Welcome to the Australian food history timeline
This website traces the history of Australian food since white settlement in 1788, with a glance at what came before. Use the menu to jump to a decade, or search for a specific topic. (On mobiles, scroll down to see the bottom menu.) The Australian food history timeline project started as a spin-off from my food memoir, Me and My Big Mouth. But it kept expanding. You can still buy the memoir by following this link. Thanks for reading. Jan O'Connell
What's new?
I keep adding new stories to this website. Like these:
1965: Chung Wah Society's sartees at Darwin Show
1937: Australia's first beer gardens
2013: International Year of Quinoa
2003: Chia farming begins in the Kimberley
2011: Superfoods redefined in new book
2007: First edible insect farm in Australia
1891: Chickpeas recommended to Aussie farmers
1903: Tasmanian Muttonbird industry regulated
1962: First Tunarama Festival in Port Lincoln, SA
1920s: Tasmanian Leatherwood Honey commercialised
1924: Newman's Chocolates founded in Melbourne
1953: Capilano Honey founded in Queensland
My Australian food history books
Unfortunately my book based on this website - A Timeline of Australian Food: from mutton to MasterChef - is now officially out of print. There may be the odd copy hanging about in your bookshop or your local library may have a copy on the shelves. But you can still buy my first book, the baby boomer food memoir Me and My Big Mouth, as an ebook from Amazon or as a print copy from Blurb. More about the books here.
And some video?
I also have a YouTube video channel, a mix of old food ads I wrote back in the day, foodie home movies, and some slicker promotional ones made for my book launch. This is where you'll see a sample.
But wait, there's more
You’ll find other, mostly food-related musings in My (Other) Blog – the link takes you to my author website Me and My Big Mouth. For updates and other fun stuff, follow the Timeline on Facebook.