Australian Made

"we are one.. but we are many"

BILBY

Posted on April 2, 2012 by austmade

: My name is Dawn and I am an endangered Australian Bilby

Whilst the rest of the world celebrates Easter by eating too many chocolate bunnies, Australians have the option of eating bunny or bilby – our indigenous, cute, furry, burrowing, nocturnal marsupial.

The bilby is a bandicoot with pale grey fur, a long black tail with a white tip, a pointed nose and huge ears. Like kangaroos and koalas, the female has a pouch and can produce several litters of up to three baby bilbies each year. Continue reading →

VEGEMITE

Posted on March 1, 2012 by austmade

: VEGEMITE

Vegemite is what I would call “an acquired taste” and not being raised on the stuff, I’ve never liked it much. But, although no longer Australian-owned, it is still very much an Aussie icon – along with kangaroos, meat pies and Holden cars.

The vegemite story began in 1922 when a young chemist was hired by the Fred Walker Company to develop a spread from brewer’s yeast – one of the richest known natural sources of the Vitamin B group. The company launched a national competition in 1923 to give the new spread a name and Vegemite was chosen from the hundreds of entries. It was marketed as being “delicious on sandwiches and toast” and for improving the flavour of soups and gravy. Continue reading →