Uncle Albert and Aunty Dot and Some Family Food History

Dot

Her name before marrying Ross Slender, the 6th of our grandparent’s children, was Dot Thurbon. I don’t remember too much about her cooking from my childhood but I certainly do in more recent times. Can she cook! In the years soon after Billie, my father, died, Joycie and I often had the good fortune to share a roast dinner or Christmas lunch at Dot and Ross’ table. Now Dawn, and Auntie Ivy before her, certainly demonstrated superior skills in the making and baking of chocolate caramel slice. But, I have to say that Aunty Dot’s is their equal in this particular skill. However I remember mostly her crystal clear jams and of course her rose garden.

Albert

The Belgiums were our allies during World War I. Consequently Uncle Albert was named Albert Belgium Slender after King Albert of Belgium. Albert, the uncle, not the king, was the first boy born to our grandparents. He wrote the story of his life, “The Long Journey”, and included in it some of his food memories. The following extracts are taken from “The Long Journey.”

“Grandma (Hopwood) and Millie would prepare the meals for the men (i.e. chaff-cutter crew). There was a long table in the large dining room with long stools on each side of the table where the men would sit to eat their meals…Our Hopwood grandparents had their own fruit trees, grape vines, and always had vegetables growing. Grandma always had a cupboard full of jams and preserves. To get jars for the jams and preserves they used to tie a kerosene-soaked piece of string around the top of the bottle and then light the string. When it was alight they would plunge it into a container of cold water. The top of the bottle would fall off where the string had been tied. To deal the jam they would pass hot beeswax over the top of the jar and then paste brown paper over the top”


“A cooler safe was used to keep milk, butter and meat fresh. It was made with hessian which covered a two foot square framework. There was a galvanized tray on the top, filled with water that had pieces of flannel hanging over the side of the hessian. The water would drip onto the hessian and the breeze blowing through would keep the inside cool.”


“Johnny White’s Store…had a large heap of sawdust in the yard…where he kept blocks of ice in the summer. The sawdust kept the ice from melting…He also had an ice chest in his shop. Sometimes when I was coming home from school past his shop he would give me a drink of iced water. This was something that I looked forward to – just plain old ice water - a real luxury in the summertime”

You can access the full version of "The Long Journey" by clicking here

Some Family Food History

Grandma Hopwood referred to above was born Victoria Rosina Pettigrove. One of her nieces, May Yardley (née Pettigrove) who was a contemporary of, and cousin to, Nana Slender, wrote about her memories of the food she associated with her grandparents (i.e. Victoria’s mother) John and Rhoda Pettigrove…


…Grandmother was left to develop the property (after John died) and this she did very successfully with the help of her family. She was only about 5ft tall, but she was a very strong person in every way. I suppose she was the real pioneer, when you think about it. There was a lovely orange grove around the first dwelling - later another was built on the McMillans / Leitchville roads corner - and Grandfather John grew the trees and orange pips he saved. Some of the fruit was lovely and some of it a bit sour, but people thought they were wonderful! You know, in those first early years, all of their staple supplies came form Echuca. It was a three day trip. One day to get there with the horse and dray, one day to collect supplies, and another to drive home. They only went a few times a year. The flour and sugar came in 50lb bags and the tea in big tins. Sometimes, for a treat, they would bring back salted Bloater fish - they were a real luxury - and these would be minced, with Grandmother’s homemade butter added, also mustard and a touch of nutmeg, then it was steamed in a basin and potted up. It was stored in summer time on ledges carved into the thick mud brick walls. Things kept well there. I forgot to tell you about the huge walk-in fireplace in the first house. It was right across the end of the room, with an iron kettle hanging from a bar. They killed their own meat of course, and the pigs were smoked over the fire. There were quite a few aboriginals living in the area when Grandfather came, and they were very friendly and never caused any trouble. The Pyramid Creek was full of fish, and the aboriginals would sometimes bring the beautiful fresh fish to the kitchen door and exchange them for flour, sugar and tea. My father said the head of the tribe was a tall upstanding man, every inch a king. There used to be a big black fellows over on the banks of the creek. I wonder if there's anything left of it now?


Grandmother kept a few cows, and even though I was only seven at the turn of the century, I can remember the cellar dug into the ground. This is where the milk was set in big pans, and in the morning the lovely thick cream was skimmed off the top and made into butter. This was sometimes traded for other goods in the district …

This information obtained by Maree Morris who is the grand daughter of Nana Slender’s sister Jane Chitts (née Hopwood).