THE IMPORTANCE OF FOOD AND DRINK IN THE POLITICAL AND PRIVATE LIFE OF DON DUNSTAN Peter D Strawhan, B A (Hons) Discipline of History University of Adelaide Dissertation presented as a requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences University of Adelaide November 2004 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract viii Declaration ix Acknowledgments x Chapter One INTRODUCTION 1 Sources and Methodology 4 Secondary Source Material 6 Who Was Don Dunstan? 9 The Backdrop to Change 13 Thesis and Chapter Outline 23 Dunstan and His Private Life 28 PART I: POLITICAL LIFE 31 Chapter Two LIQUOR LICENSING CHANGE: THE SANGSTER ROYAL COMMISSION 32 Drinkers and the Law 38 The Royal Commission and the Licensing Act 41 Dunstan’s New Bill 57 The End of Six O’ Clock Closing 61 Post-Act Complications 62 Conclusions 66 ii Chapter Three: TOURISM 68 Dunstan’s Tourism Briefing Paper 73 Dunstan and Local Restaurants 77 Proposed Tourist Restaurants 79 Windy Point 81 The International Hotel 85 Other Tourism Projects 89 The Cornish Revival 92 Mediterranean Adelaide 93 Tourism Publicity 96 Conclusions 99 Chapter Four THE SCHOOL OF FOOD AND CATERING: REGENCY HOTEL SCHOOL 103 Early Food Industry Training 104 Interstate Training 107 The Catering Committee 108 The New School of Food and Catering 113 Enter Grahame Latham 116 Dunstan’s Restaurant Patrols 118 From Pennington to Regency 119 Questions in The House 121 iii PART II POLITICAL AND PRIVATE: TRANSITION 181 Chapter Six DUNSTAN AND JOHN CERUTO’S RESTAURANTS 182 The Caon Brothers 184 The Red Garter Restaurant 186 The Coalyard Restaurant 189 Conclusions 196 Chapter Seven DUNSTAN’S LOVE AFFAIR WITH FOOD: THE COOKBOOK AND OTHER FOOD WRITING 198 Dunstan: The Early Years 202 Dunstan’s One True Love 208 Cooking at Norwood 210 Dunstan and the Mediterranean 212 Dunstan and Wine 215 The Single Life 216 Dunstan’s Clara Street Retreat 218 The Cookbook 221 Dunstan’s Kitchen 225 Critics and Cooks 228 Dunstan’s Philosophical Foundations 231 Other Food Writing 236 Conclusions 239 v PART III: FUSION: FOOD AND LIFE 242 Chapter Eight DUNSTAN AND GASTRONOMY: THE ONGOING SEARCH 242 Into the Wilderness 242 Fun in the Kitchen? 247 Dunstan in Victoria 249 Dunstan’s Tropical Hideaway 253 Dunstan and the Australian Gastronomy Symposia 255 Ginger Groups 256 Dunstan the Rotisseur 260 Tradition and Renewal 263 The Pleasures of the Table 269 Dunstan’s Final Partner 273 Conclusions 275 Chapter Nine DON’S TABLES, BIRTHDAYS AND OTHER CELEBRATIONS 277 Dunstan’s Restaurant 279 Menus and Other Matters 282 The Rainbow Connection 287 Culinary Visit to Mexico 288 Don’s Table II 292 Dunstan and William Morris 295 vi Innovative Training 122 Government Fruit and Vegetable Working Party 125 Food from Prisons 128 Epilogue 132 School of Food and Catering: Conclusions 134 Epilogue 135 Chapter Five THE GOVERNMENT RESTAURANTS: AL FRESCO AND ASIAN TO FOLLOW 137 The Ayers House Restaurants 137 Cramey of Ayers House 139 Henry Ayers and Paxtons 141 Standards of Service 146 ‘Sausagegate’ 149 The Festival Theatre Restaurants 152 The Premier’s Dining Room 153 Open Air Eating 155 Opposition to Eating Al Fresco 158 Government Publicity Campaign 163 Further Difficulties 165 Asian Festivals 171 Earlier Asian Food in Adelaide 176 Conclusions 179 iv Don Dunstan’s Cookbook II 301 Dunstan and Celebration 305 Food as a Metaphor for Love 309 Dunstan’s Contribution to the Food Scene 310 Conclusions 313 Chapter Ten CONCLUSIONS 314 Future Research 319 BIBLIOGRAPHY 320 vii The Importance of Food and Drink in the Political and Private Life of Don Dunstan ABSTRACT In this thesis I argue that food and drink were of central importance to Don Dunstan throughout much of his political and private life. The conventional view of Dunstan always proclaimed that his passionate interest in food and drink was merely peripheral to his life. Food and drink were simply an aberration, of the same idiosyncratic order of importance as his song and dance routine with Keith Michell, his piano playing, or his reciting poetry from the back of an elephant. These various accomplishments were merely confirmation that Dunstan was different from other politicians. I argue that Dunstan was indeed different, but that the difference was rooted firmly in his life-long love affair with food and drink. I argue that his fascination with food and drink drove much of his reform agenda, that it helped his day-to-day survival, and that it provided him with the means of expressing his love for others. Dunstan’s 1976 cookbook announced his arrival as a devotee of gastronomy and furthers my argument that he helped to introduce and establish a new Australian cuisine. After Dunstan left political life in 1979 he tried to establish himself in other spheres, but it was his almost obsessive