Fun Facts!

FOOD

What did colonial Australians eat?

What did early Australian settlers eat?

Food was a lot plainer in 1841 – no pizzas, pastas or Thai takeaway. A recipe book written in 1846 was called Modern Cookery (not modern anymore!). It says, ‘England’s cookery has remained far inferior to that of nations much less advanced in civilzation’. Thumbs down, in other words. 

Modern Cookery has recipes we probably wouldn’t like much, like ‘stewed lettuces’ boiled for ‘twenty to thirty minutes’, and calves’ feet, which are ‘Cheap and Good’.

On the sailing ships, the food was so terrible that small children sometimes could not eat it. Some died of starvation. Passsengers ate boiled, salted meat day after day. Sometimes the meat had been kept in barrels so long that it went off. Many ships had a baker who baked bread twice a week, but the passengers weren’t allowed to eat it fresh. They thought the fresh bread was bad for their stomachs!

On land in Australia, most people roasted meat, or cooked stew in a pot, in front of an open fire. People in the bush ate lots of mutton (sheep meat) and damper.

Richer people had servants who could make fancier food. One Victorian dish was called ‘mock turtle soup’. It was actually made from a calves head, including the tongue and the brains. The recipe is very complicated. The ‘mock turtle’ became a character in Alice in Wonderland, which was written in 1865, not too many years after Letty and Alfie’s 1841 stories.

How to bake damper

In colonial Australia, ‘damper’ and sheep meat were the daily food for settlers in the bush.

Why was it called ‘damper’? Because it was cooked on a fire which had been ‘damped’ down with water, so the dough could roast on hot coals. Hopefully, it didn’t get too burnt

Damper dough is easy to make. In 1841 it was usually be made without butter and milk, but here is a tastier modern version. It’s a bit like scones:

  • 3 cups self-raising flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup water

Mix flour and salt. Rub the butter into the flour with your fingers. Add liquid. Knead dough on a floured board and pat into a round shape. Put on a greased baking tray and cut an X on the top. Bake 30-40 minutes at 190oC. When it’s cool enough to touch, break it apart with your hands.

Image: Rhyme about damper from ‘The Bulletin’ newspaper, 17 Sept 1892. The anonymous author is not a damper fan.