On tea ladies and billy boys
Once an essential member of staff, the tea lady has been relegated to the annals of history. But her legacy should live on, argues Adeline Teoh.
When Robyn Tuckwell retired from her job at Sydney law firm Spruson and Ferguson in 2015, she didn’t hang up a barrister’s wig and gown. She rolled a trolley of mugs into the kitchen and emptied the hot water urn, like always. Robyn worked for 12 years as a tea lady, serving the firm’s personnel morning and afternoon tea, five days a week. By the time she brewed her last beverage, she had memorised all 180 staff members’ preferences.
Her retirement marked the end of an era, one that began during the Industrial Revolution where tea and sugar were given to factory workers as a stimulant before becoming a distinct role during World War II. In an effort to boost productivity and morale, servers would come around to workers to provide tea and a small bite to eat. This not only gave the workers a break and some fuel in their stomach, it saved time compared to each individual going off to make their own tea.
The concept was such a success that many businesses continued the practice post-WWII and hired tea ladies to roam the offices offering a hot beverage and a snack, as well as a sympathetic ear and the odd snippet of gossip. There was also a male equivalent on building sites called a billy boy, a teen apprentice who would learn the trade but also run errands and make tea for the men on site.
Beloved of all, these tea runners have often featured in popular media. In 1978, Network Ten produced a series called The Tea Ladies set in Parliament House, and in the 1980s BBC TV’s Yes Minister often framed drastic budget cuts as a threat to the tea lady’s job. In the 2009 film Slumdog Millionaire, the protagonist works as a tea server in a call centre; although commonly used to describe street vendors making and selling tea, these chaiwalas are sometimes a feature of modern Indian offices.
Unfortunately, ‘cuts’ did often contribute to the demise of the role. Tea ladies were eventually phased out and replaced with in-house cafes and vending machines, where individual staff members would pay for their own beverages and businesses did not have to include a tea lady on payroll. Construction apprenticeships are more formal now and the tea round – if there is one – is often shared among workmates, whether on a building site or in an office.
As the buzz from the New Year fades and a great number of us head back to work in the coming days and weeks, the Australian Tea Cultural Seminar asks you to revive yourself by reviving the tea break at your workplace, whether that’s an office or a building site, a studio or a hospital.
Share your tea break on social media using the hashtag #myofficeteabreak and tag or mention us (Instagram: @AustralianTeaCulturalSeminar; Twitter: @austcs; Facebook: AUSTCS). You can use our image or snap your own and include/tag the type and brand of tea you are drinking to increase exposure.
We may no longer have a tea lady, but let’s make sure they can never take our tea break.
Image below: Melbourne Town Hall tea lady Eve Wilson (Herald Sun Image Library)
