Descriptions of what convicts ate, how they gathered and cooked food.
Sydney Cove, Port Jackson. The position of the encampment & buildings are as they stood at March 1788 (detail), William Bradley. Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW: Safe 1/14
Early Sydney operated surprisingly freely. It was effectively a jail without walls where, rather than being imprisoned, the convicts were the general population, living as a community in tents at first, then in huts and cottages that they built themselves. Continue reading
Plum puddings at Vaucluse House. Photo Scott Hill © HHT
In keeping with British tradition, plum pudding was once ubiquitous for any celebratory occasion – not just Christmas. At the feast that was held to mark the opening of Hyde Park Barracks in 1819, Governor Macquarie served roast beef and plum pudding to 600 convicts.
Photo Scott Hill © HHT
Decorative and often valuable shells were commonly displayed in colonial houses, particularly arranged across chimneypieces; we display them in the same way in the recreated interiors at Vaucluse House.
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