Trove Tuesday: For sale

Have you ever wondered what your relatives sold?

For sale

A search by the Advertising category within the Victorian newspaper Alexandra and Yea Standard and Yarck, Gobur, Thornton and Acheron Express on Trove, reveals some interesting items that were offered for sale in 1945.

Source: Advertising. (1945, June 15). Alexandra and Yea Standard and Yarck, Gobur, Thornton and Acheron Express (Vic. : 1908 - 1949), p. 3. Retrieved October 1, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64708015

What was the background for this sale?

The above items were offered for sale in June 1945. My great grandparents, William Wallace Auld and Rose Helena nee Miller, moved to Merton Victoria, circa 1936. This was a particularly hard time for the family as their daughter in law, Sylvia Auld nee Masterton, had passed away on 17 December 1935 as a result of a dreadful accident that occurred at the family home in Forbes, New South Wales. The accident in July 1935 was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald and reads as follows:

YOUNG WOMAN BURNT.
FORBES. Tuesday.
Quickly enveloped in flames when her dress caught alight at her farm home, Mrs John Auld, a young woman, of Grawlin Plains, near Forbes, ran towards her husband, who was working in stockyards near the house. She fainted before reaching him. After treatment by her husband, she was rushed to hospital.
Mrs. Auld was standing with her back to an open fire in a grate when she smelt burning cloth. She looked round and saw the flames spreading round her. It was some minutes before her husband heard her screams and came to her assistance. She was badly burned about the arms, legs, and shoulders, but her condition is not serious. 

Source: YOUNG WOMAN BURNT. (1935, July 10). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 14. Retrieved October 1, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17203433

With a grief stricken son and three young children to look after, the family moved back to Rose Helena's hometown of Merton in Victoria. In November 1943, William Wallace Auld passed away after an illness of
Emphysema, Chronic Bronchitis and Cardiac Asthma, no doubt all relating to his years working as a baker.

It was after these events, with Australian in general just coming out of it's slow recovery from the Great Depression of the 1930s, that the family was looking for that extra little bit of cash and offered the items for sale.