Little Dancing Queens

I cannot tell you how many times my sisters and I listened to this album with when we little.

When I was about eight I used to 'choreograph' routines to my favourite ABBA songs then I'd rope my friends into performing them with me in front of the class (and any other class who'd let us in if I remember correctly!). Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that one day I'd have a daughter of my own who would be doing the same thing. Well, it seems some things never change. Today Bella is playing out the same scenario performing 'Dancing Queen' to her classmates with her her friends from the ABBA Club.

Bella and her friends started their own ABBA Club some time ago so they could write out lyrics at lunch time, talk about their favourite songs and do the odd performance. It intrigues me to think that ABBA still holds sway over little girls after all these years. What's really interesting is that it's all about the music. They don't seem to attach themselves to the personalities the way we did (I was definately a Frida girl) and I'm sure they must wonder why on earth they're dressed that way!

They love their Lady Gaga, Katie Perry and Adele too (I'm glad they're not writing down some of their more colourful lyrics!) but there is just something about ABBA that they all love. Is it the music, the lyrics, the harmonies? Perhaps I'll never know but it is a lovely link with the past for this aging ABBA fan who doesn't mind joining in when no-one is looking...

Food, family and fun...

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One of the things I love most about Easter is the tradition and symbolism surrounding the food we share - hot cross buns and fish on Good Friday, lamb on Sunday and, of course, all those chocolate eggs. There is something so comforting about preparing and eating the same food at the same time of year, year in, year out. It gives the year a certain rhythm, allows us to look back and compare with other Easters and gives us the chance to pass family traditions on to the next generation. This week I discovered three beautiful new Australian cookbooks, that in their own individual ways, gave me a privileged insight into the way in which food traditions have shaped other people's family lives.

When I first saw Keepsakes, Recipes, Momentos, Miscellany by Frances Hansen it was love at first sight. This exquisite book is so much more than a cookbook. Nestled among beautiful drawings, painting, photographs and collages are handwritten and typed recipes collected by Hansen and her family. The original book was made by Hansen for her sister's wedding and although it is an intensely personal book in one way, its evocation of food and family in 1970s Australia and New Zealand really struck a chord with me.

Similarly, while Teresa Oates and Angela Villella wrote Mangia! Mangia!: Authentic Italian Food Rituals and Family Recipes to honour and preserve the food traditions of their Italian parents and grandparents, there is so much in this book for the rest of us to enjoy. The book is teeming with stories, personal photographs and family recipes and lovingly descibes important annual rituals such as preparing and bottling the passata, preserving the olives and making your own proscuitto and salami.

And then there is the delightful, My Grandma's Kitchen by Louise Fulton Keats. This gorgeous children's book features bright illustrations, a sweet story about cooking with Grandma and a selection of never-fail recipes to inspire the little ones. As if that wasn't enough, the Grandma in question is none other than Australia's original domestic goddess, Margaret Fulton (the author is her grand-daughter) so you can be sure that the recipes are tried and true!

May you and your family enjoy many happy hours around the table this Easter...

Barnabus lives on...

Autumn is here already and we don't seem to have had any summer at all which feels a bit strange. But not as strange as the fact that Tom saw my old car whizzing down the highway yesterday. I was so sure the car dealers would sell it for scrap and I'm so glad they didn't. Barnabus lives on...

Roll Up, Roll Up!

Images via Windham Fabrics

I've been doing a lot of work on circus lately so it was a lovely surprise to see an article about circus history (and puppetry, toy theatres, pantomime and the Ballets Russes) in the recent Selvedge magazine. One of the things they mentioned was this incredible range of fabrics inspired by the circus poster collection at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont, and made by Windham Fabrics. Aren't they just gorgeous? A bit of digging also led me to this fascinating story about how the Museum acquired some of its nineteenth century posters. They were pasted to the side of a house in 1883 when the circus came to town and found during renovations in 1991 (they had been covered over and protected from the environment). If you're at all interested in how paper conservators go about there business you can find out more here.

