1959 Continental food in Sydney
I discovered this article on newspapers.com. Published in the Sydney Morning Herald on 25 April 1959, it gives an entertaining… Read More
1950s
1959 Lipton tea bags arrive in Australia
Although tea bags were invented in the 1920s, they made few inroads into tea drinking in Australia. There is one… Read More
1959 Coke’s advertising agency arrives
Testament to the growing importance of global brands, the Coca Cola advertising agency, McCann–Erickson opened an Australian office in 1959.… Read More
1959 First Australian meat chicken breed
According to the Australian Chicken Meat Federation, until the late 1950s chicken meat in Australia was mainly a by-product of… Read More
1959 Streets Gaytime launched
The first Streets Gaytime was not golden. It was a combination of icecream, chocolate and strawberry shortcake. The famous Golden version,… Read More
1959 Westfield Place opens in Blacktown.
Frank Lowy and John Saunders were two post-war immigrants who initially set up a delicatessen business together in Blacktown in… Read More
1959 First all-Australian espresso machine
The first Boema espresso machine was made by two Italian immigrants, Signori Bordignon and Emer, hence Bo-ema. Their company became… Read More
1958 First beer cans in Australia
The first beer cans in Australia were made of steel and had to be opened with a 'church key' -… Read More
1958 Australia’s first barbecue cookbook
Australia's first barbecue cookbook, The burnt offering: (how not to barbecue), by Winsom A Gilbert, appeared in 1958. Gilbert was… Read More
1958 Barney Banana ice cream launched
Peters Barney Banana, a banana ice cream on a stick, was launched in 1958. It was promoted as containing real… Read More
1958 Tinplate first made in Australia
Tinplate has a long history. Before its use for food packaging, it was used to make various domestic goods including… Read More
1958 Vittoria Coffee begins roasting
Vittoria Coffee has its origins in a company started by the Cantarella brothers, Orazio and Carmelo, who began importing European… Read More
1958 Cuckoo restaurant opens
The Cuckoo restaurantopened in 1958 in Olinda, a hamlet in the Dandenong Ranges outside Melbourne. It was run by Willi… Read More
1958 Darwin Stubby introduced
The Darwin Stubby, available only in the Northern Territory, was introduced by Carlton & United in April 1958 with an 80… Read More
1958 Coles moves into groceries with Coles Dickins
Coles had always been a variety store, but in 1958 the company began its move into the grocery business. It… Read More
1957 Lucia’s Pizza Bar in Adelaide
Lucia's Pizza Bar opened in 1957 and may well be Australia's first pizza restaurant (a title claimed for many years… Read More
1957 Australia’s first Japanese restaurant
The first Japanese restaurant in Australia wasn't a separate restaurant at all, but an annexe to the Dungowan restaurant in… Read More
1957 “Nibble Nobby’s Nuts” trademarked
It's a line that has provoked a chortle since 1957. "Nibble Nobby's Nuts" is ambiguous enough to be printable but… Read More
1957 1700 self-service grocers in Australia
By 1957, there were 1700 self-service grocers in Australia. Although only about 7% of them could be termed supermarkets, these… Read More
1957 Global warming first mentioned
The first use of the term global warming was in The Hammond Times in Indiana USA. The article, on 6… Read More
1957 Australia’s first TV chef
Australia's first TV chef was Willi Koeppen. His program, The Chef Presents was one of Australia’s earliest TV cooking programs. It aired on… Read More
1957 Woolworths’ first food store
Woolworths' first food store was at Dee Why in Sydney. It was a self-service section at the rear of a… Read More
1956 Cafe Balzac opened by Georges & Mirka Mora
Cafe Balzac may be long gone, but its almost forty-year run as a Melbourne culinary institution warrants recognition in this… Read More
1957 First Australian shopping mall
Chermside Drive-In Shopping Centre in Brisbane was the first Australian shopping mall. It was opened on 31 May 1957 by… Read More
1956 Tasmanian wine industry re-emerges
Although commercial wine-making began in the colony as early as 1823 and there were further attempts at wine-making in the… Read More
1956 Tuna fishing industry in Port Lincoln
The southern bluefin tuna is prized by gourmets, particularly in Japan, where it is valued for sushi and sashimi. In… Read More
1956 Beppi’s Italian Restaurant opens in Sydney
Certainly a stayer on the Sydney restaurant scene, Beppi's opened on 10 June 1956 and is still (as of 2021)… Read More
1956 Barossa Pearl sparkling wine launched
Barossa Pearl, however scornfully it’s referred to these days, changed the Australian wine industry. It was based on a German… Read More
1956 Tom the Cheap opens in Perth
Inspired by overseas retail trends, Thomas Wardle opened Australia’s first discount grocery store in North Perth. As Tom the Cheap,… Read More
