Blacksmiths at work shoeing horses and repairing carts — a familiar sight on the corner of Fryers and Corio streets in Shepparton during the 1920s. Photo created by Sora.
Hidden in History is a new weekly column that unearths the quirky, curious and sometimes eyebrow-raising tales from Shepparton’s past. Provided by the Shepparton Heritage Centre, these articles are rooted in fact — but told with a wink and a sense of humour.
Sylvia wrote about life in Shepparton as she remembered it in the 1920s:
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On the corner of Fryers St and Corio St stood the forge, with horses being shod and carts repaired.
The clear sound of the hammer on the anvil added to the beauty of the tree-lined streets in the sunshine.
The baker would leave his horse and cart in the street and run past the house to the back door with his basket of bread on his arm, while the milkman ran with his can of milk and measured it into our jug.
Dulcie and Phyllis took turns getting up early to run down to Daish’s Butcher Shop for the day’s supplies before school.
Our mother was a willing cook and hostess, so we often invited friends home for parties — singing around the piano, sometimes accompanied by a violin or cornet, as was the fashion of the ’20s.
With neither TV nor radio in our lives, the old Lyric Theatre catered for whole families with silent films.
On Saturday afternoons, the Lyric was filled with children yelling for Tom Mix and his cowboys, while I was employed to accompany the galloping hooves on the piano — three non-stop hours for 7s.6d (seven shillings and sixpence).
