Maritime Museum: The Crust Of The Wave

The vast majority of immigrants to South Australia have come in three major waves, during the earliest years of the colony, again in the early part of this century and most recently in the post war period. The Maritime Museum's latest exhibition "The Crust of the Wave", focuses on these periods and in particular the food that some savoured and others endured on their voyage out to Port Adelaide. Surprisingly while the early immigrants to the colony may have found the seafaring tough, most were delighted with the grub. "In the 1850's, if you were an immigrant coming out on a ship the food you got was much better than the food you were used to on land. Lots of people who came to Australia came from poorer rural districts in England, Ireland and Wales and they usually would have just cooked on an open fire, whereas on ships they were having oven cooked food, meat and for them what was really a luxurious meal." In fact many had never eaten so well, a far cry from the appalling conditions which claimed the lives of thousands of convicts during the days of transportation.

By the 1850s, ships bringing assisted emigrants to South Australia carried a surgeon superintendent charged with ensuring the health and safety of passengers. In fact the surgeon was paid a gratuity should all passengers survive the epic journey. But by the second wave of migration to South Australia, sea travel for the poor at least had returned to the bad old days. "In the 1910s, it was pretty much a free for all and any commercial enterprise could bring passengers out to Australia and this resulted in a lot of rules which in the 1850s kept people healthy and alive but just weren't there in the 1910s." Thankfully by the 1950s the class system which had dominated sea travel forty years earlier, had largely disappeared and the food was worth writing home about. In fact it so impressed many of these passengers that the Museum has been inundated with menus collected by those who left war torn Europe to make their way to a new home bringing with them cuisine we now take for granted. The Crust of the Wave Exhibition is open daily from 10am to 5pm. Entry is $8.50 for adults, $6.50 concession and $3.50 for children. For more information you can email info@postcards-sa.com.au