 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
| To complement its outstanding collection on wine, the State Library has been collecting menus seriously since 1990. Before that date, the Library had acquired a few menus from hotels and restaurants, as well as menus for official occasions, private dinner parties and, as part of its shipping collections, some shipboard menus. Most of these were donated by library staff or members of the community, or had been acquired as part of archival record groups. Noteworthy among these donations are a number of menus from the South Australian Hotel, which pleased discriminating diners from 1879 to 1971, as well as menus from the glossy hotel dining rooms of the 1950s and 1960s. Both of these groups of menus were donated to the Library by Barry King, a former chef at the South Australian Hotel. The Library also received a collection of Victorian menus, many of them annotated, from Melbourne restaurant critic, Rita Erlich. The Library’s oldest menus are two Belgian menus from 1844 and1856, and the oldest Australian menu is for a dinner and a banquet held in honour of Prince Alfred, first regal visitor to South Australia, in 1867. There are menus for private and official dinners held at Parliament and Government Houses, Adelaide, as well as in public buildings, clubs, and private houses in South Australia and elsewhere. There are menus which show the growth in popularity of culturally distinctive cuisines, once exotic, now thoroughly familiar to a culturally diverse nation. There are menus which show a diversity of imagination and design. Some menus are a puzzle, revealing no clear details of the occasion or the place or the date. We would be delighted to hear from people who can supply any of the missing details. Menus featured here are South Australian unless otherwise specified, and are only a small selection of the hundreds of menus and wine lists held in the Library’s collections. Many menus also have wine lists, while others are wine lists alone. The 100 or so menus selected for inclusion on this site are grouped under the following headings, with some appearing in more than one group. Within each group the menus are in chronological order, unless otherwise indicated. The 19th century
These three menus above come from an amazing album of wine ephemera associated with the wine trade. Called Viniana, the album was compiled by Ellic Howe, a connoisseur of both wine and typography, and consists of about 160 items from the 18th to the 20th century. There are labels, wine lists and invoices, many from Burgundy, together with menus, advertisements, lists of wines sold at the Hospices de Beaune between 1899 and 1906, and notes on some wines drunk by Ellic Howe.
Banquet given for the Adelaide Jubilee International Exhibition 1887 City of Adelaide for Prince of Wales Birthday 9 November 1888 Moorakyne
House, Robe 15 August 1890. Affairs of stateCity of Adelaide for Prince of Wales Birthday 9 November 1888 State dinner for the Prince of Wales, Grand Central Hotel 13 July 1920 Corporation of Adelaide dinner, Hotel Richmond 31 August1931 Dinner for the Governor-General, Adelaide Club 3 June 1939 Parliament House Menu 29 April 1986 State luncheon for Dr Kohl, Hyatt Regency 5 October 1988 The South Australian HotelAn Adelaide icon, the South Australian Hotel, known affectionately as ‘The South’ was built at 147 North Terrace in 1879 and demolished on 26 June 1971. It was an elegant hotel and the place where visiting celebrities stayed, most notably The Beatles in 1964. The first menu in this section is part of the collection of Barry King, the hotel’s last Executive Chef, who donated around 400 of its menus to the State Library of South Australia, thus providing a wonderful record of the sadly missed institution. South Australian Hotel 11 May 1944 Commonwealth Press Union dinner, South Australian Hotel 19 November 1955 Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin, South Australian Hotel 6 March 1968 South Australian Hotel 16 December 1970 The Adelaide ClubThe Adelaide Club is a gentlemen’s club formed in 1863, out of the ashes of The South Australian Club, which lasted from 1838 to 1843. Its menus feature strongly in the menu collection as it has often been host to special occasion dinners for visiting royalty and vice-regality, as well as other V.I.P.s. Dinner for the Governor-General of Australia, Adelaide Club 3 June 1939 Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin, Adelaide Club 29 August 1969 Modern Pickwick Club annual dinner, Adelaide Club 28 July 1990 On board shipT.S.M.V.
Manunda at sea. 16 July 1953 Orsova dinner 24 December 1970 HMCS Protector dinner 30 September 1984 HMV Britannia Melbourne 16 March 1977 Some special occasions
Dinner to commemorate the Opening of the Hotel Richmond given by Charles R.J. Glover, Adelaide’s first Lord Mayor and owner of the Hotel Richmond 3 May 1928 The Wongana Circle, dinner to Wongana wives, Hotel Richmond 24 September 1938 Adelaide City Council dinner to A.H. Gerard 4 August 1966 35th Maccabi Carnival Ball 30 December 1967 Magarey Medal Presentation dinner 9 September 1974 Dinner for Michael Broadbent of Christie’s wine auction department, Bulletin Place, Sydney given by Len Evans 4 February 1977 St Valentines Day Ball 12 February 1982 Kings Ball, McLaren Vale Bushing Festival, Woodstock Winery 28 October 1989 State Library of South Australia Foundation inaugural dinner, The Institute 9 May 1997 Grand Bradman dinner for Sir Donald’s 90th Birthday, State Library Foundation, Adelaide Convention Centre 27 August 1998 Associations and business dinnersSA Chamber of Manufacturers, John Martins 1 December 1948 Commonwealth Press Union dinner, South Australian Hotel 19 November 1955 Food Technology Association, SA annual dinner 21 June 1956 SA Chamber of Manufacturers Better Food Exhibition 1958 5DN Starve Din Din Loway Out 3 December 1962 Australian Optometrical Association Golden dinner 19 October 1963 Wine and food societies
The Bacchus Club, Barossa Valley Branch, annual vintage dinner, Angaston Hotel 6 April 1960 The Bacchus Club, Barossa Valley Branch, Yugoslav dinner, Angaston Hotel 19 May 1967 The Bacchus Club, Golden Bacchus 50th Anniversary dinner, Alphutte Restaurant 23 June 1989 IWFS The Pursuit of Excellence Council dinner 15 September 1986 Confrerie des Chevaliers du TastevinThe South Australian chapter of this international organisation holds dinners twice a year, hosted by a different member. The specially printed cover for each menu usually comes from the parent organisation in France is and features interesting images. Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin, Adelaide Club 29 August 1969 Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin, Middlebrook Winery, Cover: Statue of Liberty 14 February 1987
|
|||||||||||
Copyright and this website | Disclaimer | Privacy | Feedback | Accessibility | FOI |
|||||||||||
The
International Food and Wine Society (IWFS) has groups around the world.
Wine
dinners
