Preserving the past

In 1811 Appert published ‘L-art de conserver, pendant plusieurs années, toutes les substances animales et végetales’ (The Art of Preserving All Kinds of Animal and Vegetable Substances for Several Years).

And what was the art?

Loosely corked jars were placed in an autoclave similar to a pressure cooker and covered with water.

As the food was heated past boiling point it was sterilized. The steam and air were pushed past the loose corks which were then pushed down tightly to ensure nothing re-entered the bottles. The tops were bound with wire and sealed with wax.

When his design won the 12,000 franc prize Appert used his winnings to establish La Maison Appert in Paris.

It was considered the world’s first cannery.

A cartoon figure called Mrs B Thrifty, who hovered in numerous print advertisements as an almost fairy like figure, was created in the 1930s with a story of her own.

Newspaper narratives followed the travails of Mr and Mrs B Thrifty who discovered that after their marriage their grocery bills had skyrocketed. Mr B Thrifty found a solution - he bought his wife a Fowlers preserving kit.

Subsequent mentions in newspapers of the day declared that “Mrs B Thrifty has hosts of admirers, her pantry shelves are filled with gleaming bottles of preserved fruits” and advertisements urged women to practise "the new domestic economy".

During World War II, demand for canned goods increased and Fowlers stepped up production for the Allied war effort in the Pacific, increasing its own bottled foods as well as manufacturing portable camp stoves for the Australian army.

Bottling of all kinds of vegetables, meat, fish and poultry was encouraged to assist on the home front.

As war rationing hit sugar supplies, Fowlers reassured customers that "sugar is not essential" and plain water would do. Dawn Waterhouse remembers during war time her own mother sprinkling only a small amount on the preserved fruit itself after the bottles were opened.

If the Calthorpes were busy bottling at Red Hill, so too were the Curley women at Mugga Mugga, who adhered closely to the adage of 'making do' at their simple cottage which had once been part of the sprawling Duntroon estate.

Among the items stored when Mugga Mugga was conserved to be opened as a house museum was a marbled green exercise book. Contained within its covers are newspaper clippings and hand-written recipes - a treasure trove of culinary delights.

We acknowledge the Ngunnawal peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the Canberra region.

The region has always been an important meeting place and significant to other Aboriginal groups who have celebrated culture through the arts and cultural practices for tens of thousands of years.

Writer and digital producer: Cathy Pryor, Curator of Exhibitions and Research, ACT Historic Places

Photography: Brenton McGeachie

Collections and Conservation: Jenn Elton and Tamara Gervasoni, ACT Historic Places

Special thanks to Dawn Waterhouse for sharing her memories, and to Fowlers Vacola for permission to reproduce pages from Fowlers Method of Bottling Fruits and Vegetables by J Fowler from the Calthorpes House collection.

References:

Allen G, 2016, Can it! The Perils and Pleasures of Preserving Food, Reaktion Books

Curley S, 1998, A long journey- Duntroon, Mugga Mugga and three careers, ACT Government

Fowlers Vacola, 2015, What’s Old is New Again, Fowlers Vacola

Peel V, 2006, Joseph Fowler (1888-1972), Australian Dictionary of Biography online

Waterhouse D, 2002, Chortles, Chores and Chilblains-cameos of childhood in Calthorpes' House Canberra, ACT Historic Places