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Cookery Treasures from the Esk Valley
Appears in
By Liz Harfull
Published 2018
The Esk Valley Cookery Book, with the original cover design by Lynette Gall, c. 1950s.
Just a few days before she died at the age of 96, Joan Lane was still taking an active interest in current affairs and writing letters to the editor. As a leader within the Country Women’s Association in Tasmania, she believed strongly in giving women a voice, and experience gave her the confidence to speak up when she thought it was necessary.
At a meeting of the Esk Valley group of the CWA in 1950, Joan harnessed that assurance to propose that they publish a cookery book. Her eldest daughter, Eve Prendergast, suspects it was as much about helping other women, who had married recently and moved to the area, as it was about raising money. In the end The Esk Valley Cookery Book achieved both, selling more than 400,000 copies and generating many thousands of dollars in profit.