Tasilla Cunial

Tarsilla Cunial emigrated from Italy to Australia when she married her husband Joe. They have lived on their Nashdale orchard for many years, bringing up five children. Without modern appliances while the children were young, she spent hours each day with her hands in water carrying out her domestic tasks.

"My hands were in the water all the time. My first chore was Joe coming down with the milk. I had to boil it for the kids and make butter and cheese. Then I did the washing up and then I washed all the clothes by hand. I used to kneel down at the bathtub to do that."

The water we were getting was from a spring and it was going into a big hole deep in the ground. The water wasn't clean because on the edge of the creek there was a 2m x 3m wide ditch and the spring water was going there and the windmill was pumping it to the house. When I was washing the clothes I had to put up with it.

My hands were in the water all the time. My first chore was Joe coming down with the milk. I had to boil it for the kids and make butter and cheese. Then I did the washing up and then I washed all the clothes by hand. I used to kneel down at the bathtub to do that.

At lunchtime I always cooked lunch for Joe. Meanwhile I would make the cheese as well. You had to break the curd with your hands. Joe never ate bought cheese - only homemade.

The water we had was hard. When we later put in a bore the water was harder and then I started getting sick with that water. Because of the high mineral content it made my stomach upset. When we realised that we got a rainwater tank, but we had to be careful because everybody sprayed around here.