Prickly pear (Opuntia stricta) was first planted in Australia in 1788 at the instruction of Governor Phillip as a food source for the insect used to produce red dye for the uniforms of British soldiers. However, by the mid-1920s, the invasive weed had spread far beyond its original industrial use to 24 million hectares – […]
As a young boy, William George Cochrane (b. 1913) moved to Berry with his family and in the 1930s he began work at the local Horlick’s Factory, famous for producing malted milk. In 1937, George married Reta Gall (1918-1996) and they opened their grocery store in Bomaderry while continuing to live in Berry, at Meroo […]
Imagine the sound of thick, rich cream splashing and slopping against the insides of this glass jar, as one of its owners, Ella or Ada Mellshimer of Ulladulla, wound the handle to move the paddle inside. Nearly every kitchen in Australia had a butter churn in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and this […]
The first butter factory in Australia was established at Kiama, on the NSW South Coast, in the early 1880s. Until then the trade of dairy products occurred directly between the farmer and buyer. Butter was made in small quantities using centuries-old techniques to separate the cream from cow’s milk and churn it into butter. It […]
This elegant Taiwanese screen is both functional and beautiful. But loaded with symbolism, its greatest purpose is its meaning. The plum blossom branch depicted in the central panel, with its delicate buds and flowers that only appear in winter, represents strength and endurance; the two birds perched together seem to symbolise a friendship or partnership. […]
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