Heatwave, 1908 style

Anyone in South Australia at the moment will be aware of the weird weather we've been having! It's been as hot as 45 and as cold as 14!!! But anyway, whenever I think it's way too hot to do anything, I'm grateful for air conditioning and cold water on tap and that, as a 21st century woman, it's socially acceptable for me to go out in public with my knees on display! In January 1908, SA had a record of six days over forty degrees, which is still a record. This is a time before air conditioning, before proper refrigeration, and when men would've been outside in suits and women in long dresses and corsets.
Now, I saw the new 'Slip Slop Slap' ad the other day ("slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen, slap on a hat, slide on sunnies, seek shade"), which is in a wonderful contrast to how 1908 women were advised to avoid sunburn. Back then, slipping on a shirt and slapping on a hat weren't a problem, as it was unseemly to walk the streets topless and hatless, but ladies also carried parasols or wore veils. Of course, even with all those clothes, sunburn still occurred and ladies needed to break out the rose-water and tincture of benzoin.
Here is how sunburn was dealt with in 1908, taken from an article in Mount Gambier's "Border Watch", 4 January 1908:

THE COMPLEXION IN HOT WEATHER
To avoid sunburn, it is well to walk on grassy sides of the path when out in the country, as reflected light from the glaring white road injures the skin. Similarly as regards the light from sea and river, which burns no matter how sheltered the face may be from the direct rays of the sun. 
Another important point is the colour of the parasol and veil. These should be dark coloured to keep away sunburn effectually. 
As for remedies for sunburn: lemon juice in rose-water is as good as any, though parsley which has been well boiled gives a juice to which some ladies attribute marvellous powers. 
Tansy put in a teapot with a little hot buttermilk and allowed to infuse for an hour was our grandmother's remedy, and it still holds high repute. 
A good emollient cream to rub gently on the face and the superfluity gently taken away with a piece of white silk can be made up as follows: an ounce each of rose-water and Vaseline, half an ounce of lanoline; and 20 drops of tincture of benzoin beaten into a cream.

I now leave you with a poem, "Hot Weather Rhymes", by Mark Thomson (note the different spelling of 'cola'). Until the last stanza, it's quite a sweet poem about ice cream and cold drinks, but it takes a slightly sadder and morbid turn. It was published in the "Chronicle" on 8 February 1908:

When the sun's burning beam
Flares down from the sky,
The penny ice cream
Is a good thing to buy.

The sweet ginger pop, 
And the cool Kola beer
In the little 'luck shop'
Are easy to clear. 

Whatever is wet
And has been on the ice
That the small boy can get. 
He drinks in a trice. 

At the gaudy street stall
The youngsters are thick,
For ices they call, 
And swallow them quick. 

It's a wonder to me
They don't all of them die. 
And to cooler realms flee
Up there in the sky. 

References
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-01-28/adelaide-suffers-through-hottest-day-in-70-years/275958