Pigeons, squabs and the Wonga Wonga at the Australian Table 1864 – 1964

    7 June 2025

    June 2025

    Pigeons, squabs and the Wonga Wonga at the Australian Table 1864 – 1964

    June 2025

    To be LET, For Five Years certain, or any time less, as the Tenant shall require. A Valuable Farm most desirably situate at the Seven Hills, consisting of 50 acres, 40 of which are under cultivation, with dwelling house, pigeon and fowl house, two good barns and a garden containing two hundred bearing trees ; the situation one of the first in the country for stock or agriculture.— Application to be made to Henry Neile on the premises.

    This 1806 advertisement is the earliest published reference I found for pigeons in Australia. It tells us a few of things of  interest. First, that pigeons were present in Australia by this time. Second that they were being raised domestically. Third that having a functioning house for them was an attractive feature to advertise in a property to let or up for sale.

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    Paul van Reyk
    My first essay on food was in Year 10 - people seemed to like it. It took me 56 years to come back to it, so I have a lot of catching up to do. My focus is on Anglo-Saxon settler culinary ways in Australia, roughly from the first days of colonisation to the 1960s - 1970s. I particularly write about stuff that has not been written about before but is very much a part of the Anglo-Saxon Australian table. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I do writing.