Annual Eel Festival

Fred from Fred's Bush Tucker holds an eel ready for cooking at Elizabeth Farm Photo © James Horan for Sydney Living Museums

Each autumn we celebrate Darug culture at our annual Eel Festival at Elizabeth Farm at Parramatta. This family-friendly event honours Parramatta’s namesake, the eel, and its significance to the local Burramattagal people, who would gather in autumn to trade goods and share stories and food.

Continue reading

Spring Harvest at Elizabeth Farm

Spring Harvest Festival at Elizabeth Farm, Parramatta. Photo © James Horan for Sydney Living Museums

“It is now Spring, & the Eye is delighted with a most beautiful variegated Landscape – Almonds – Apricots, Pear and Apple Trees are in full bloom. The native shrubs are also in flower, & the whole Country gives a grateful perfume.”
Elizabeth Macarthur to her friend Miss Kingdon, Parramatta, 1798  Continue reading

Hearth fire cookery

The hearth fire and bread oven firing up at the Bixby’s cottage, Old Sturbridge Village, USA. Photo Jacqui Newling © Sydney Living Museums

If you frequent colonial-era house museums you will be quite familiar with seeing all manner of heavy cast iron pots, pans and tools crammed or clustered in kitchen fireplaces, sometimes sitting on iron ‘dogs’ on the floor of the fireplace or suspended from ‘cranes’ fitted into the brick work. But rarely do we see these seemingly rudimentary set-ups in operation in Australia, let alone get to actually prepare food on them.

Continue reading

Take 5

The plundered punchbowl at Sweetness and Light at Elizabeth Farm. Photograph (c) Scott Hill for Sydney Living Museums

Last Friday at Elizabeth Farm we celebrated the connections between Australia’s oldest European house and India with a night of Bengal sugar – and rum punch! Continue reading

The icing on the cake

Tot's wedding cake ready to serve at Meroogal. Photo © Scott Hill for Sydney Living Museums

With love in the air for Valentine’s Day and the flurry of ‘yes’ responses to marriage throughout the community, Sydney Living Museums’ Unlocked magazine (circulated to SLM Members) has a strong focus on romantic unions. Unsurprisingly, our interest in weddings turns to celebratory breakfasts and cake. Continue reading