Australia has a great deal in common with those from New Zealand. They’re our brothers and sisters. But, like all sibling relationships, this also gives us full licence to trash talk each other and steal each other’s stuff.
And it goes both ways – Australia has nabbed things from New Zealand and the Kiwis, bless their hearts, have given it a good go on claiming things as their own too. Ultimately, as Australians, we are going with “Australia has always come out on top” regardless of where the truth lies!
Pavlova
No list of Australia v New Zealand rivalries is complete without a look-in at the pavlova. For decades there have been arguments about whether the pav was an Aussie or a NZ creation – the Aussies claiming its origins were from a hotel in Perth, while the Kiwis insisting that it hailed from The Wellington Hotel. Certainly a win for hotel restaurants either way.
Both sides agree that the pavlova was named after the famed ballerina Anna Pavlova who toured both Australia and New Zealand in 1926. But, where did the pav originate? Australia or New Zealand? And what if both sides are wrong?
This decades-long argument seemingly ended with the 2008 publication of Professor Helen Leach’s The Pavlova Story: A Slice of New Zealand’s Culinary History. Leach had found that its origins stemmed back to at least 1926, when a recipe was published in New Zealand. As per Leach: the pavlova is a Kiwi creation. (To complicate matters, some early ‘pavlova’ recipes are for desserts quite different to the cream and fruit topped meringue Australia loves.)
But that wasn’t the end of the discussion.
Two other researchers, New Zealand’s Dr. Andrew Paul Wood and Australian Annabelle Utrecht dug further and contend its origins were not in New Zealand at all. Nor Australia.
They say the delicious pavlova began life as a Germanic meringue torte (a rich, multilayered cake) which eventually travelled to the US, Australia and New Zealand.
In other words, it’s all quite complicated and while the academics keep sorting it all out, Australia is happy to keep claiming it as ours.
Donna Hay's 'perfect pavlova' Source: Donna Hay loves a tall pav, so you get lots of crunchy edges and pillowy filling (Donna Hay: Basics to Brilliance)
The Flat White
Is there anything more True Blue than the flat white? It’s the drink that powers a big chunk of Australia each and every day. The father of the Aussie flat white coffee is said to be Alan Preston, the operator of Moors Espresso in Haymarket, Sydney. Preston claims to have coined the term, adapting it from North Queensland where locals had adapted espresso coffee to “white coffee – flat”. He was selling the flat white from 1984/85. SJ Will’s website dedicated to the flat white has a great treasure trove of photos of the era provided by Preston.
However, NZ’s Fraser McInnes claims that he invented the flat white in 1989 after a failed attempt to pour a cappuccino. “I went over to the [customer] and said ‘sorry, it’s a flat white’,” McInnes recalled.
Nice try, New Zealand. We’ll be keeping that one, thanks.
An Aussie flat white Source: SBS
Celebrities
Rebecca Gibney, Lorde, Russell Crowe, Keith Urban, Jane Campion, Stan Walker… they may have New Zealand written on their birth certificates. But, strewth… they’re fair dinkum Aussies as far as we’re concerned. (Pssst – fans of Jane Campion – The Piano is streaming at SBS On Demand, but only until 10 May, and you can catch Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind on Saturday 17 April, 8.30pm on SBS World Movies.)
Russell Crowe ‘A Beautiful Mind’ Source: Universal Pictures
Phar Lap
FACT: No New Zealander could ever have a heart as big as Phar Lap’s. But, let’s get serious about this for a moment. Nobody is arguing that Phar Lap wasn’t foaled in New Zealand. We’re happy to give them that. But Phar Lap was trained and raced in Australia where he became a hero. Without his time in Australia, Phar Lap would have just been a handsome New Zealand horse. Australia made him an icon.
Phar Lap Source: SBS
Crowded House
There’s actually zero doubt that Crowded House are Australian. Frontman Neil Finn may have been from New Zealand, but the other 66% of the band's original line up was from Australia. Even Finn himself says of Crowded House: “Melbourne was the birthplace of Crowded House and was always the town we chose to return to. It’s forever deeply ingrained in our collective psyche and was the backdrop for many of our best musical moments.”
But what of Finn’s previous band Split Enz? Sure, the band formed in New Zealand, but they moved to Australia where they recorded their first album and started to find success. That Vegemite sandwich I had for lunch – I might have bought the ingredients at the supermarket, but that sandwich was from my kitchen. Just saying.
The Lamington
Was the Aussie lamington in fact preceded by a Kiwi ‘wellington’?
Australia has long claimed the coconut-covered cakes as their own.
The first known recipes for lamingtons appeared in Australia in the early 1900s; they include a recipe for “Lamington Cakes” published in the Queensland Country Life newspaper in 1900; and another, “Lamington Cake (from a subscriber)”, published in 1902, also in the Queensland Country Life. Both use a simple icing between the sponge cake layers, unlike the more common use of jam today when making dual-layer lamingtons. It makes sense that both recipes were published in a Queensland paper: it is widely believed that the lamington was named after Lord Lamington who served as Governor of Queensland between 1896 and 1901, or after his wife, Lady Mary Lamington. Maurice French, Emeritus Professor at the University of Southern Queensland and author of The Lamington Enigma: A Survey of the Evidence, leans to the latter view, as he explains in this article by SBS Food. Who actually invented it is less clear – some say it was the Lamingtons’ French-born cook, others say it was a local woman.
Caramel tres leches lamingtons Source: SBS Food / Alan Benson
So where does the wellington fit into this history?
In 2014 an article published by The Guardian claimed that in a watercolour painting created by New Zealand artist JR Smyth, dated 1888, “a partially eaten Lamington cake is clearly visible on the counter of a cottage overlooking Wellington Harbour”. The article quotes an expert at the University of Auckland saying the watercolour, and documents describing sweets served to Lamington when he visited Wellington in 1895, prove “without a doubt” that the lamington was a product of New Zealand, and originally known as a wellington. However, keen readers noticed that the article was published on 1 April, and that the byline for the article was Olaf Priol – an anagram of April Fool. We’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions on that…
Whether a lamington should be a single piece of cake or two layers sandwiched with jam is an entirely separate debate, but we feel that however you lam, it’s firmly Australian.
ANZAC Biscuits
Culinary historian Alison Reynolds has literally written the book on ANZAC biscuits, Anzac Biscuits – The Power and Spirit of an Everyday National Icon, and says: “The ANZAC biscuit recipe evolved in both countries around the same time. While New Zealand may have the first published recipe in a cookery book, recipes often take a few years to filter into published books.”
Some early recipes used different ingredients to those we hold to be traditional for a classic ANZAC biscuit today. There were some that didn’t even include golden syrup. Can you believe such a thing?
Alison argues that there is a shared ownership over the ANZAC biscuit. “Where the pavlova divides us, the ANZAC unites us,” she says.
While we will disagree with our brothers and sisters across the ditch about many things, from sport to sweets, we can come together to celebrate our shared history with the ANZAC biscuit.
We may share the ANZAC biscuit, but it doesn’t mean we can be fully united. Watch as Australian representatives take on their counterparts across the ditch as they battle for the pride of their respective nations. Patriot Brains airs Tuesdays at 8:30pm on SBS VICELAND. Episode 1 is now streaming at SBS On Demand:
