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Vella Gonzaga

Vella Gonzaga

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Aug 23, 2021
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Old ice chests​


compressed-Screenshot 2025-03-13 084643.jpeg
Image source: Australia Remember When / Facebook


Remember the old ice chests before fridges took over? Back then, a big block of ice kept food cool while some homes had Coolgardie safes with wet hessian to keep things fresh. Did your family have one? Share your memories here.
 
this is more like the safe. The ones I knew, owned by my parents and family members actually had top bit for the block of ice and normally only opened by the ice man so the ice didn't melt too fast. We had one well into the 50s when father finally decided we could have a fridge.
 
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gamiry said:
this is more like the safe. The ones I knew, owned by my parents and family members actually had top bit for the block of ice and normally only opened by the ice man so the ice didn't melt too fast. We had one well into the 50s when father finally decided we could have a fridge.
Click to expand...
This is more like the ice chests I remember
 

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I remember, in the early 1940s, the ice man coming along the street to deliver big blocks of ice to all the houses. He would somehow chop them in half sending chips of ice all over the road and, on hot days, all the kids in the street would follow his cart collecting chips of ice to suck provide, of course, that they had not fallen into a lump of manure dropped by the horse pulling the cart!
 
gamiry said:
this is more like the safe. The ones I knew, owned by my parents and family members actually had top bit for the block of ice and normally only opened by the ice man so the ice didn't melt too fast. We had one well into the 50s when father finally decided we could have a fridge.
Click to expand...
There was also the hanging safe, had gauze around the sides and was hung to swing in the breeze ,anyone remember these?
 
Leenie said:
There was also the hanging safe, had gauze around the sides and was hung to swing in the breeze ,anyone remember these?
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They were called "Coolgardie Safes". My mother had one which hung outside under the grape vines where there was shade & also a breeze. How would people today survive without refrigeration. But then life was geared to how we lived life back then.
 
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PeeJay35 said:
This is more like the ice chests I remember
Click to expand...
Correct, this was the IceChest, not the other photo which was a pantry cabinet. The description given of an Ice Chest attached to the photo of the Kitchen Pantry Cabinet made no sense, because the photo & description did not belong together.
 
Millewah said:
They were called "Coolgardie Safes". My mother had one which hung outside under the grape vines where there was shade & also a breeze. How would people today survive without refrigeration. But then life was geared to how we lived life back then.
Click to expand...
A more relaxed 😎 lifestyle then, you could leave your home unlocked ,without fear of intruders .
 
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