Is this the oldest camp oven pic out there? It was from a collection of over 130 photos I was browsing they were dated as taken between 1870 and 1875. Looks like she had the pic taken before she got the washing up done  :)
The other one of the shop has a nice shiny boiler or two out the front.

http://s26.postimg.org/vugf1ni5l/old_pic_oven.jpg  http://s26.postimg.org/v3novvfs9/old_iron_shop.jpg

Great photos Ron. That looks like a big old Carron or Etna in the first photo. Thanks for posting them up.

Jeff

Looks like they kept canaries. I see two cages.

Quote:

That looks like a big old Carron or Etna

Yeah maybe an 18 inch I think. 16 at least

Ron.
In 1949 when we came out from the old dart Dad built a shack like the first pic.
A 2400acre bush block in E. Gippsland.
We lived in it for 5 yrs. until the house was built in 1958.

Mum was a great cook in our old CO's which started me off on the love of that simple but full of flavour style of cooking.

Much as I try, I cant get my CO cooking down slow enough. Mum would have a roast leg on all day, just a few coals under it, but the result I can still taste.

They were hard work years, but good ones. I often wish I could go back in time to them.

Great pics there kingbrown :)
mikel

I found a couple more pics. I will post soon.

First pic is of a fossickers camp and it looks like he is doing the washing up. Camp oven next to the barrel. The second is a picture of some sort of camp with a very professional looking cook lifting the lid on a buried oven. Some damper to go with the tea no doubt.

http://s26.postimg.org/5l6f3dj8p/Fossicker_camp_oven.jpg  http://s26.postimg.org/dbd78ilk9/Overlanders_camp.jpg

Quote:

Much as I try, I cant get my CO cooking down slow enough. Mum would have a roast leg on all day, just a few coals under it, but the result I can still taste.

Well I am now going to give that a try Mikel. Im usually pretty happy with a 3 hour roast but can only imagine how good one is that has been slow cooked all day. Challenge accepted I might give this a go on Sunday. I am glad you enjoyed the pics I love seeing these snap shots of a life long past. I will keep searching for more. I am intending on blowing some of them up in size and framing and hanging on the wall of my camp oven room. You never know one of my ovens may be in one of the pictures  :)

Like you Ron, I look at some of my older ovens and wonder just where they've been. I have an old (over 100 years) 14" Sheldon that has never been used, I wish it could tell me where it came from.  I enjoy your pics, in the back blocks cooking in a long sleeved white shirt and vest.........very formal lol.
Rob

That is one hell of a saucepan he has there too! And I wonder if that is a frying pan or a fossicking pan on the drum on the far right of the pic. Mikel what do you think?

Quote:

in the back blocks cooking in a long sleeved white shirt and vest.........very formal lol.

I wonder if he dressed like that to pose for the pic or if he took his job serious enough to follow a set of standards he has set for himself? I would like to think the latter. His sleeves are not just rolled up but have some sort of white cloth holding them clear of his hands. He reminds me of old "Sam Knott" of "I allus have one at eleven" fame.

http://s26.postimg.org/yq4kt1961/I_allus_has_wan_at_eleven.jpg 

Love the photos Ron. So much to see when you study the photos for awhile.

I think the photo you posted in this thread belongs here also. Very special for Bungy, now Bungee. http://www.aussiecampovenforum.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1436128653/3#3

Jeff

Kingbrown wrote on Mar 30^th, 2016 at 8:26pm:

He reminds me of old "Sam Knott" of "I allus have one at eleven" fame.

Here is the rest of his quote   [smiley=cheers2.gif]

I allus has wan at eleven
It's a habit that's got to be done
Cos if I don't have wan at eleven
I allus have eleven at one.

Here is a couple more old photos. The first one shows a camp oven at the fellas feet 1886. The second one was taken in 1893.

Click on photos to enlarge.

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More great pics from Ron.
I wonder if that sleeve arrangement may be a sort of "false" sleeve over the arm to stop hot fat splatters?
Also stirring a hot stew can be a bit "singe whiskers" when too close to the fire.
I don't think that would be a panning dish on the barrel near the fire. Grease and gold are serious enemies.
The gold pans were often burnt to ensure no contamination.
Rory knows about "floating gold" :( (Alstonville COG)
mike

And Chally the big pans that first pic has, one on the barrel covered in something like fruit maybe and the other one leaning next to him. What the hell are they! Pretty sure they are not Paella pans lol. I only just found what they are a few months ago myself.

Great second pic too Chally, I stumbled across my pics by accident originally then I started to really look for ovens in pics. I found that the pics with ovens in them were interesting because of everything else that was going on. From the fashion to the architecture to the beards and the dogs. And if you look at one of my pics the more you look the more dogs you see. But fascinating snapshots of a day gone era they are. Thank you for contributing to this thread.  :)

Mikel I have been waiting patiently for your input. Clearly the pans are part of the kitchen and not part of the livelihood from your comment. I would not have thought that to be gold type country but i saw the pans without long handles and thought maybe they are not frying pans. Maybe they are just that after all!

Kingbrown wrote on Apr 19^th, 2016 at 1:07am:

And Chally the big pans that first pic has, one on the barrel covered in something like fruit maybe and the other one leaning next to him. What the hell are they!

I don't know what they are for either. I thought for gold panning also.


Kingbrown wrote on Apr 19^th, 2016 at 1:13am:

I found that the pics with ovens in them were interesting because of everything else that was going on.

For sure; the detail in the photos is amazing. I have really enjoyed searching for the photos too as they really captured how things were in those times; very interesting.

Jeff

Looks like the bloke at Gippsland is having fish for dinner.  That looks to me like a snook hanging up

No idea of the type but I saw the fish hanging there. I couldn't tell but the wording with the photo said the fella had a cat on his lap. Maybe it was thinking fish for dinner as well. :)

Jeff

I also was wondering about the fish.
Snook (mackerel) is a very uncommon fish on the Gippsland coast, also the head looks a little too blunt.
My inclination is that it is a beach salmon, in those days more than plentiful and a frequent visitor to inlets and estuaries.
I reckon the bloke was a timber getter somewhere near Genoa/Mallacoota inlet. The roof sheeting looks like Messmate bark, a predominant tree of that area.
mikel

As an ex professional rabbit shooter I got a kick out of this old photo. I bet a couple if not all of those rabbits were about to get up close and personal with a camp oven ;D
I will see if I can find an old one from when I was making my living from it to post beside it.
Found one and coincidentally it turns out both photos were taken near Nyngan.

http://s26.postimg.org/anj0lt1nt/Old_rabbit_shooter.jpg  http://s26.postimg.org/3ue2bslgp/Ron_and_John_rabiits1.jpg

I am really enjoying seeing the photos Ron.

In Texas (QLD) They have saved the old rabbit processing works. It is also a museum and has some good stuff on display as well as a lot of old photos. Apparently a train would deliver ice and rabbits were then sent back on it. If I remember correctly they said the rabbits were sent over to England. When we had the opportunity, a few years ago, to be shown through the works it wasn't officially opened so it is probably even better now.

Jeff

I am also really enjoying seeing the photos Ron.

The bunny photos bring back lots of childhood memories for me. Loved going out with my older brother spotlighting and trapping.

Who's the handsome devil with the red beard  :D

I have another couple of photos to add. I don't know how old they are but From others I saw I would say late 1800's.

In the first photo there is what looks to be the base of a camp oven under the broom handle. It looks like it has flour in it. There is a saucepan and a frying pan in the pic also.

The second photo was very small and I have enlarged it a little to try and make things easier to see.

(Click on first photo to enlarge it)

Jeff

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