POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Notes

This is one of many thematic cookery books that were published from the 1920s. It is directed at nurses and compiled by a cooking teacher with extensive hospital experience. But this book seems less concerned with catering for the sick and convalescing than in teaching young single working women living away from home the practicalities of cookery. Few recipes mention cooking for sick people. The occurrence of 'bachelor girls', young single women earning enough money to support themselves away from the family home, was still quite new in the 1920s. This book was therefore targeting a modern phenomenon and demographic. Because trained nurses frequently gave up paid employment upon marriage, a large proportion of this group were by definition also, 'bachelor girls'. The implication in the introductory notes is that these young women were both unschooled in the prerequisites of self-sufficiency and the future duties of the housewife, and were somewhat carefree and irresponsible. Nurses are described as 'notoriously poor' cooks while 'bachelor girls' could not 'be bothered' cooking. The book then was aimed to redressing this. It is unclear whether Cliffina Thersey O'Brien was ever a 'bachelor girl' before she married Jack Rathborne. The Paddington address that appears in her 1920s autograph book is listed in Sands Directory as the home of Mrs Georgina O'Brien, probably Cliffina's mother. However, according to a long-time friend, Rhoda Farrell, she did study cooking at Technical College and went on to teach cookery herself. This book may have been acquired in the course of studying or teaching. The cookery book was owned by C. O'Brien.