Rouse Hill recipes
Through most of the nineteenth century, Rouse Hill Estate was the social hub of the district.
The Rouse family regularly played host to formal society dinners, long luncheons and sociable tea parties, plus major family events to celebrate birthdays, weddings and Christmas.
The family’s surviving cookery books, in various states of repair, date between the 1850s and the 1950s. Each book is of interest in itself, but as a collection they stand testament to the social and cultural changes that this family, and indeed, Sydney itself underwent in this 100 year period. They demonstrate the gradual emergence of Australian identity from the late 1800s through food and recipes, native and localised ingredients such as kangaroo tail soup, jugged wallaby, curried bananas, rosella jam and prickly pear jelly.
Through their tattered and splattered pages we can see which dishes were popular in the Rouse household over many generations – here’s a small sample from the Rouse family cookery books collection.
The book of household management
3rd edition Mrs Beeton, S O Beeton, London, 1863.
The book of household management
(edition unknown) Mrs Beeton, Ward, Lock & Co, c1880.
Australian cookery: recipes for the people: as given at the Centennial Exhibition, Melbourne, 1888-89
M J Pearson, Melbourne, 1894.
Mrs Maclurcan’s cookery book: a collection of practical recipes, specially suitable for Australia
Hannah Maclurcan, George Robertson & Company, Australia, c1903.
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Dr Jacqui Newling
Curator
Jacqui is a passionate public historian, her curatorial practice shaped by a hungry mind. She has a PhD in history and a Le Cordon Bleu Master of Gastronomy. Interrogating and interpreting history, place, and social culture through a gastronomic lens, Jacqui is a leading voice in Australian food culture and identity in settler-colonial contexts, past and present. Jacqui’s expertise and scholarship extend well beyond the kitchen, and her curatorial work is founded in a commitment to share the rich and complex history of NSW in innovative, inspiring, and meaningful ways.
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