May 8, 2014
Edna O’Neill’s success as a show exhibitor is legendary in the South Burnett … she regularly sweeps the field in cooking, jams and preserves.
And her Rich Fruit Cake is rarely beaten in any competition she enters!
Edna, from Murgon, has shown at every South Burnett show, won Sub-Chamber awards and taken ribbons galore at the Brisbane Exhibition.
In fact she’s been exhibiting in local shows, in cooking and needlework sections, for about 60 years.
Now she has had one of her recipes preserved for posterity in a new recipe book launched earlier this year in Brisbane.
“The Australian Blue Ribbon Cookbook” has been put together by South Australian journalist and author Liz Harfull.
Liz set out to record the prize-winning efforts – and the stories – of the talented amateur cooks who enter the many show competitions across Australia.
Liz met Edna at the Brisbane Exhibition about four years ago and quickly collected her recipe for “Afghan Biscuits”.
South Burnett cooks are probably a bit disappointed she didn’t manage to prise out Edna’s recipe for her famous Rich Fruit Cake or Peach Blossom Cake so they could steal her secrets!
However the Afghan Biscuits recipe is another winner and one that Edna has been cooking since she was a child as it came from her mother, Selma Zischke.
Edna has had no professional training in the kitchen; her skills all come from practical experience.
“We used to cook all the time when we were children,” she said.
Edna, 83, was born at Wondai and lived at Mondure until she was 13 when the family shifted to Murgon.
She was one of nine children and used to cook at weekends to fill tins with cakes and biscuits to take to school for the week.
She met her husband Richard through Junior Farmers and about the same time started exhibiting in the Junior Farmers section at the local shows.
Edna obviously loves being around rural shows; she has been the Chief Steward of the culinary section at the Murgon Show for the past 45 years.
She has lost track of the number of ribbons and awards she’s won over the years both locally and in Brisbane, but she’s particularly proud of her effort in 2007 when she took out two top awards at the Brisbane Exhibition: “Most Successful Exhibitor – Cooking” and “Most Successful Exhibitor – Preserves”.
Edna and Richard will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in October.
The couple retired to Manyung in 1986.
However Edna has no intention of retiring from her show competitions … she will be competing again at this year’s Ekka.
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The Blue Ribbon Cookbook has been published by Allan and Unwin and features 70 recipes and stories collected from across Australia.
It was officially launched at a function at the Brisbane Tattersalls Club in March attended by about 200 guests.
- Related article: Murgon Cook Is ‘Blue Ribbon’ Material
- External link: Edna O’Neill on ABC-TV’s Landline
