The Drover's Cook

1: The BUILDINGS

1: The Australian “COOK-HOUSE” BUILDING Design Philosophy
Don Dewdney's conception of the Drover's Cook Cook-House dining hall in profile:

A woodshed style building with ampitheatred floors will house The Drover's Cook.
Tables will be sold without seats on the inward side. A small dance floor in the middle will permit
national entertainment with Bush music, Australian bush dancing, and bush poetry performances.
Patrons at the table and casual visitors to the fire-side log seats will get the feeling of being
"Around the Camp-Fire"

The Australian Cook-House dining experience shall entail setting up in an Australian building. This means sleeper off-cuts; corrugated iron; wattle and daub; tongue and groove joins. It means layouts derived from wool sheds, shanties, bushman’s homesteads - pioneering and settler dwellings and work-places without excessive refinement. They were buildings which reflected the ingenuity of the bush dweller in their style and their improvised furnishings and decoration. It is a style born of simple building know-how applied to available materials. It is what we have come to identify as Australian. It is, very
importantly, the building style which overseas people have come to Australia expecting to see.

Don Dewdney's conception of a 3 part version of the Cook-House,
Shanty Bar and Dance Hall concept for the Drover's Cook.
Another version places the buildings separately, which will
assist the formation of a "street" where a row of Pioneer Village
Cottages would be erected behind the 3-part installation.

THE CAMP-FIRE KITCHEN
in the Cook-House

Here is the piece de resistance of the Drover's Cook's Cook-House concept.
The stoned in pit is filled with sand and a fireplace is established on a hearth under an iron grate.
A butterfly grate with enough room for four large camp ovens (80cmW) might be
made of cast iron and foundry steel, and the hearth formally built for ease of control.
Note the Devil's Bath upper left. This is a holding unit in which cooked food will be kept prior to serving,
and also where slow cooking can be effected
Shows Log seating for Observation, for acoustic entertainment.
This is an area to where Bush Poets will gravitate.

The Cook-House Bar
In contrast to the Shanty Bar concept for the Drover's Cook

A Diagram of the Drover's Cook COOK-HOUSE Layout:

FEATURES OF THE CAMP-FIRE KITCHEN:
1: The Camp-Fire area is a pit set in stonework
featuring: A stoned-in hearth fitted with a two-sided grate which can be lifted from front and back
Sand-filled pit with: - formed "Stove Pits" for authentic stove-type camp oven work in coal-filled pits.
- Vents in the side of the pit, which shall assist the ventilation of the fire
- Split drums formed into steel-wheeled barrow shall be used to a: cultivate coal ash
- Transport coal ash to the DEVIL'S BATH; - Take cold coals away for disposal/
- A Tripod is shown; these used for a suspended frier, barbeque plate or Billies [Tea Pots].
- Camp fire kettles are being used, as they are vital for keeping the Drover's Cook going.

Il Bain Diablo:

2: The Devil's Bath: The Devil's Bath is a two-level steel unit featuring enclosed shelves whose purpose it to hold large trays of hot coal ash from the camp-fire and the coal ash barrows mentioned in the diagram above. The Devil's Bath is cleverly invented to look rustic in foundry steel and to perform admirably as both a hot-holding unit and a slow cooking unit for traditional coal ash bakery, deep frying, fricassee' and simmering.

The Gaslight Servery

The Gaslight Servery: The Gaslight Servery is designed for plattering hot food. It is set up near the Devil's Bath so that the finished camp oven menu can be easily served from the camp ovens. This is necessary because some camp ovens will be quite heavy. It is gas lit in reverence of the age of Australia's leading poet, Banjo Paterson.

The Buildings | The Menu Style | The Service Style | Location | Home
Locations For The Drover's Cook
and THAT'S ALL FOR NOW!!!
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