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Have you been following this story? This exquisite Roman bronze ceremonial helmet with full face mask was found on farmland in the hamlet of Crosby Garrett in Cumbria earlier this year. Until recently it has been on display at the local Tullie House museum just near Hadrian's Wall. When the owner decided to sell the helmet, Tullie House undertook a fundraising campaign asking people throughout the country to donate to a fund designed to keep the helmet in Cumbria. The estimated asking price at the Christie's auction was 300,000 pounds. Within weeks the museum had raised a staggering 1.7 million pounds much of which was made up of small donations by members of the public.

As a curator myself I would say the museum's representatives went along to the auction quietly confident. Imagine their dismay when the bidding soared past their best offer and the helmet was whisked away by an anonymous phone bidder for 2 million pounds? What a crushing blow for the people of Cumbria (and the rest of the country) who had tried so hard to keep the helmet where it was used in Roman times and where it lay in wait for hundreds of years until a man with a metal detector came along. Life just isn't fair sometimes is it?

The Past Is Another Country...

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The weekend before last I went to my 25 year school reunion (I thought there had been a misprint but it seems it has been that long since I left school). Of course I agonised over whether or not to go. My year level consisted of 11 girls and 80 sports-mad boys (mainly boarders) and I knew that only one or two of the other girls were going. There was also the remote chance that my 'first love' would be there and I wasn't all that sure how I'd react seeing him after all this time. Would I be like Debi Newberry in Gross Pointe Blank...'What is this I'm feeling? Is it pain? Panic? Hunger? Am I hungry?'...and would he be like Martin Blank...'I freaked out, joined the army, went into business for myself, I'm a professional killer'?

Luckily for me the night went off without a hitch. No dead bodies, no 80s music to evoke unwanted emotions just a really noisy crowded pub where small talk was really all we could manage. 'First love' did not turn up (where are you now David?) nor did any of his close friends. There have been lots of emails and Facebook friend requests floating about since then but I'm wary about visiting this other country known as the past. No-one really seemed to have changed that much and while it was nice to be able to connect the dots and see what people have been up to, I didn't feel a burning desire to re-establish any old ties. I already keep in touch with the people who were really special to me then (as they are now) and I'm content to leave it at that.

How about you? Have you been to any of your school reunions? Have you ever run into your first love after many years of separation? What was it like? Do tell...

Pin-up Girls

I recently finished reading 'Our Girls: Aussie Pin-ups of the 40s and 50s' by Madeleine Hamilton, a fascinating account of the women who posed for pin-up photos both during and after World War II. The book looks at the changing motivations of these women and is full of wonderful details of the era gleaned from first-hand accounts, fan letters, photographs, newspapers and magazines.

What comes through most strongly during the Second World War section is that many girls posed for photographs out of a sense of 'patriotic duty'. These girls were not models but ordinary girls who were seen as representing 'the flower of our young womanhood' - fit, tanned, simple and direct. These were different, pre-feminist times. Names and addresses were published alongside photographs of pin-up girls and many girls recieved mail from servicemen both in Australia and overseas. Some were 'adopted' as company mascots and entered into routine correspondence with soldiers. They also received lots of local fan-mail which some girls found amusing -others found it intrusive.

After the War things changed somewhat. Some girls decided to pursue fashion and photographic modelling professionally although for most girls the beauty and beach contests sponsored by local newspapers during the 1950s merely represented a moment in time between 'girlhood and marriage'. Addresses continued to be published and girls continued to recieve fan-mail. Looking through some family photos yesterday I came across just such a letter! It was dated 6 May 1963 and was addressed to my 22 year old mother (before she met Dad). It was from a boy called 'Les' and starts:

'I hope that you will forgive me for writing this letter to you but I saw your photograph in 'The Herald' last week and as I will be in Melbourne next week I am taking the liberty of inviting you to come to the pictures with me on Thursday evening.'

The letter goes on with Les explaining a little about himself and suggesting that they meet in front of the Myer department store in Bourke Street at 7.30pm (I'm not sure whether or not the newspaper mentioned that Mum worked at Myer or whether it was just a convenient central meeting place). I'm pretty sure Mum would not have turned up for the date and I wonder what my grandparents would have made of it.

Ah, the secret life of parents!

