Whether it was the swimming pool cake filled with blue jelly or the train cake with the carriages filled with smarties, everyone has a favourite recipe from the Australian Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cake Book.
Recently the duck cake, which is made with two potato chips for a bill, was surged back into popularity thanks to the beloved children’s animated series Bluey.
The Australian Women’s Weekly holds a special place in people’s hearts and this year marks 90 years of the magazine and its beloved recipe books.
The publication’s nine decades will be celebrated in an upcoming exhibition at the Bendigo Art Gallery. From May 27, the Australian Women’s Weekly: 90 Years of an Australian Icon will be looking back at some of the inspiring women who have been part of the magazine’s history and how the many changing eras of fashion and style came to life on its pages.
From its inception, the Weekly has been written by women, for women. Some of the trailblazing journalists who made it happen include reporter Dorothy Drain, who filed stories from the field during WWII, and the Korean and Vietnam Wars, writing for the mothers and sisters of the soldiers she met.
Drain worked for the Weekly for 38 years, including the last five as it’s editor. Ita Buttrose worked as a copy girl there before famously climbing the rungs to become the youngest editor of the Weekly between 1975 and 1980.
Front page appeal has always been a Weekly speciality. Over the years it has been graced by Hollywood royalty from Marilyn Monroe to Nicole Kidman, Australian politicians from Julia Gillard to Anna Bligh and of course, the royals. The late Queen Elizabeth first appeared on the cover in 1937 as a girl, then throughout her life up until her passing in September last year.
The Weekly commemorated her death with a souvenir 164-page edition dedicated to the Queen.
The magazine has always offered a window onto the global fashion stage and this exhibition will display a selection of glamorous garments worn on recent covers. These include the striking red Toni Maticevski-designed dress worn by legendary culinary entrepreneur Maggie Beer, a Sonia Cappellazzo gown for actress and writer Miranda Tapsell, and the Aurelio Costarella dress worn by Crown Princess Mary of Denmark.
The Australian Women’s Weekly: 90 Years of an Australian Icon exhibition will be on display at the Bendigo Art Gallery until August 27, 2023. Entry is free.
Why not make the time to also see some of Australia’s most iconic artists on show with the Australiana: Designing a Nation exhibition which is on at the gallery until 25 June.
