TO LOOK at the title of Edwin Barnard's new book, Spinning Tops and Gumdrops: Childhood in Colonial Australia, you might think it was all play and no work for our little lads and lasses.
Quite the contrary. As the book makes clear, children in those times were an important source of labour - be it on farms, factories or in shops - and opportunities for play were often limited or geared toward learning the skills required for productive employment.
Pleasure was found less in shop-bought (as opposed to home-made) toys than in "imagination, skill and daring" that would serve them well as adults. When children did play it was largely unsupervised and usually out of doors -
in places like waterholes and back lanes - exposing them to a degree of risk that would leave many a modern parent aghast.
Children were not shielded from the realities of life. Up to the 1850s children could view public hangings. Corporal punishment in schools was unremarkable. Infant mortality was high and losing a sibling was tragic but common.
The scope of Barnard's book is impressive. Other topics include lost children, orphans, religion, delinquency, education, toys and reformatories.
Yet in spite of its moments of soberness, childish delight shines through, most clearly in Barnard's rich selection of photos (reason alone to buy it!). He is also careful to give voice to his young subjects through their diaries. You can almost hear their irrepressible Aussie chiacking coming out of the pages.
It's a book to share with friends young and old.
DETAILS: Spinning Tops and Gumdrops, Edwin Barnard (NLA), RRP $44.99
