1920s

1929-1932 Great depression

The Wall Street crash of October 1929 heralded a worldwide depression that saw one in three Australian breadwinners unemployed.  In… Read More

1929 Blue Heaven colour first made

The Blue Heaven milk shake is an all-Australian invention, but its origins are unknown. What we do know is that… Read More

1929 Wine Overseas Marketing Board established

In 1929 the Australian government set up the Wine Overseas Marketing Board. It was financed by a levy on all… Read More

1929 Avocado on toast first mentioned

  In an article in The Telegraph, Brisbane, in 1929, Margaret Cullen wrote about Robert Walsh's Redcliffe garden where avocados… Read More

1929 Fairy bread as we know it

Although people had been putting hundred and thousands (or nonpareils) on bread and butter for some time, the first known… Read More

1929 Ginger industry established at Buderim

In 1929, a number of Buderim ginger growers formed the first Ginger Growers' Association with a view to developing the… Read More

1928 Scorched Peanut Bar introduced

The Mastercraft Scorched Peanut Bar began life as the White Signet Scorched Peanut Bar, first advertised in 1928.  White Signet… Read More

1928 Maxam Cheese launched in Queensland

In 1928, a 23-year-old entrepreneur named Oliver Kenneth McAnulty opened a processed cheese factory in Brisbane. His Maxam Cheese operation… Read More

1928 Sliced bread introduced in USA

In the town of Chillicothe in Missouri, the eponymous Chillicothe Baking Company was the first company to use a slicing… Read More

1928 First espresso machine in Australia

The first espresso machine in Australia, according to the Massoni family, was installed by Rinaldo Massoni at the Café Florentino… Read More

1928 Dim sims mentioned in The Argus

James Lambert of the Australian National Dictionary Centre has unearthed a reference to this popular fast food in the Melbourne… Read More

1928 Melbourne’s Café Florentino founded

Rinaldo Massoni purchased Café Denat in Bourke Street, Melbourne, in 1928 and changed the name to Café Florentino. Now called… Read More

1927 MacRobertson’s Max-Mints Alphabet Book

MacPherson Robertson began making sweets in 1880 and by the late 1920s had 17 factories employing 2600 people. The Max-Mints… Read More

1927 Emily McPherson College opens

The Emily McPherson College was originally known as the College of Domestic Economy,  opened in 1907. By the mid-1920s, the… Read More

1927 Romano’s restaurant opens in Sydney

It was a restaurant that defined its era. Romano's Restaurant in Sydney was the epitome of glamour, with everyone in… Read More

1927 Darrell Lea founded in Sydney

The confectionery company Darrell Lea was founded in Sydney by an English immigrant, Harry Levy, in 1927, and named after… Read More

1927 Aeroplane Jelly launched

The inventor of Aeroplane Jelly was a tram driver.  Bert Appleroth first made jelly crystals at home in his bathtub… Read More

1927 Brunch recommended to Queenslanders

In 1927, the Queensland Figaro and Punch published an article recommending brunch as a substitute for Sunday lunch.  It seemed… Read More

1927 Parliament House opened in Canberra

After the ceremony, the official party, including the Duke and Duchess of York, lunched on  turtle soup, poached schnapper, fillets… Read More

1926 Australia’s first fresh juice bar

The Victorian Railways Refreshment Branch opened a stall selling freshly squeezed orange and lemon juice drinks at Melbourne's Flinders Street… Read More

1926 Edgell begins canning asparagus

Gordon Edgell and Sons of Bathurst launched their canned asparagus in 1926 after 18 years of experimentation in growing the… Read More

1926 Poem glorifies steak and eggs

During the early to mid-20th century, steak and eggs was considered by many to be Australia's national dish. In 1926,… Read More

1926 Business which became MasterFoods founded

Although no longer Australian-owned, MasterFoods (variously Master Foods and Masterfoods) is an Australian brand that traces its history back to… Read More

1925 Fred Walker gains Australian rights to Kraft Cheddar

The Melbourne entrepreneur,  Fred Walker, had been experimenting with the processing of cheese. Learning about the process that had been developed and… Read More

1925 Quickfri miracle cooking pan

The Quickfri pan was an English invention and was on the market in Australia the same year it was introduced in… Read More

1925 The Empire Christmas Pudding

It started as a marketing idea. The original recipe for the Empire Christmas Pudding was published in an advertisement developed… Read More

1925 Asparagus rolls upstage sandwiches

Australian-style asparagus rolls consist of asparagus tips, often from a can, rolled in buttered, thinly sliced bread. An alternative or… Read More

1924 Newman’s Chocolates founded

When I was growing up in the 1950s, there were certain Easter traditions my family observed. Good Friday meant hot… Read More

