Australian colonial history begins with beer: the Endeavour left England with 250 barrels on board. The drink reflects the changing fortunes of women, from Australia’s first female licensee to the 1960s feminist fight to allow women into public bars. Beer has always bubbled over into politics, with Reschs’ owner, Edmund Resch, thrown into a local internment camp when WWI broke — punished for his German roots, despite living here since age 16. Politicians love to be associated with beer: Prime Minister Bob Hawke set an ale-drinking world record in 1954 and has a craft beer named after him. Beer has given us a national icon – Vegemite. Now, brewers like Wildflower in Sydney are doing fascinating experiments with beer using native grains, wild yeasts and local flowers — showing how far the drink has evolved since its initial arrival into Sydney. 

This episode features Professor Clare Wright OAM, historian, author, broadcaster and public commentator; Alice Resch Le Cras, great-granddaughter of Edmund Resch and host of the Edmund Resch Series podcast; Karli Small, Head Brewer at The Grifter Brewing Co.; Topher Boehm, brewer and co-founder at Wildflower Beer; Claudia Moodoonuthi, Kaiadilt woman and artist; and Paul van Reyk, author of True to the Land: A History of Food in Australia. 

Image: Alana Dimou. 

Long before local authorities tried to ban sliced bread, Australia was home to the world’s first bakers. Grindstones, some 65,000 years old, suggest Indigenous communities have been baking for millennia and there’s an amazing effort to bring back this cultural knowledge and revive Indigenous grains. While Australia has had a fraught relationship with locally grown wheat, there’s a growing movement to embrace Australian heritage grains, backed by open-minded chefs who want to knead such enduring flour into ultra-local pasta, pizza and bread. 

This episode features Jacob Birch, Gamilaraay mari and researcher; Aunty Bernadette Duncan, Kamilaroy woman and coordinator of the Garragal Women's Language and Culture Network; Dr Angela Pattison, lead researcher on Indigenous Grasslands for Grains; Kerrie Saunders, Gomeroi woman and technician on Indigenous Grasslands for Grains; Paul Farag, executive chef of Nour and AALIA; Luke Finlay, Operations Manager of  Wholegrain Milling Co; and Paul van Reyk, author of True to the Land: A History of Food in Australia. 

Image: Alana Dimou.

The history of Australia can be told in an oyster shell. For thousands of years, First Nations communities feasted on these mollusks and collected them in middens – a millennia old example of sustainability. Sydney was literally constructed from oysters. Our roads were paved with them because the shellfish was so abundant, and the crushed-up shells were used in buildings. Oysters also tell a story about migration (thanks to oyster saloons run by Greek migrants) and our ecological future with oysters being used to repair reef damage and revive coastline. 

Featuring Chris Jordan, Indigenous chef and owner of Three Little Birds; Leonard Janiszewski and Effy Alexakis, co-authors of In Their Own Image: Greek Australians; Jody Orcher, Ualarai Barkandji woman and bush foods educator; Alex Goad, industrial designer and founder of Reef Design Lab; and Dr Chris Gilles, marine biologist and at the time of recording, program director of The Nature Conservancy (Chris is currently the managing director of SeaGen Aquaculture). 

Image: Alana Dimou.

Ever wonder how a by-product of beer gave us Vegemite, an Australian icon? Have you heard about the bakers producing pide, damper or Johnny cakes from ancient Middle Eastern or Indigenous grains? Did you know our roads and buildings used to be constructed from oysters? Or that soybeans can be transformed into plastic and cars?  

To find out about all these things and much more, join Lee Tran Lam and Australian chefs, business owners, researchers and growers on Culinary Archive Podcast, a six-part series by Powerhouse exploring Australia’s foodways. 

Image: Alana Dimou