A Cheeky 19th Century Genderqueer Rhyme

Alice Veale (left) was a member of a prominent Victorian pioneer family who settled in Lake Bolac.
As we can see here, she also cut a dashing figure in a three piece suit.

Veale, W. E (1890). [Alice Veale and Ethel dressed in men's clothing, Lake Bolac, Vic.]. http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/89366

Much as we do with cooking, we assume that people in past times were simply 'better' at gender than we are these days. Men were men! Women were women! And anything in-between hadn't been invented yet.

In reality, the historical record is teeming with evidence that people have always been gay, lesbian, transgender and a lot of other things besides. (If you want to blow your mind with some history, check out John Boswell's meticulously researched Same-Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe).

That brings is to today's artefact - a poem from the historical newspaper of my local area, the Box Hill Reporter.

THE MANLY GIRL.

 

She wore her brother's shirts and ties,

His collars, too, I swear,

And e'en his natty boating cap

Was perched upon her hair.

And he converted to his use

Her sash of ribbon red,

And wore her tennis hat besides

Upon his curly head.

They looked alike so very much

You'd scare know one from t'other,

So I don't know to which I "popped,"

The sister or the brother.

 

THE MANLY GIRL. (1896, June 19). Reporter (Box Hill, Vic. : 1889 - 1918), p. 3. Retrieved October 1, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90364771

To "pop" to someone meant at the time to 'pop the question' - propose marriage.

Yes, the poem is humorous, but it does provide evidence that cross dressing (by both men and women) was not unimaginable in Australia in 1896. It is also significant that this poem appeared in the Friday edition of a regional paper, not a 19th century version of The Advocate, distributed to a select few in secret.

I found this poem while looking for local historical recipes. Surprises like this, that challenge our preconceptions of life in the past, are one of the true joys of research.

Cookery Friends, what are the most surprising and interesting things you have found while researching with primary sources?

Surprises in Colonial Era Advertising

I always find it interesting coming across mentions of topics in Colonial Era newspapers that would be taboo today.

Here is an example of an advertisement from 1870 for cure-all cream called 'Holloway's Ointment':

Advertising. (1870, June 11). Southern Argus (Port Elliot, SA : 1866 - 1954), p. 4. Retrieved August 22, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article96875838

Fistulas are a common, and horrifying, complication of childbirth without the help of modern medicine. Most people these days in developed countries haven't heard of fistulas, despite the fact that women in first world countries still experience them, and yet here they are on p. 4 of the Southern Argus nearly 150 years ago.

The Idealised Past; Home-Baking Edition

This may be the greatest slogan ever for a baker: "Staff of Life at a fair and equitable price".

Classified Advertising. (1803, September 18). The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842), p. 4. Retrieved August 19, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article625784

The internet is full of people justifying their choices by referring to an idealised version of the past - whether the Palaeolithic period or the 1950s. The choice to bake bread at home is often justified by the belief that this is the way bread has been baked from time immemorial up until just before the wretchedly decadent present day.

It may surprise you, then, to read the opening lines of the following article from 1870:

THE BEST WAY TO MAKE HOME-MADE BREAD.-Some of our readers who may reside in the country, at a dis- tance from a good baker, may not be unwilling to try a method of making bread, which can be confidently re- commended from many years' experience of its excellence.

Household Recipes. (1870, August 27). Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1907), p. 21. Retrieved August 19, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article70461620

There are two reasons why many people in the colonial era chose to outsource their bread production to the local baker.

The first was that many poorer households didn't have an oven, or the fuel to run their oven just to make bread. The second was the sheer amount of labour that went into running a household in the era before vacuum cleaners, washing machines and dishwashers. Women welcomed any way of reducing the burden of keeping everybody fed, clothed and clean. If you want to know just what could be involved in making bread without instant yeast, take a look at the recommended process in the article quoted above.

So does this mean that you shouldn't bake your own bread, because your great-great-great grandmother probably didn't?

Of course not. There are many reasons to bake your own bread, including having control over the ingredients, producing a superior loaf to your local branch of Baker's Delight, or enjoying the chance to take out some of your frustrations during the of the kneading process. I'm a big fan of a home-made loaf myself. But, unfortunately home-baking friends, we cannot claim that we are replicating a lost era where everyone shared our craft.

Myth Busting: Food Waste is not Just a Modern Problem

As well as being interested in historical cooking, I also like to read about modern simple living and frugality. While the simple living community is great, as a historian I often take issue with the idea that things were much better in some undefined 'past'.

One such assumption is that food waste is a modern problem. Though it is true that there used to be many well-loved recipes for using up leftovers, it doesn't necessarily follow that every homemaker was using them.

In the instructions for one such recipe that I am currently researching, that uses stale bread to make a new loaf, the author says: "This makes good bread, and is a good way to use up stale bread which would otherwise be thrown away" (1).

To me, this sounds very much like modern exhortations against waste, and goes to show that the 1860s homemaker wasn't always a paragon of environmental, fugal living.

For those of your interested in using this recipe to cut down your crust waste, I'll try to post it soon!

What historical assumptions do you notice when you read modern food and lifestyle blogs?


1.  RECIPES. (1866, January 13). The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), p. 3. Retrieved March 16, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138044422