Sunday's Kitchen

Mantlepiece in Sunday's kitchen as it appears today

Yesterday I bought a beautiful book called 'Sunday's Kitchen: Food and Living at Heide' co-written by my friend and one-time colleague Lesley Harding. I can't tell you just how beautiful it is. It's full of evocative black and white photographs of John and Sunday Reed and the artists and writers who sought refuge at their property on the Yarra in the Melbourne suburb of Heidelberg (now Buleen). It also includes many coloured photographs of the gardens, the paintings they inspired and recipes used by Sunday to create simple bohemian feasts.

If you don't know about Heide you can read more about it here and here. In essence, it was a community not unlike the Bloomsbury group with John and Sunday at the centre acting as mentors, promoters and philanthropists. Artists such as Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker, John Perceval and Mirka Mora were closely associated with the Reeds whose support helped them during crucial periods of their artistic careers.

Heide is a very special place. Walking around the grounds and through the houses there is still a very palpable sense that John and Sunday are right there beside you. If you're in Melbourne there is a complementary exhibition showing at the moment so pack a picnic and make the pilgrimage. If that's not possible you might like to follow Sally Heath's blog 'A Season of Sundays' which has been inspired by the book.

Make Do and Mend

Yesterday I bought a great British magazine called Selvedge. It's not new but I had never seen it before as it is quite expensive and I guess a lot of newsagents here don't bother to stock it. The issue I bought was No 32 and it has some great articles in it about textile use/creation during World War II. One such article explores the role of embroidery in wartime from the homefront - where it served to calm nerves, boost morale, extend the lives of clothes and provide 'a happy outlet for my love of finish and gracious living' (Eustace Woods) - to the prisoner of war camps in Singapore where it served a very different function being used by Day Joyce as a 'hand-steadying, mind-employing, secret thought recorder'.

Another article explores the trade in luxury goods that continued throughout the War for those who could afford it. Companies such as Burberry, Harrods and Fortnum & Mason offered things such as torches and pocket flasks made of silver and crocodile skin to make your night in the Anderson shelter more comfortable while Saville Row tailors kept officers in bespoke suits and formal outfits. One company even offered a silk-lined, calf leather, gold-buckled gas mask in place of the cardboard ones issued by the government. It's hard to fathom why anyone would believe that they needed one of these either to keep up appearances or to increase their chances of survival in a bombing raid isn't it? Some things money just can't buy.

If you would like to find out more about the whole 'make do and mend' ethos you should check out Mrs Sew & Sew a blog created by the Imperial War Museum in London. Sadly Mrs Sew & Sew seems to have stopped blogging but it still worth a look for the interesting posts and links.

ANZAC Day

That teapot is crying out for a tea-cossie!

Yesterday was Anzac Day, the day we remember the sacrifices made by the Australian and New Zealand Army Corp in war so it seemed a good time to make a batch of Anzac biscuits and explain the meaning of the day to the kids. My version differs slightly from the traditional biscuits made by mothers, wifes and sweethearts and shipped to the boys on the frontlines during World War I. I have replaced the plain flour and bicarbonate of soda with self-raising flour as I'm not a real fan of that weird aftertaste bicarb sometimes leaves and I have also reduced the amount of sugar other than that the recipe remains the same.

Anzacs biscuits were the first thing I really mastered in the kitchen when I was little and I used to love making them as much as I loved eating them. We made a bit of a ritual of it yesterday with a pot of tea and our old china and between us we polished off nearly the whole batch!

ANZAC Biscuits

1 cup self-raising flour
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 cup shredded coconut
2 tablespoons golden syrup
125 grams butter

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C/ 350F.

2. Grease or line baking tray with baking paper.

3. Melt butter and golden syrup together in a small saucepan over a low heat.

4. While butter is melting mix dried ingredients together in a large bowl.

5. Add butter and syrup to dry ingredients and stir to combine (I sometimes use my hands to do this towards the end to make sure that everything is really combined). Test to make sure that mixture will hold together if not add a few drops of water.

6. Take teaspoon amounts and roll into balls then flatten and place on prepared baking trays.

7. Bake for 15-20 mins or until golden. Sometimes they can be a bit chewy which is nice but if you like a crispy biscuit cook a little longer so they go a deeper brown but keep an eye on them so they don't burn!