1956 Birds Eye Fish Fingers make their Australian debut.
Birds Eye Fish Fingers, produced by the quick freezing process developed by the eponymous Clarence Birdseye, were introduced in 1956… Read More
1956 The Arab coffee lounge opens in Lorne
This famous coffee lounge, in the popular seaside resort on Victoria’s Great Ocean Road was opened by brothers Graham, Alistair,… Read More
1956 Television broadcasting in Australia
Although there had been experimental television broadcasts since the 1920s, public television broadcasting began on 17 October 1956 in Sydney… Read More
1956 Olympic Games attracts chefs to Melbourne
The 1956 Olympic Games changed the restaurant scene in Melbourne. Despite an initial suggestion that shearers’ cooks should introduce visiting… Read More
1955 Sunwhite Rice launched
In 1924, eight farmers in the Murrumbidgee irrigation area of New South Wales produced the area's first commercial rice crop.… Read More
1955 First milk cartons in Australia
The first time Australian milk was distributed in cartons was in the Beverley Hills area of Sydney in 1955, when Mr.… Read More
1955 Rocklea Road developed by Darrell Lea
Rocklea Road, a combination of chocolate, marshmallow, coconut and peanuts, was developed by Harry Lea as a gift for his… Read More
1955 First McDonald’s opens in USA
Salesman Ray Kroc opened the first McDonald's in Illinois in 1955, licensing the name from a Californian Bar-B-Que restaurant that… Read More
1955 New Sunbeam appliances
In 1955, Sunbeam Australia launched their pop-up’ toaster, electric frypan and ‘Ironmaster’. The Sunbeam electric frypan, which became an essential… Read More
1955 NSW gets 10 o’clock closing
In a referendum in 1954 voters approved 10 o’clock closing by a narrow margin of 902,532 votes to 892,740. The… Read More
1955 Orchy orange juice
Orchy Orange Juice was first released in 1955. Instead of the cooked taste of canned orange juice, Orchy tasted like… Read More
Mid 1950s Sliced and packaged bread
Sliced and packaged bread was introduced in America as early as 1928 but the widespread adoption of the sliced loaf… Read More
1954 First cook at Mawson Base, Antarctica
In January 1954, a party of 10 men set out to build the first permanent Australian base on the Antarctic… Read More
1954 (?) Choo Choo Bar
The Choo-Choo Bar was originally made by Plaistowe in Western Australia. Hearsay suggests it arrived in the early 1950s –… Read More
1954 Savoury Shapes biscuits launched
Savoury Shapes were launched in Victoria by the Brockhoff Biscuit Company in 1954. The small savoury biscuits came in five… Read More
1954 Mrs Mac’s Pie Company founded
Originally, the pies weren't Mrs Mac's. The bakery business Ken Macgregor started in Perth in 1954 used the brand name,… Read More
1954 Melbourne’s first pavement café
By all accounts, the first pavement café in Melbourne was at Mirka's - the café opened by Georges and Mirka… Read More
1954 Happy Little Vegemites jingle
The Happy Little Vegemites song, used to advertise Australia's iconic Vegemite spread, was written by Alan Weekes of advertising agency… Read More
1954 Curried Goanna served in Sydney
On 8 May 1954, Curried Goanna was among the foods served at a special Northern Territory night at a Sydney… Read More
1954 Crown Lager released to public
According to CUB, Crown Lager (originally Foster's Crown Lager) was first brewed in 1919 and only available to Australia's diplomats… Read More
1954 Pellegrini’s opens in Bourke Street
Pellegrini’s (66 Bourke St, Melbourne) was one of the first wave of Italian cafés in the city and remains virtually… Read More
1953 Capilano Honey founded
It may seem odd that Capilano Honey is named after a river in Canada. The Capilano River flows through Vancouver… Read More
1953 Scallop pies,10d each
The true history of Tasmania's famous scallop pies is shrouded in mystery. The earliest reference I can find to the… Read More
