LEATHER TREADLE BELTS FOR SEWING MACHINE

This sewing machine was purchased by the Western Australian Department of Education for the Armadale State School some time in the 1930s. it was one of a number of sewing machines purchased for the school and were used to teach sewing to the schools female students. The sewing machines were used at the school through to the late 1960s early 1970s.
In 1984 the sewing machines were sold via a fund-raising auction for the school when it was preparing to move from its Third Road location to its new site on Carradine Road. This machine was purchased by Jenny and Graham Hantler who's children were attending the school at this time. The sewing machine was used as a decorative piece in the Hantler's Bedfordale home for the next 38 years.
This model of Singer Sewing Machine was manufactured between 1929 and 1939 at Singers Kilbowie factory in Scotland.
'Domestic Science' or 'Home Economics' classes were primarily taught to female students to prepare them either to be 'home makers' or domestic servants. Domestic Science classes covered cooking, nutrition, hygiene, sewing, laundry, clothes making, infant care, home decoration and household management skills. In the 1960s and 70s 'domestic science' classes began to be seen as promoting sexism and inequality as it encouraged female students down a set path. School curriculum underwent considerable revision in the 1980s and 90s and 'domestic sciences' and the 'manual arts' classes became more inclusive and were re-designed with a more vocational focus. Now Early Childhood, Health and Well-being, Textiles and Fashion or Hospitality are taught instead.