And the schoolgirls showed the way

Authors

Russell Doust, State Library of New South Wales

Abstract

A chance encounter with the Melbourne 'Argus' of 13 December 1910 caught the author's eye; an article on a public demonstration of cooking by girls from Methodist Ladies' College mentioned the 'superiority' of the 'new domestic science over the old housework'. This sent the author on a quest to find out what sort of 'electric appliances' were being referred to in the news article and if they were they advertised in newspapers and magazines. He wondered too whether there was any published information on ways of doing things in the kitchen, as distinct from recipe books. He set off on a research journey to the National Library of Australia and found a huge wealth of literature. MLC itself has also kept a history of its educational work for girls, including the curricula and examination questions on training in 'domestic science' and 'domestic economy', and the work of its cooking school, opened in 1910. [Author abstract, ed]

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