1953 Diamantina cocktail nominated as unique Australian drink
In an article published in the Sydney Morning Herald in 1953, W.P. Thornton sought to refute the idea that Australia… Read More
1953 Colvan Chips
Although there is a story that margarine-manufacturer Ted Mayes founded the Colvan business with his winnings from the 1942 Melbourne Cup,… Read More
1953 Soft drink vending machines
The Australian soft drink industry underwent a radical transformation in the 1950s and '60s. The change was wrought by self-service… Read More
1953 First Australian Meals on Wheels service
The Meals on Wheels concept originated in Britain during WWII, with authorities delivering meals to elderly, frail people. The first… Read More
1953 Chocolate Crackles trademarked
December 1953 saw the name Chocolate Crackles trademarked by Kellogg, despite the fact that the recipe had been in circulation… Read More
1952 Salada biscuits launched
Salada biscuits are among Australia's favourite crackers or, as we used to call them in my youth, dry biscuits. Originally… Read More
1953 Streets Paddle Pop launched
In 1953 Ron Street, nephew of Street's Icecream founder Ted Street, invented the ice cream that has endured for more… Read More
1952 Brisbane’s elite introduced to pizza
The true origins of pizza are obscure. Wikipedia says the word 'pizza' was first recorded in the 10th century. However,… Read More
1952 Spaghetti bolognese recipe
Why would it have a French spelling? And why would it include Worcestershire sauce? And why would you bake it?… Read More
1952 Kentucky Fried Chicken brand launched in USA
Harland Sanders opened his first restaurant in 1930 in the front room of a gas station in Corbin, Kentucky, naming… Read More
1952 The Esky ® invented
No doubt to the annoyance of the brand’s owners, the term ‘Esky’ is widely used in Australia as a generic… Read More
1952 Riots in Bonegilla migrant camp
Post WWII migrants were temporarily housed in camps, such as a former army camp at Bonegilla. They protested about the… Read More
1951 Experimental aquaculture in Queensland
Aquaculture in Australia traces its history back at least 8000 years, to a time when indigenous people in Western Victoria… Read More
1951 Chiko Roll developed
Frank McEnroe was a boilermaker from Bendigo who developed the iconic deep fried Chinese-style roll to sell while catering at… Read More
1951 School milk introduced by Menzies government
Far from being a conspiracy to put a whole generation off drinking milk forever, school milk was conceived as a… Read More
1951 Maggi dried soups launched in Australia
Dried soups became an essential part of store-cupboard cookery in the 1950s. Unilever’s Continental brand was Maggi’s principle competitor. Their… Read More
1951 First vintage of Penfolds Grange
Originally Grange Hermitage, Penfolds Grange was to become Australia’s most collectible wine. Penfolds Grange is made predominantly from Shiraz grapes (formerly… Read More
1950 Betty King debuts as ‘leading home economist’
Betty King, Home Economist, of World Brands Pty Ltd was one of the leading ladies of Australian cookery…the Margaret Fulton… Read More
1950s Origins of Perth’s Conti Roll
The continental roll, or "conti roll" is a Perth institution and consists of mixed continental meats (typically mortadella, coppa and… Read More
1950 Wartime rationing ends
Five years after the end of WWII, food rationing finally ended. While sugar and meat had been freely available for… Read More
1950 Downyflake Donuts in Melbourne
The first Downyflake Donut restaurant opened in Melbourne’s Swanston Street in 1950. Their “American Donut Machine” was a source of… Read More
1950 Twisties invented
Twisties were one of the first “extruded snack foods”. The brand was originally developed by Melbourne businessman Isodor Magid who… Read More