Dried fruits pack a punch: Using gallery, library, archive and museum (GLAM) collections to tell history

Abstract

Abstract This article will draw on the material culture collections of GLAM institutions to relate the under-researched and entwined histories of the Australian dried fruits industry and the post-First World War soldier settlement scheme. Using cookbooks, marketing posters, sheet music, newspapers, photographs and government reports, this article will show how popular culture was harnessed to support struggling returned soldiers. In so doing, Australian dried fruits became a symbol for nationalism, patriotism, nutrition and household economy. In the early 1920s, Australians were consuming less than a quarter of the 65,000 tonnes of dried fruit produced each year, much of which was grown and harvested by returned soldiers. Many soldier settlers were struggling to farm their grants of land successfully. Those that could reap a harvest were dismayed to find no market for it. Responding to this situation, the Victorian Dried Fruits Board commissioned Miss Flora Pell to write A Sunshine Cookery Book, which contained 50 recipes (all using dried fruits) ‘for the modern table’. The foreword to this free cookbook was patriotic and moralistic. ‘Housewives’ were urged to support returned soldiers by buying Australian currants, sultanas and raisins and cooking with them every day. As well as showing their patriotism by supporting returned soldiers, they were also encouraged to do their duty by their families, and feed them dried fruits, which were nutritious and economical. Food choices were political, even in the 1920s.