Anyone for tennis?
With the Australian Open currently in full swing, we thought it a fitting time to share with you a few tennis-related items from Swinburne's wonderful archives.
Tennis was a popular sport of choice for Swinburne students throughout the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. And this is not surprising, given that Australia was reigning supreme in world tennis throughout this period with stars such as Margaret Court, Ken Rosewall, Lew Hoad and Frank Sedgman.
Following are a selection of tennis team photographs from the archives:
Boys' tennis team, 1939
Girls' tennis team, 1953
Left to right: Patricia Sharpe (Captain), Barbara Sharpe (Vice-Captain), Barbara Chesterfield, Lorraine Fleer, Carol Owen, Susan King
Boys' tennis team, 1963
And finally for something a little bit different, a yummy recipe for Tennis Pound Cake. This recipe is taken from page 158 of the recently digitised The original and only Miss Drake's home cookery.
TENNIS POUND CAKE
8 ozs. plain flour, 2 tablespoons self-raising flour (sifted), 8 ozs. castor or soft sugar, 8 ozs. butter, 4 big eggs, 1 lb. sultanas, 2 tablespoons ground almonds, or 2 ozs. chopped almonds, 1 to 3 ozs. candied cherries, essence lemon (1/4 teaspoon), essence vanilla (1/2 teaspoon), essence
almonds (small 1/4 teaspoon).
What this cake has to do with tennis we cannot say, however this recipe appears in many other cookbooks around the late 1800s to early 1900s including the legendary Mrs Beeton's household management. Perhaps this cake was often served for afternoon tea after the game - we don't know. Do you?
To view thousands more Swinburne-related images and memorabilia, visit Swinburne Image Bank.
...what on earth does it have to do with TENNIS?
"This cake looks lovely and is a nice teatime treat but looking at it what on earth does it have to do with TENNIS?
Well it is all about the decoration! The recipe included instructions for decorating the cake with almond paste, icing and grated coconut with two tennis rackets and two silver cachous (those little balls you can get to sprinkle on your cupcakes) and finally the word tennis written on it. Not sure if this was to impress your friends or family when you were out playing tennis or a tennis inspired birthday cake? Needless to say I didn?t bother with this, it is clearly one for the Wimbledon fans!"
Extract - See http://thecakehistorian.wordpress.com/2011/03/20/tennis-cake-1920s-part-2/
Posted by Sara Jervis on March 07, 2013 at 08:53 PM EST #