interest in all of the aspects of a gastronomic life that triumphed. In the final decade of Dunstan’s life his long love affair with food and drink became a full-blown passion. I argue that, with his long-overdue adventure as a restaurateur, he finally became the complete Don Dunstan. viii 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 other material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference is made in the text. I give consent to a copy of my dissertation, when deposited in the University Library, being available for photocopying and loan if accepted for the award of the degree. _________________________ Peter Dale Strawhan __10/11/04_____________ Date ix Acknowledgments I especially thank my principal supervisor, Dr A Lynn Martin, recently retired as director of the Research Centre for the History of Food and Drink, and co-supervisor, Associate Professor Robert Dare, Head of the School of History at the University of Adelaide. Thanks also to Robyn Green and Julie McMahon of the History Office for their always-friendly assistance. Margaret Hosking, our subject librarian at the Barr Smith Library, has been unstinting with her formidable expertise. Gillian Dooley, Special Collections Librarian at the Flinders University Library, and her staff, provided ease of access to the Dunstan Collection. I was greatly encouraged at the beginning of my research by Michelle White and Alison Galbreath, who were my first contact with The Don Dunstan Foundation. I was particularly fortunate in my choice of the people I interviewed for this dissertation, they provided me with a wealth of information and a rewarding experience. Special thanks to Sylvia Thompson, both for her always wise counsel, and for suggesting the combination of Dunstan and food when I was casting around for a suitable topic. A number of other friends provided much appreciated support and encouragement, including Judith Raftery, Judy Jeffery, and Helen Cornish, who read and commented on an early draft. Without the computer skills of Jim May and Charlotte Mudge my limited word processing ability would not have sufficed. Most of all I acknowledge the understanding, practical assistance, and boundless support of my wife, Jane Robinson. x Chapter One INTRODUCTION To say that food and drink are the basis of our lives is to state the obvious. However, as worthy subjects for serious historical research both found wider academic acceptance only in the latter decades of the twentieth century. Food and drink were regarded academically as mostly peripheral to the main game. The seminal 1982 work of former restaurateur turned academic, Michael Symons, One Continuous Picnic: A History of Eating in Australia, led the way for serious writing on food in this country. Symons followed this in 1993 with The Shared Table: Ideas for Australian Cuisine, which was commissioned by the Office of Multicultural affairs. In that same year Cherry Ripe looked at Australian food from a variety of perspectives in her book Goodbye Culinary Cringe, and concluded that ‘in developing a culinary identity of our own, we are finally casting off our colonial baggage.’1 Food historian Barbara Santich continues to add to our knowledge of the Australian scene with a stream of learned articles in various journals, as well as her books. The latter include What the Doctors Ordered: 150 Years of Dietary Advice in Australia 1995 and Looking For Flavour 1996. At least one recent historical analysis of capitalism cites food and drink as an illustration of what has happened to our society in recent times: Businesses have taken over the replenishment of our capacity to labour through their provision of food, drink and leisure, offering KFC in place of pot-roast chicken, Sprite not home-made lemonade, videos instead of parlour games.2 1Cherry Ripe, Goodbye Cultural Cringe, St Leonards, New South Wales, 1993, p 216. 2Humphrey McQueen, The Essence of Capitalism: The Origins of Our Future, Sydney, 2001, p X. 1 In other words, the relevance of food to our history has come to centre stage, and the subject is no longer relegated to the shadows for only brief mention in passing. That the business of food in Australia is indeed big business, was explored by Sarah Sargent in her detailed 1985 study The Foodmakers Sargent wanted economists to realise that the study of food related not just to ‘statistics and hypothetical models…[but also to] cultural and social well-being.’3 For food enthusiasts the question has never been in doubt. Anthropologist Sidney Mintz has written, ‘if we leave aside the food enthusiasts, ordinary mortals do not enshrine food in some special niche of the sort we save for love.’4 You may argue that Don Dunstan was no ordinary mortal, but he was certainly a food and drink enthusiast.