| My love for HANDI started when I was 13 years old . Our
only lighting was inferior wick lights, one Tilley 246 and of course one
HANDI. For boiling up through the day the trusted HANDI QUICKBOIL ( stove
) was used for heating. I can recall coming home from school, then going
to the dairy to help milk the cows, then up to the house to do my home
work ( school studies ) under one of the pressure lights. In the 1960's ,
240 volt power came to our property, but the HANDI wasn't thrown away - I
then used the Light for fishing. HANDI was reliable and parts were more
readily available, because it was a Queensland product & we lived only
100 mile from the factory.
About 4 or 5 years ago I started collecting only HANDI Lights , then
adding their stoves, then collecting all types of stoves & lights .
Now my quest is to collect one of each Australian brand light and stove as
Australian history. My aim is to leave my collection for my children &
grandchildren to remember me by.
During my collection years I got to know the previous HANDI owner quite
well. One day he approached me and said he didn't have time for this
business with all of his other commitments. We agreed on a price and now I
am the proud owner. My thoughts at that time was to keep the name of HANDI
alive for another 10 years . By that time hopefully one of my
grandchildren will take over where I leave off. No matter what country you
live in, or what you collect, it may be stamps, stoves or even nails.
These things are so important to our heritage.
Albert White
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