Aussie Pies
by Keith Kellett
When asked what the Australian national dish was, a comedian once waggishly replied “Pies.” Maybe it’s not the national dish, but I’ve visited very few places where I couldn’t get one. Call it a “footy pie,” a “four-and-twenty pie” an “Aussie pie” or simply just a pie, everyone there knows what you mean.
You don’t ask what goes into it, though. American author Doug Lansky once did, and was simply told “Meat!”
There are some establishments where your pie is served on a plate, and eaten with a knife and fork. But, usually, it simply comes in a paper bag, which you use to protect your fingers as you eat.
Another is the “pie floater.” The pie is served in a dish, immersed in green pea soup. You can, at your discretion, add a swirl of sauce and a side order of chips. At the Balfour’s Pie Cart, outside the railway station in Adelaide. They say it’s the cheapest meal in Australia, which is just as well, because the gambling casino stands next to the station.
The pie floater was reputedly born in Port Pirie, South Australia, conceived by one Ern “Shorty” Bradley – but, no one knows how. Did he inadvertently drop a pie into a bowl of soup? Or maybe, it developed from the Yorkshire “pea and pie supper,” useful when you have a lot of people (e.g. at harvest time or a cricket match) to feed on a budget.
The pie carts were as much a part of the Adelaide scene as “Light’s Vision” or the Glenelg Tram. The very first one was opened by an English ex-sailor called Gibbs. He opened his pie stall in 1864 on the corner of King William and Rundle streets, looking to cater to workers in search of a wholesome, but inexpensive meal.
Obviously, the site wasn’t as busy as it is nowadays. Today it’s probably the most trafficked street corner in Adelaide, but the last place you want to stand around eating a pie.
By 1915 there were nine pie carts in Adelaide, but by 1958 only two remained. They were Cowley’s Pie Cart outside the GPO on Franklin Street, once claimed as the oldest still existing in Australia, and the already-mentioned Balfour’s Pie Cart, outside the railway station.
The pie carts, for me, sum up all that’s democratic and egalitarian about Australia. They became a meeting place where cabbies, policemen and other workers rubbed shoulders with theatre patrons in formal evening wear, musicians, politicians and businessmen.
But, to visit the most famous pie-cart of all, we must go to Sydney, and head for Wooloomooloo, where Harry’s Café de Wheels carries on the tradition of selling what they claim are the best pies going. They don’t sell pie floaters as such, however, but “Tiger,” a pie with peas, mashed potato and gravy on top, is similar to the pie and mash served in some parts of London.
Wooloomooloo is the Royal Australian Navy’s equivalent of Portsmouth, and it was near the entrance to the Navy base that Harry “Tiger” Edwards set up his pie stall in 1938. He reasoned, correctly, that sailors returning to the base after a night on the town would be hungry, and there were very few places in Sydney where a reasonably inexpensive meal could be had at that time.
As in Adelaide, theatre and concert-goers began to frequent Harry’s, too and, as in Adelaide, mixed happily with the night-workers and sailors who frequented the café. One ex-sailor recalled seeing a full captain in dress uniform sitting on a nearby wall eating his pie.
The original stall was on wheels, because a city by-law said that such establishments had to move at least twelve inches each day. So, the structure was studiously moved the specified distance, and returned to its original position the following night.
Except for one night, when some practical joker stole the wheels … and the café temporarily became the “Café de Axle.”
In 1939, the café closed while Harry was away in the Army. But, on his 1945 demobilization, he found that the Sidney eating situation hadn’t improved while he was away. The Café de Wheels was soon operating almost to capacity once again.
Somehow, the word spread, and the café found itself hosting such household names as Frank Sinatra, Robert Mitchum, Johnnie Ray and Marlene Dietrich. And, perhaps the most distinguished visitor was Colonel Harlan Sanders, of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame. He ate three portions of pie and peas there, and declared Harry’s pies were the best he’d ever tasted.
Harry Edwards retired in 1970, and sold his now-thriving business. But, the café retained his name, and continued to prosper. A lot of customers still came from the Navy, and, in 1978 they decided to mark the 40th Anniversary of the opening of the Café de Wheels in a rather unusual way.
It was officially commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy as one of its unsinkable’ ships, and was called: HMAS Harry’s!
Harry died in 1979, but the Café de Wheels continued, and its fame continues to spread. Celebrities still flock there. Elton John, Kevin Costner, Brooke Shields, Olivia Newton-John, Pamela Anderson and others of that stamp know Harry’s well.
The present owner is Michael Hannah, and I rather think he may be connected with Hannah’s, the firm who makes the pies. And, very good pies they are too, as I learned when the Open-Top bus tour I was on passed through Wooloomooloo around lunchtime.
The stall isn’t the original; that can be seen in Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum. But, the ethos is still there. I watched as office workers, taxi-drivers, glaziers, telephone engineers and road menders came for their lunch. It’s easy to tell who does what, because sometimes it seems that everyone in Sydney wears a corporate uniform.
And, of course, a policeman came. He was rather disappointed, though, because I wanted to photograph him buying his pie rather than astride his motor-bike. He’d visited Salisbury, where I live, he said, and, mentioned a B&B where he’d stayed, one run by some friends of mine.
But, I didn’t see any celebrities. Maybe I came at the wrong time; maybe I should have come back in the evening. I got what I came for, though — a pie. What at an excellent pie. It was so good I bought another!
As always, Keith captures the moment — and the food. Contact him at: Keith@globalfoodie. More of his work is available on his website at: travelrat.wordpress.com.
