FOODWAYS UNFETTERED EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FOOD IN THE SYDNEY SETTLEMENT Jacqueline Anne Newling Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the coursework requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Gastronomy School of History and Politics, University of Adelaide October 2007 TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE………………………………………………………………………………………………i TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………………………………………ii ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………………………iv DECLARATION…………………………………………………………………………………………. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………………………… vi CHAPTER ONE: HISTORY ON THE MENU – Introduction and Methodology…………………...3 1.1 INVISIBLE BAGGAGE – B.Y.O……………………………………………………………………8 1.2 AN APPETITE FOR HUNGER? OR AN ADEQUATE SUFFICIENY? LEGEND AND INTERPRETATION - Literature Review……………………………………….10 1.3 PROOF IN THE PUDDING? OR COOKING THE BOOKS? – Evaluation of primary sources……………………………………………………………..15 FETTERED FOOD……………………………………………………………………………………..19 CHAPTER TWO: SET MENU………………………………………………………………………. 20 2.1 MANAGED FOOD – RATIONS & RATIONING…………………………………………………20 2.2 CONTROLLED FOOD – RATIONING & SOCIAL CONTROL ………………………………..25 CHAPTER THREE: SPECIALTIES OF THE HOUSE………………………………………………29 3.1 WILD FOOD – INDIGENOUS FOODS………………………………………………………… 29 3.2 NATIVE FOOD – EXISTING FOODWAYS………………………………………………………35 3.3 CULTIVATED FOOD – INTRODUCED FOODS………………………………………………..39 ii CHAPTER FOUR: SIGNATURE DISHES……………………………………………………………47 4:1 FAMINE, A FAVOURED FLAVOUR?…………………………………………………………….47 4:2 FAMILIAR FOODS, FAVOURED FARE…………………………………………………………53 UNFETTERED FOOD………………………………………………………………………………….62 CHAPTER FIVE: MENU ‘A LA CARTE’…………………………………………………………….. 63 5.1 AQUIRING THE TASTES OF FREEDOM……………………………………………………… 63 5.2 CAPITALISM, A CONSUMING PASSION……………………………………………………… 67 CHAPTER SIX: THE PROOF… IS IN THE EATING – Conclusion……………………………… 72 APPENDICES…………………………………………………………………………………………. 75 7.1 1788 Map of Sydney Cove ………………………………………………………………………. 75 7.2 Colonial Seal 1790 ……………………………………………………………………………... 76 7.3 John Easty’s Rations Log January 1788 – December 1792 ………………………………… 77 7.4 Livestock inventory 1788…………………………………………………………………………. 81 7.5 Livestock inventory 1796…………………………………………………………………………. 82 7.6 Market list 1792……………………………………………………………………………………. 83 7.7 Market list 1793……………………………………………………………………………………. 85 7.8 Market list 1796……………………………………………………………………………………. 88 7.9 Wages 1796 …………………………………………………………………………………….. ...89 7.10 HMS Guardian Food Provisions Inventory …………………………………………………….90 7.11 HMS Guardian Extra Provisions Inventory……………………………………………………..92 7.12 Account of Births and Deaths November 1791 – September 1796………………………… 93 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………………...94-104 iii ABSTRACT The received perception of food in eighteenth-century Sydney is that colonists survived on meagre and monotonous rations. Having failed to engage with the local environment, or to learn from Aboriginal people and utilise indigenous resources, the salt rations dependent newcomers found themselves victims of hunger and starvation. This view is largely due to the predominant historical interpretation of British penal colonisation in Australia, where New South Wales was settled in an atmosphere of ignorance and governmental neglect. This received view is overly narrow and simplistic. The colony developed from penal settlement to a vibrant commercial centre by the turn of the century. Food was a vital factor in this process. Rations, which were controlled by the authorities, underpinned the colonists’ diet, however other foods, both introduced and indigenous, were used to supplement it. Primary sources reveal much about the foodways of the eighteenth-century settlers, and the factors that affected availability and distribution. Where most studies on food in early settlement focus on convicts and rations, this thesis takes a more comprehensive approach, which encompasses rationing and the broader, more liberated aspects of colonists’ dietary patterns. It explores contributing factors such as established English cultural practices, governance, socio-political forces and the natural environment, which influenced colonists’ consumption. This study provides a fresh interpretation of eighteenth-century food in Sydney, establishing that whilst having to work within a corporate victualling system, the early colonists were not passive victims of a food supply controlled entirely from above, but played an active role in food procurement and consumption, exercising individual and collective rights and preferences. The evolution of their foodways reflects the transformation from penal colony to a prospering colonial society, as the first settlers made new lives in New South Wales. iv DECLARATION This work contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference has been made in the text. I give consent to this copy of my thesis, when deposited in the University Library, being available for loan and photocopying. SIGNED: Jacqueline Anne Newling DATE: December 31, 2007. