Simple Christmas holidays from the past

By Local Studies librarian Jo Oliver

Were Christmas holidays a simpler time of year in the past? These photos seem to suggest so. Christmas cards delivered by horse, camping by the beach, no last-minute internet shopping, no struggling kids into hats or sunscreen.

Or perhaps we just romanticise the past?

Women struggled to cook hot lunches for large families with no air-conditioning and the beds in that tent at Bulgo wouldn’t have been very comfortable.

Do you have any great local photos from the past? The Local Studies team at Wollongong City Libraries would love to hear from you if you would be willing to have your images scanned for the collection.

Contact us on 4227 7414 or email localhistory@ wollongong.nsw.gov.au

Clockwise from top left: P12029 Mail delivery at Helensburgh on 25th November 1969; P01263 Camping at Austinmer, 1956; P15053 John, Beatrice Bird and Cecil Bird camping at Bulgo at Christmas, 1926; P21972 Iona, Barbara, Jim & John from Bulli on Christmas Day, 1947