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Washing copper and concrete tub.
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DescriptionWashing copper and concrete tub.Map[1]
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Location (city or town)GreymouthEventWashing copper and concrete tub.
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Category Taghousehold
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CommentsPhil Millar
I can still see my Mum with the Copper boiling our white sheets !
Heather Gaulter
Phil Millar same here Phil
Valerie Beavis
Phil Millar me too in Reefton.
Alva Mundy
Good memories of the copper my mum lighting it in Cameron’s
Liz Hay
We had twin concrete tubs with a handwringer between the two.
Tony Mcgowan
Liz Hay must have been rich.
Wayne Leckie
Get it boiling for the crayfish when our family lived in Bluff.
Margaret Mckee
And the blue bags in the rinse water. To keep the whites white
Lyn McQuillan
Mum cooked the Christmas ham in ours
Colin Perano
One of my pocket money jobs was to clean it with vinegar and salt after dad cooked the gray fish and also I can remember mum making jam in it.
Karen Oleary
Yes mum did
Peter Gray
Can remember it well
Shona Ratana
Looks just like our washouse when I was young? Poor mum, 9 children and she washed all our and Dads mining gear in such a confined space. We had a washing machine 1950s.
Jill Adams
Remember those days well
Barb Kennedy
Yes ours was always busy pleased we did t have to wash this way
Joyce Pitura
Good old memories
Pam Englefield-Absolum
1960 was lighting the fire, heating the water, washing, rinsing in the tubs and finally through the wringer which was attached to the divide between the tubs. Out onto the clothes line.
Mike Hoskin
Looks identical to our wash house same layout
Caroline Dunlop
Ours was all over grey. Sheets came out brilliant white, and at Christmas, after a thorough clean, it cooked the Christmas ham.
Paul Harrison
that looks like the 'wash house' we had growing up. Mum would light the copper and washing day began. Remember the blue bags for the whites..........and the copper stick had other uses too.....ouch.
Dorothy Wills
When I got married 62 years ago that was my washing accessories
Geoffrey Elvin
That picture brings to mind that old saying, " Think you're smart, just because your mother's got a mangle"
Linda Erikson
Geoffrey Elvin luxury!
Linda Erikson
Our house burned down on Christmas eve 1958, next door were cooking their Christmas ham in the copper. Fire started & both houses lost. Preston road next to the aerodrome
Jim Cate
Linda Erikson And what's the bet Stan never swore once lol
Linda Erikson
Jim Cate only when he was hanging wallpaper at home. And that one time he called the car a bitch! Did he swear at work though?
Jim Cate
Linda Erikson no never lol
John Walker
I remember mum boiling up wild apples and alderberries to make a fantastic apple and elderbery jelly (clear jam).
John O'Brien
Mum’s wash house in Granity
Cedric Trounson
common all over NZ Auckland to Invercargill
Jenny Naylor
My mum had one off those
Terry Eyles
Remember them well
Robin James
Mum made soap in ours. My brother and I used the copper with it lid on as a prop to get up through a manhole to get into the ceiling space to smoke some of dads tobacco he had drying there. I Must have been about 10 years old .
Janine Vincent
My Grandmother made soap in her copper they saved up fat etc and boiled it up with other ingredients and when set used a huge knife to cut it up in the copper, think I have her soap recipe somewhere! Plus it was used for the washing of linen etc and the concrete tubs and hand wringer were close by plus the washing board.
Garry Chapman
And Dads home brewed beer
Sheryl Iraia
We had that set. Used to also boil mussels and cook crayfish in the copper.
Cheryl Townsend
I remember the old coopers they were hard working the people who used the
Darren Clarke
Still got one complete with chimney sitting in my shed
Gordon Dixon
Remember ours In the washhouse outside , was handy in the big earthquake for boiling water for everyone, used to cook our mussels in it also ,good old days
Rose Henham
Been there tried that. Hard work.
