Rockville Museum Steam-Up Day
Penny Griffith, Julia Langford and Doreen Grant in the Pioneer Kitchen.
Diddley Squat was once again one of the excellent reasons to be at the Rockville Early Settlers’ Museum over Labour Weekend.
Diddley is the very good-natured 10-year-old Jersey cow who is milked on ‘steam-up’ days at the Rockville Museum as part of the hands-on demonstrations of some of the survival skills of bygone years. Diddley’s milk is hand-churned by keen young volunteers. The churners get to sample the cream that they produce in the butter-making process, and the watching adults are mostly relieved that they live an era when life’s necessities can be bought off the shelf in a shop.
Hundreds of people made their way to Rockville on Sunday to view the extraordinary collections of vintage farm machinery, working steam engines, kitchen equipment, saws and other tools, sewing machines, pre-European artefacts and other assorted memorabilia of our recent and not-so-recent history.
The event was run by 22 volunteers, and spokesperson Wendy McLellan said that her association was thrilled with the day.
Neil Wilson
