TRAIN TICKET MONTHLY - CLAREMONT TO PERTH
c. 1903Rectangular fawn coloured cardboard ticket. On front black written and printed text over a blue/purple [9]. Text printed on back also with a blue/purple [9]
Front [W.A. Govt. Railways. / MONTHLY TICKET / 1405 FIRST / CLASS / AVAILABLE BETWEEN / CLAREMONT / AND / Perth / EXPIRING LAST DAY OF Sept 1903 / Miss M Dumsday / FARE - S. 10/9]
Monthly ticket issed to Miss Mabel Dumsday in September of 1903 for her regular trips between Claremont and Perth for work. Was found in her purse (1976.137) which was used by her, possibly in Victoria, Claremont and later Forrestdale.
The Dumsday family moved to Western Australia in 1892 from East Malvern in Victoria. They spent a number of years living in Claremont before moving to Forrestdale in 1908.
Mabel was an accomplished musician and would often sing with her sisters in the chorus of Gilbert and Sulivan operas in Perth, as well as featured regularly in the social papers between 1892 and 1908. She was also a devout person, helping to establish Forrestdale’s first Sunday School in 1908, and would often sing and play the piano for the children during classes.
Mabel never married, and after living in Forrestdale possibly up to the 1920s spent her final years living at Bruce Street in Nedlands. Mabel passed away 19 May, 1953 aged 72.
The train ticket was handed down to her niece Lilian Ursula Skeet, daughter of her sister Lillian Maude and Alfred Tunbridge Skeet. Ursula, as she was known, collected and looked after many of the family treasures.
Details
Details
[WA Govt Railways]
This item is a good example of the importance of the railway as a form of mass public transport for people to get to and from work. This ticket is known to be used by Miss Mabel Dumsday in September 1903 when living in Claremont and working in Perth. The ticket being marked specifically as a 'Ladies' ticket shows a different attitude to women moving along public transport for work - relate to wages.