Julie Manera
Remember this well as we live in an old railway house
Norma Anthony
Washing day took all day and some
Vern Pattinson
Same set up as our one years ago
Heather Reid
An us Vern
Lyn Walker
Such hard work, my god people today don’t know what hard work is. My nan used to do the washing in these, dear soul.
Ian Miller
I remember those, but I would never have thought to take a photo of them.
Ingrid Ferguson
That is the same as we had when I was a child. Love the memory.
Ian Murch
I remember them very well
Val Mc Skimming
Remember this well Linda
I think you lost all you Xmas presents
Val Mc Skimming
We were a family of 8 and Mum slaved away with tubs and hand wringer
I can still vividly remember the arrival of an electric washing machine and refrigerator
Val nee Richardson
Linda Erikson
Val Mc Skimming that would have been life changing for Aunty Glad. Keeping food fresh without a fridge would have taken a lot of good management. Did you have a meat safe ?
Murray Webber
I remember my mother using these.
Anne Hutchison
Where's the old hand driven wringer?
Ngaire Tinning
Hand wringers safer than those electric b....
Murray Bradley
looks same as Rigg St was when we moved in..copper got replaced with twin tub hoover
John White
And I’d get a bath in the used washing water afterwards
Gavin Waters
Great memories,
We had the same layout in the Dobson Police house,remember mum boiling the water for washing clothes and boiling whites ,dad bringing hams to the boil and racking out the fire and putting wet sacks over the top of the copper to hold the heat over night to cook slowly.
That's when hams were hams.
Helen Ruscoe
my darling husband gave ours away to the Homebush Museum lol.
Richard Howe
And just out of sight on the right, between the two tubs would be the hand wringer.
Suzanne King
Both my grans had laundries like that.
Tim Johnston
My in-laws had the same in their place along with an outside toilet
Wayne Coulston
Kiaora that s what we had when I was a kid growing
John Ryall
We did as well boiled the water for the Barth then kept topping up until the last to bath
Charles Wesley
We had one on Deniston mum done black beery jelly in it
I can still see my Mum with the Copper boiling our white sheets !
Heather Gaulter
Phil Millar same here Phil
Valerie Beavis
Phil Millar me too in Reefton.
Alva Mundy
Good memories of the copper my mum lighting it in Cameron’s
Liz Hay
We had twin concrete tubs with a handwringer between the two.
Tony Mcgowan
Liz Hay must have been rich.
Wayne Leckie
Get it boiling for the crayfish when our family lived in Bluff.
Margaret Mckee
And the blue bags in the rinse water. To keep the whites white
Lyn McQuillan
Mum cooked the Christmas ham in ours
Colin Perano
One of my pocket money jobs was to clean it with vinegar and salt after dad cooked the gray fish and also I can remember mum making jam in it.
Karen Oleary
Yes mum did
Peter Gray
Can remember it well
Shona Ratana
Looks just like our washouse when I was young? Poor mum, 9 children and she washed all our and Dads mining gear in such a confined space. We had a washing machine 1950s.
Jill Adams
Remember those days well
Barb Kennedy
Yes ours was always busy pleased we did t have to wash this way
Joyce Pitura
Good old memories
Pam Englefield-Absolum
1960 was lighting the fire, heating the water, washing, rinsing in the tubs and finally through the wringer which was attached to the divide between the tubs. Out onto the clothes line.
Mike Hoskin
Looks identical to our wash house same layout
Caroline Dunlop
Ours was all over grey. Sheets came out brilliant white, and at Christmas, after a thorough clean, it cooked the Christmas ham.
Paul Harrison
that looks like the 'wash house' we had growing up. Mum would light the copper and washing day began. Remember the blue bags for the whites..........and the copper stick had other uses too.....ouch.
Dorothy Wills
When I got married 62 years ago that was my washing accessories
Geoffrey Elvin
That picture brings to mind that old saying, " Think you're smart, just because your mother's got a mangle"
Linda Erikson
Geoffrey Elvin luxury!