Tale of a teacup

I love everyday objects and the power they have to acquire meaning over time based on how, when, where and by whom they have been used. Over the years I have been continually drawn to them whether it has been in my studies in archaeology or in my work with contemporary objects in the museum where I work. Recently I have been exploring the history of everyday objects a little closer to home as we sort through the contents of Mum and Dad's house. At times this has been a fairly emotional journey but there have been some lovely memories and surprises along the way.

Before Christmas, while carefully packing up my parents 'special' crockery and cutlery I came across this teacup and saucer (one of a set of four matching cups, saucers and side-plates) produced by the Japanese company Noritake. According to the Noritake Australia website 'by the late 1960s Noritake had become a household name and such was its popularity almost every Australian couple married during this period received a Noritake dinnerset as a wedding present'. I'm not sure how Mum acquired this set but it may well have been as a wedding a gift as she was married in 1966. The pattern was produced between 1964 and 1982 and has a very 60s feel to it with its geometric stripes in white, grey and gold complimented by a platinum rim.

Mum was very fond of this set which she always referred to as her 'Noritake', never the stripey cups or the 60s set, so when I came to wrapping it I took extra care. I was by myself in the half empty house waiting for my sister and feeling a little sorry for myself. As I held the cup in my hand I turned it over to see the famous Noritake backstamp then caught my breath - the pattern was called 'Isabella'. Now every morning as I sip my tea from this cup I feel a restored connection between grandmother and grand-daughter.

The Enchanted Forest

Recently I had the most vivid sense memory. Do you ever have those? To get to Isabella's school each day we walk across a park. It is your typical Australian public park with a barbeque and tables and chairs, play equipment and lots of gum trees just like those in the nature reserve behind the school. In one corner of the park, however, there is a very different atmosphere and when we walk that way we say we are going through the enchanted forest. The enchanted forest is a stand of very old pine trees with massive trunks and ropey roots.

On the day in question, we were walking through the 'forest' when something about the quality of the light and the smell of dried pine needles crushed underfoot took me straight back to primary school. I remembered all those recesses spent building little cubbie houses with fallen branches thatched with pine needles. I remembered how proud I was of some of those cubbies and how we used to go around admiring each others before returning to our own convinced that ours was the best of all. I'm glad kids still build cubbie houses like we did.

Of Love & War

A Kiss Interrupts the March, Melbourne, 31 March 1943. Uploaded to Flickr Commons on October 19, 2009by Australian War Memorial collection

I have always had a fascination with the 1930s and 1940s. I think it started while watching classic Hollywood movies on TV with Mum when I was quite young. Both my Nanas were also 30s women in a way. Nana Stoner loved the glamour and celebrity of the Hollywood stars while Nana Laffan had more of the 'make do and mend' mentality having lived on the land through the Depression and the War.

My interest in this area has continued to grow over the years so when I came to choose my Masters topic I naturally chose something that would let me immerse myself in the era. For two years I researched the impact that the stationing of American soldiers in Melbourne had on the music and dance styles of the time. The more I researched and interviewed people the more I came to realise just how different life on the wartime homefront was from the period preceding it. Youth was honoured over age, working women became as highly valued as home-makers and public life and duty stole the limelight from life centred around the home. There was also an ever-present tension between the need for public control and the heightened private desires fuelled by the romance of the ballrooms.

One of the things that has peaked my interest in this area again is two new exhibitions about the period. The first is Of Love and War at the Australian War Memorial which looks at the impact of war on relationships and 'the ways in which Australians incorporated affairs of the heart into their wartime lives'. You might like to checkout the photostream on Flickr Commons.

The other exhibition was curated by my thesis supervisor and is called Over-Paid, Over-Sexed & Over-Here?. This exhibition explores the myths surrounding the American marines stationed in Melbourne during 1943 the same peiod I researched and I'm hoping to see it next week.

So what's your secret fascination? What things do you clip out of the newspaper, read about, collect? Do you have a special area of interest that you keep a little secret?

Caz