Dining out on the Dunstan legacy

History

Outdoor dining, the end of the "six o'clock swill" and our enjoyment of Mediterranean and Asian cuisines using fresh, locally-grown ingredients are aspects of Adelaide life, now taken for granted, that can be traced directly back to Don Dunstan's influence.

Peter Strawhan has just completed his PhD in History at the University of Adelaide, with his thesis titled The Importance of Food and Drink in the Political and Private Life of Don Dunstan.

It tells the story of Dunstan's life and work through the theme of his great passion for food.

"I wanted to focus on Don Dunstan, but didn't want this to be a dry, political thesis," he said.

"I was talking about it with a friend and she said 'what about Don and food?' Eureka!"

"So food was my starting point and I centred my ideas around his passion for food and drink, then I took it one step forward and argued that it was food that made him the 'whole' Don Dunstan, notably with the opening of his own restaurant.

"He was a remarkable man by any criteria. Conversation often turns to him if we're out enjoying lunch in an outdoor setting - you know, if it wasn't for Don, we wouldn't have been here.

"Don Dunstan was this catalyst, an arbiter of change, determined to drag South Australia kicking and screaming into the twentieth century after years of Tom Playford's conservative government."

Dr Strawhan's research tells the story of a revolutionary period in South Australian history through a mouth-watering array of episodes in Dunstan's life, including the State-funded opening of Ayers House Restaurant, the Regency Park Food and Catering College and changes to licensing and dining restrictions that changed the face of dining out.

Dunstan was also concerned with giving the average person access to better dining experiences, with the government subsidising the Coalyard restaurant, intended to be an accessible restaurant for all, as opposed to the more opulent surroundings of Ayers House and Paxtons.

Dunstan helped his friend and supporter, Doris Taylor, to found Meals on Wheels, an important charity that still exists today, and further illustrates the position of food as a symbol for his political belief system.

Dunstan's time in Fiji as a child and his later travels in Italy, Europe and Asia shaped his vision for a cultural shift in Adelaide's eating habits.

His cookbook, one of the first to show how to make a stir-fry, was a best-seller. His own backyard was a source of exotic fruits, vegetables and herbs to be used in the kitchen, which formed the hub of his life in Clara Street, Norwood.

But he never ceased to extol the advantages of our Mediterranean climate and the wealth of food and wine produced in South Australia.

Dr Strawhan's thesis is alive with interviews from Adelaide's food experts and chefs including Primo Caon, Cheong Liew, Maggie Beer and Cath Kerry.

"It started with one phone call to Grahame Latham, who had been head of the Food and Catering/Regency Hotel School, established by Don Dunstan. Latham is living in Byron Bay now, but by luck, he was coming to Adelaide a week after I contacted him. He gave me lots of names, like the Caon Brothers, to contact and I just followed the yellow brick road from there."

The Importance of Food and Drink in the Political and Private Life of Don Dunstan is a valuable reminder about what the Dunstan era gave to South Australia, and the rest of the country, as a result of the influence of chefs nurtured during this time.

Dr Strawhan said his thesis could have taken a number of different tangents, including Dunstan's effect on and involvement with the arts. However Dunstan's passion for food and drink dominated his life.

"My next step is to try and get a publisher and turn the thesis into a book," he said. "Maybe at that point I will draw in some of the other material I collected while I was researching my thesis. It has been a terrific experience on the whole. I've met some really interesting people and feel like I've settled some unfinished business in my academic life by getting my PhD."

Story by Lisa Reid