1924 Cherry Ripe Bar

The Cherry Ripe bar was introduced in 1924 by MacRobertson Chocolates (later to be taken over by Cadbury in 1967)… Read More

1924 Kirks Ginger Ale developed

Although today's Kirks soft drinks proudly boast "Since 1865" there is no evidence for that date of origin. The two… Read More

1924 Double-cut rolls for 5d

In 2016, the revised edition of the Macquarie Dictionary included the term "double-cut roll" for the first time. But this… Read More

1924 Passiona first developed

Spencer Cottee , a dairy farmer from Lismore NSW developed Passiona cordial which, when carbonated, became the foundation product of… Read More

1924 Fruit kiosk at Flinders St station

The Chairman of the Victorian Railways Commissioners, Harold Clapp, wanted to see  primary producers succeed, so the railways would succeed… Read More

1924 XXXX Bitter Ale released

XXXX Bitter Ale was released by the Castlemaine Brewery in Brisbane in October 1924. The beer was promoted using a… Read More

1924 Kellogg’s starts making corn flakes in Sydney

Seventh Day Adventist Dr John Harvey Kellogg  filed a patent for flaked cereal process in 1895 when he and his… Read More

1923 Green and Gold Cookery Book first published.

The Green and Gold Cookery Book  was one of the earliest ‘charity’ cookbooks and was compiled as a fundraising initiative of King's… Read More

1923 First Australian domestic refrigerator

The first commercially available, Australian-made domestic refrigerator to operate without ice was produced by Edward Hallstrom in 1923. It used kerosene… Read More

1923 Railway raisin bread

As part of a campaign to promote fruit sales, Victorian Railways Commissioner Harold Clapp had a bakery built to produce… Read More

1923 Golden North ice cream in South Australia

The Bowker family moved to Laura, 240km north of Adelaide, in 1870 and in 1880 began selling the milk and… Read More

1923 Eight o’clock closing in Queensland

As other Australian states had done in the previous decade, Queensland introduced earlier closing times for pubs, but chose slightly more civilised… Read More

1923 Brisbane Cash and Carry opens

Brisbane Cash and Carry  (BCC) was among the first Australian self service grocery stores, opened by Claud Archibald Fraser in 1923.… Read More

1923 Vegemite launched

Vegemite was developed by food technologist Cyril P. Callister for  the Australian company Fred Walker & Co. in 1922  and,… Read More

1923? Balfour’s Frog Cakes introduced

Frog Cakes are small cakes made from two layers of sponge with a jam filling, topped by a dome of… Read More

1923 Weet-Bix developed

A company called Grain Products Limited added small amounts of sugar and malt to flaked cereal biscuits and launched Weet-Bix… Read More

1922 Minties invented by Sweetacres

Minties were invented in 1922 by James Noble Stedman and marketed under the Sweetacres brand. They were patented in 1926.… Read More

1922 Cadbury factory opens in Hobart

Australia had been the first export market for the British chocolate giant, Cadbury. In 1922, a consortium of the British… Read More

1922 Country Women’s Association formed

There's a lot more to the Country Women's Association (known everywhere in Australia just as the CWA) than tea and… Read More

1922 Showbags for sale

Although giving away samples had been common at the various Royal and country shows for some time, it appears that… Read More

1922 Eskimo Pie arrives in Australia

The Eskimo Pie – a foil-wrapped ice cream bar covered in chocolate – was invented by Christian Kent Nelson in… Read More

1922 Life Savers arrive in Australia

In 1921, in Sydney, a group of businessmen, reportedly Americans, formed a company "To acquire by agreement from Mint Products… Read More

1921 Flake on the market in Melbourne

Writing in The Argus in 1922, Mr F Lewis of the Fisheries Department sought to persuade Victorians to eat gummy… Read More

1921 Violet Crumble first advertised

Some accounts would have it that the Violet Crumble dates back to 1913, while the manufacturers say 1923. The true… Read More

1921 Group Settlement Scheme in WA

The Group Settlement Scheme in the south-west of Western Australia was a government venture designed to establish a dairy industry.… Read More

1921 Nellie Kelly passionfruit developed

The Nellie Kelly passionfruit is one of the most widely grown varieties in Australia, particularly in the southern states. It… Read More

1920 Anzac Biscuit recipe first published

Along with the Pavlova, the Anzac Biscuit has a contested heritage.  There is some dispute about the date of the… Read More

1920 Streets Ice Cream in Wollongong

Streets Ice Cream was founded by Edwin (Ted) Street in Corrimal, a suburb of Wollongong, where he and his wife… Read More

1920s Tasmanian Leatherwood Honey sold at Strahan

It was one of the first Australian foods to be included in Slow Food International's Ark of Taste - a… Read More

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