Station cooks from around Australia have assembled their best, tried and true recipes in a handbook to raise much needed funds for anti-bullying campaign Dolly's Dream.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Shunning fancy Donna Hay type recipes, The Station Cook's Handbook features "home-style Lady Flo" classics.
"Everything in the book can be made from a station kitchen, and with most of them so remote and heavily reliant on basic stores, the recipes are easy and understandable," the book's main author, Raqual Humphries said.
A station cook and shearers cook for the past 23 years, Ms Humphries knows all too well the hardships of living remotely and the affects of bullying.
Isolated and often hundreds of kilometres from central hubs, people can be left without adequate access to mental health services.
"Dolly's suicide hit everyone hard, she shouldn't have had to go through what she went through," Ms Humphries said.
"We just want to do our bit to help raise awareness and give as much as we can to the cause so other families don't have to go through what she went through."
After the tragic death of Amy "Dolly" Everett in January this last following sustained bullying, her parents Kate and Tick Everett set up "Dolly's Dream".
Kate and Tick partnered with national children's charity, the Alannah and Madeline Foundation, to raise awareness about the seriousness of bullying and its devastating effects and work to address bullying and cyber bullying issues, especially in regional Australia.
"A lot of stations host kids straight out of high school and I see some of them struggle in the really remote atmosphere away from friends and family," Ms Humphries said.
More than 1000 recipes vied for a spot in the handbook, with only around 100 making the cut.
"It is very station orientated," Ms Humphries said.
"There are no seafood recipes, nothing fancy, it has been kept to what you would find in a station pantry.
"There is a section on cold smokos, hot smokos as well as ideas and hints on how to manage leftovers and reduce waste."
More Reading: Kate and Tick Everett take Dolly's Dream to NT schools
Currently working at Pony Hills in Queensland, Ms Humphries spends her days cooking homely meals for 10 people who call the station home.
A cookbook had long been in the works after she set up the Facebook page The Station Cooks Brain Trust, which has been gaining traction since the book's inception.
"We had a lot of people asking questions and wanting to share recipes on the page, and a cook book was the next natural step," she said.
"Dolly's grandmother is a good friend and an active member of our group.
"We talked for a long time about profits, and as we didn't want to make money out of the book, we decided to give 100 per cent of the profits to Dolly's Dream as bullying affects everyone."
The family and the foundation is "over the moon" Ms Humphries said.
Contact Raqual Humphries on the The Station Cooks Brain Trust Facebook page for more information about purchasing The Station Cook's Handbook.