Linda Erikson
Our house burned down on Christmas eve 1958, next door were cooking their Christmas ham in the copper. Fire started & both houses lost. Preston road next to the aerodrome
Jim Cate
Linda Erikson And what's the bet Stan never swore once lol
Linda Erikson
Jim Cate only when he was hanging wallpaper at home. And that one time he called the car a bitch! Did he swear at work though?
Jim Cate
Linda Erikson no never lol
John Walker
I remember mum boiling up wild apples and alderberries to make a fantastic apple and elderbery jelly (clear jam).
John O'Brien
Mum’s wash house in Granity
Cedric Trounson
common all over NZ Auckland to Invercargill
Jenny Naylor
My mum had one off those
Terry Eyles
Remember them well
Robin James
Mum made soap in ours. My brother and I used the copper with it lid on as a prop to get up through a manhole to get into the ceiling space to smoke some of dads tobacco he had drying there. I Must have been about 10 years old .
Janine Vincent
My Grandmother made soap in her copper they saved up fat etc and boiled it up with other ingredients and when set used a huge knife to cut it up in the copper, think I have her soap recipe somewhere! Plus it was used for the washing of linen etc and the concrete tubs and hand wringer were close by plus the washing board.
Garry Chapman
And Dads home brewed beer
Sheryl Iraia
We had that set. Used to also boil mussels and cook crayfish in the copper.
Cheryl Townsend
I remember the old coopers they were hard working the people who used the
Darren Clarke
Still got one complete with chimney sitting in my shed
Gordon Dixon
Remember ours In the washhouse outside , was handy in the big earthquake for boiling water for everyone, used to cook our mussels in it also ,good old days
Rose Henham
Been there tried that. Hard work.
Julie Manera
Remember this well as we live in an old railway house
Norma Anthony
Washing day took all day and some
Vern Pattinson
Same set up as our one years ago
Heather Reid
An us Vern
Lyn Walker
Such hard work, my god people today don’t know what hard work is. My nan used to do the washing in these, dear soul.
Ian Miller
I remember those, but I would never have thought to take a photo of them.
Ingrid Ferguson
That is the same as we had when I was a child. Love the memory.
Ian Murch
I remember them very well
Val Mc Skimming
Remember this well Linda
I think you lost all you Xmas presents
Val Mc Skimming
We were a family of 8 and Mum slaved away with tubs and hand wringer
I can still vividly remember the arrival of an electric washing machine and refrigerator
Val nee Richardson
Linda Erikson
Val Mc Skimming that would have been life changing for Aunty Glad. Keeping food fresh without a fridge would have taken a lot of good management. Did you have a meat safe ?
Murray Webber
I remember my mother using these.
Anne Hutchison
Where's the old hand driven wringer?
Ngaire Tinning
Hand wringers safer than those electric b....
Murray Bradley
looks same as Rigg St was when we moved in..copper got replaced with twin tub hoover
John White
And I’d get a bath in the used washing water afterwards
Gavin Waters
Great memories,
We had the same layout in the Dobson Police house,remember mum boiling the water for washing clothes and boiling whites ,dad bringing hams to the boil and racking out the fire and putting wet sacks over the top of the copper to hold the heat over night to cook slowly.
That's when hams were hams.
Helen Ruscoe
my darling husband gave ours away to the Homebush Museum lol.
Richard Howe
And just out of sight on the right, between the two tubs would be the hand wringer.
Suzanne King
Both my grans had laundries like that.
Tim Johnston
My in-laws had the same in their place along with an outside toilet
Wayne Coulston
Kiaora that s what we had when I was a kid growing
John Ryall
We did as well boiled the water for the Barth then kept topping up until the last to bath
Charles Wesley
We had one on Deniston mum done black beery jelly in it
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West Coast New Zealand History (23rd Oct 2022). Washing copper and concrete tub.. In Website West Coast New Zealand History. Retrieved 5th Apr 2026 16:10, from https://westcoast.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/1303