Making do in a Hurry

The Royal Flying Doctor Service Cookery Book prepared by the Alice Springs women’s auxiliary air branch in 1962 contains dishes all about making do with what was readily to hand.

Among them is an Early birthday cake, made with an emu egg, provided by branch president Rose Chalmers from MacDonald Downs station, whose mother, Mrs Agars, was roped in to sort, arrange and type up the recipes.

Then there is a Plenty River curry, which requires twelve goat chops; and a Drover’s curry from Doreen Braitling at Mount Doreen station, which she suggests is an ideal way to produce a tasty meal in a hurry with only a piece of cooked salt beef. Like most outback curry recipes of the day, it relies on the ubiquitous pre-mixed powder found in every station store, combined with an onion, powdered milk, a bit of flour and sugar, and a pint of water.