Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!

Happy New Year to all of our subscribers! With Christmas behind us, it's now time to sit back and enjoy the start of the new year in true Aussie style - long summer days at the beach, BBQs with friends and loved ones, camping under the stars and of course Australia Day!

Australia Day commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788. Celebrations of Australia Day date back to 1808 with the first official celebration taking place in New South Wales in 1818.

Australia Day Entertaining

Australia Day would not be complete without an Aussie BBQ followed by an iconic Australian sweet - Lamingtons!! The Lamington is believed to be invented by accident over 100 years ago by Lord Lamington (the eighth governor of Queensland). One of Lord Lamington’s maids accidentally dropped her freshly baked sponge cake into melted chocolate. To prevent sticky fingers, she covered the cake with coconut and thus a new invention was born!! Here is our version of the recipe.

A traditional Aussie favourite!

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Delicious salad to be eaten with grilled meat or chicken.

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Celebrating 160 years of Australian family tradition

Yes, it is our 160th birthday this year! At Ward McKenzie, we are so proud to be one of Australia’s oldest family-operated companies. Over the past 160 years, we have supplied generations of Australians with high quality food products ranging from herbs and spices, beans and pulses, soups and mixes and a range of baking needs. Here are a few historical facts about our wholly Australian-owned fifth generation family business:

• The Ward family arrived in Australia at the peak of the Victorian Gold rush in the early 1850s.
• The company started out as a grain store in King St Melbourne, later moving to Flinders Lane (1890), Spencer St (1910) and now its current premises in Altona, Victoria (1977).
• In 1967, the Ward family acquired a food production company started by James F McKenzie to form the present Ward McKenzie Pty Ltd business.
• Ward McKenzie’s works closely with many Australian farmers, some of whose families have been growing grain and pulses for McKenzie’s for generations. The Leathbridge family in Southern Mallee have been growing peas for Ward McKenzie for more than 30 years.