to wish in anyone's house. The mixture of fats and water were boiled until all the fats had melted. After a longer period of boiling to insure completion of melting the fats, the fire was stopped and into the kettle was placed another amount of water about equal to the first amount of water. The solution was allowed to cool down and left over night. By the next day the fats had solidified and floated to the top forming a layer of clean fat. All the impurities being not as light as the fat remained in water underneath the fat. In another large kettle or pot the fat was placed with an amount of lye solution ( known by experience ). This mixture was boiled until the soap was formed - 6-8 hours - a thick frothy mass, and a small amount placed on the tongue caused no noticeable "bite". The next day a brown jelly like slippery substance was in the kettle and this was 'soft soap' . To make hard soap, common salt was thrown in at the end of the boiling and a hard cake of soap formed in a layer at the top of the pot. But as salt was expensive most settlers used 'soft soap',. The soap could be scented with oils such as lavender for personal use. These 3 cakes of home-made soap are examples of the self sufficiency of the early settlers as they had to be self reliant ,growing food and making and mending their own farm equipment, tools and clothes while establishing their market gardens in Moorabbin Shire3 cakes of home-made, white hard household soap. 1 cake of soap eaten by a brush tailed possum when he entered the Cottage via the chimney 27/4/2014soap making, market gardeners, pioneers, early settlers, moorabbin, brighton, dendy's special survey 1841. kitchen equipment, laundry equipment, bentleigh

The invention of the Coolgardie Safe is credited to Arthur Patrick McCormick, a contractor in Coolgardie, and later the Mayor of Narrogin. Coolgardie is in the Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia. Gold was first discovered there in 1892; the townsite became a municipality in 1894, and by 1898 its population of 15,000 made it the third largest town in Western Australia after Perth and Fremantle. In the last decade of the 19th century, Coolgardie was the capital of the West Australian goldfields. Being 180 kilometres from the nearest civilisation, food supplies were initially scarce and expensive. As fresh food was a valuable commodity there was incentive to preserve it, and keep it out of reach of scavengers such as birds, dingos, dogs, ants, and flies. It was in an effort to do this, in the extreme heat of the Australian Interior, that McCormick came up with his design for the Coolgardie Safe. McCormick noticed that a wet bag placed over a bottle cooled its contents. He further noted that if this bottle was placed in a breeze, the bag would dry out more quickly, but the bottle would get colder. What McCormick had discovered was the principle of evaporation: ‘to change any liquid into a gaseous state requires energy. This energy is taken in the form of heat from its surroundings.’ Employing this principle, McCormick made a box for his provisions which he covered with a wet hessian bag. He then placed a tray on top, into which he poured water twice daily. He hung strips of flannel from the tray so that water would drip down onto the hessian bag, keeping it damp. As the water evaporated, the heat dissipated, keeping the food stored inside cool and fresh. The success of McCormick’s invention would not have worked without a steady supply of water. Fresh water was scarce in the eastern goldfields at this time but the demand for water from a steadily growing population encouraged innovation. The solution was to condense salt water. Heating salt water in tanks produced steam that was condensed in tall cylinders, cooled and then collected in catchment trays. By 1898 there were six companies supplying condensed water to the goldfields, the largest company producing 100,000 gallons of water a day. In the early 20th century, Coolgardie Safes were also manufactured commercially. These safes incorporated shelving and a door, had metal or wooden frames and hessian bodies. The feet of the safe were usually placed in a tray of water to keep ants away. (MAV website) The early settlers of Moorabbin Shire depended on this type of Food Safe to protect their food from flies and vermin as they established market gardens in the fertile area around the notorious Elster Creek A metal framed, 4 sided structure standing on 4 legs with 2 hinged doors on one side, a metal tray at base of food safe and a metal cover over top. Ridges on which to rest trays carrying food are inside safe. The Safe is enclosed by fly-wire mesh.'...IN.....GEELONG' A manufacturer's oval metal plate is embossed on one side of Safe but it is illegible.elster creek, moorabbin, brighton, dendy's special survey 1841, market gardens, infant mortality, disease, cemeteries, fruit, vegetables, pioneers, coolgardie safe, mccormick arthur patrick, dendy henry, vaccination, jones martha, jones ethel may

The sections of this wardrobe can be lifted apart so that it can be transported easily and when assembled provides suitable hanging and storage space for the clothes and bed covers of an early settler family This wardrobe is of a type commonly used by early settler families in Moorabbin Shire c1900Wooden Wardrobe with 3 sections- top, hanging space with a central oval glass window, a shallow central drawer and 2 doors with key locks, and drawer section with 2 deep drawers early settlers, market gardeners, poultry farmers, mechanics institutes, furniture, kitchen equipment, clothing, drapery, haberdashery, green pederson carol, city of moorabbin, county of bourke, moorabbin roads board, parish of moorabbin, shire of moorabbin, henry dendy's special survey 1841, were j.b.; bent thomas, highett william, ormond francis, maynard dennis,