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge Dr Nancy Cushing for her significant contribution to this project as supervisor, and for her commitment to the thesis topic, and support and guidance throughout the research and documentation process. The University of Adelaide Library has made a significant contribution to facilitating research through their electronic access provision and Remote Lending Service. In particular I would like to thank Margaret Hosking and Margaret Galbraith from University of Adelaide Library for their continued support and assistance. The staff at the Mitchell Library and State Library of New South Wales should also be acknowledged for their willing assistance in finding reference sources and materials. I would also like to acknowledge Le Cordon Bleu and the Food Media Club Australia for their support in the form of an educational scholarship, which contributed towards the financial cost of the final component of the Master of Arts in Gastronomy, 2007. My thanks extend to Dr Barbara Santich and Dr Rachel Ankeny from the University of Adelaide Graduate Program in Gastronomy, for their assistance and ongoing support throughout this research dissertation. My family must be acknowledged for their patience and for the sacrifices they have made to allow me the time and effort this thesis has required. vi FOODWAYS UNFETTERED 2 CHAPTER ONE HISTORY ON THE MENU This thesis examines the foodways of the eighteenth-century European settlement in the Sydney region of New South Wales. It constructs a clearer picture than has yet been established of food availability, distribution and consumption in the colony, by considering the foodways, social practices and expectations that were imported from England with the colonists, and how they were shaped by governance, social forces and the natural environment, all which contributed significantly to this picture. This examination extends beyond convicts and rations, taking a more comprehensive approach to food across the wider community. This thesis challenges the received view that the first settlers endured and existed on starvation rations by clinging to English foodways in ignorance of indigenous resources. 1 New South Wales was established as a penal colony, however the broader objective was strategic colonial settlement and agricultural development in the region. 2 Food was a prime consideration and concern for the viability of the settlements, and had significant bearing on colonial labour systems and social organisation. 3 A well-established victualling system based on preserved, transportable staples, was adopted to support the settlements in New South Wales. Free settlers only started to arrive to from 1793, and took time to establish themselves, so all efforts towards the establishment and development of the colony, including food procurement, 1 Jones , S. Colonial Food and Drink. : Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales. , 1985 p2; Davey L, Macpherson M, Clements FW. "The Hungry Years: 1788-1792." Historical Studies 3, no. 11 (1947) (1947): 187-208, p206 2 HRNSW. Historical Records of New South Wales . Edited by Government Printer Charles Potter. Vol. 1, Part 2 - Phillip. 1783- 1792, Phillip : facsimile published by Landsdown Slattery and Co. NSW, 1892. Reprint, 1978. p87. Phillip’s Instructions April 25, 1787; Collins, David. "An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales Volume 1 with Remarks on the Dispositions, Customs, Manners &C. Of the Native Inhabitants of That Country. To Which Are Added, Some Particulars of New Zealand: Complied by Permission, from the Mss. Of Lieutenant-Governor King [Online]." Place Published: Prepared from the print edition published by T. Cadell Jun. and W. Davies 1798, 1798. http://purl.library.usyd.edu.au/setis/id/colacc1 (accessed May - August 2007). p13, February 1788 3 Wilk, Richard. "The Extractive Economy: An Early Phase of the Globalization of Diet and Its Environmental Consequences." Review - Fernand Braudel Center for the Study of Economies, Historical Systems, and Civilisations 27, no. 4 (2004): 285 - 306. p289,290 3 production and distribution, were overseen by civil servants and military personnel using convict labour. The attitudes and actions of the Administration and founding governors regarding food management, access and distribution, had a direct impact on the