Washing really never ends in any family home especially with children. And it is hard work too.

While Mrs Calthorpe would send the sturdy work-a-day items to a commercial laundry, like the Canberra Steam Laundry, more delicate garments, including underwear naturally, would be always be washed at home.

The laundry is well equipped of course, even if it looks very old fashioned to us.  Mary heats the water in the copper to hand wash every item.

Cotton sheets and clothes have a tendency to turn yellowish over time. To keep them looking white – as Mrs Calthorpe expected – Mary would rinse the sheets in cold water with a ‘blue bag’ which contained a tiny bit of blue dye, countering the ageing of the material.

It takes real muscle to scrub the wet clothes, and transfer them from one soapy basin, to the next rinsing basin.  When they are clean, you feed them carefully through the wringer one at a time, to squeeze out the water and into the final basin.

Drying is just as important, particularly for anything that might shrink, like ladies gloves. The glove racks hold them to the right shape – and the right size so that when they return to the drawer, they will once again fit ‘like a glove’.

The laundry isn’t only for washing clothes; this is also Mary’s bathroom. It isn’t quite as comfortable as the Calthorpes’ bathroom, and she may well have wet clothes dripping in to the bath, but it is her domain.