A well-used community cookbook can hold as many memories as it does recipes. A familiar name beside a favourite dish can bring back an old friendship, while handwritten notes record the changes that made a recipe your own.

That connection between food and people is at the heart of Dust Off & Dish Up, a cookbook celebrating 70 years of Broken Hill School of the Air.

Produced by the school’s P&C Association, it is the fifth commemorative cookbook in a series that families clearly haven’t forgotten. Earlier editions had been out of print for years, but people were still asking where they could find a copy.

The anniversary offered an opportunity to bring together a fresh collection and preserve more of the community’s stories.

When the call went out for contributions, hundreds of recipes and photographs arrived from parents, students, governesses and teachers. Each offered a glimpse of life in the outback, where families separated by vast distances share a strong connection through their school.

Turning those contributions into a finished book took four months of work by four parents who volunteered as editors. They selected recipes, gathered stories and cooked dishes to photograph for the pages.

Their efforts have produced a book with plenty to interest readers beyond what to make for dinner. Photographs and personal accounts sit alongside the recipes, giving families a record of the people and experiences that have shaped their school community.

For grandparents and anyone who treasures a family recipe collection, that may be a large part of its appeal. Food provides a familiar starting point for sharing memories with younger generations, including stories that might otherwise go untold.

The school’s motto, “Parted but united”, runs through the collection. Across seven decades, students, families and staff have maintained those bonds despite the distances between them. Many former students have gone on to contribute to rural Australia, taking those connections into their adult lives.

Dust Off & Dish Up gives that shared history a place on the kitchen shelf. Readers might open it looking for a recipe, then find themselves lingering over a photograph or recognising a name.

And for the families whose contributions fill its pages, it preserves a little of their own history to pass on.

Jelly Slice from the Harvey family, Caradoc Station 

Serves: 24

Ingredients

Biscuit Base

250 grams plain sweet biscuits (Arrowroot, Nice or Marie)
185 grams melted butter

Lemon Filling

395-gram tin condensed milk
1/2 lemon juice
2 tspns gelatine powder
1/2 cup boiling water

Jelly Topping

85-gram packet of jelly crystals (raspberry)
1 cup boiling water
150 ml cold water

Method

• Prepare the jelly topping by mixing the jelly crystals with the boiling water and then add the cold water until the crystals dissolve.
• Leave the jelly liquid to cool to room temperature.
• Grease a tin  (27 x 17cm or close to it) and line with baking paper.
• Crush biscuits with a rolling pin or food processor until the biscuits resemble fine breadcrumbs.
• Add the melted butter to crushed biscuit crumbs and stir to combine.
• Press biscuit mixture evenly into the tin and smooth with the back of a spoon, then place in the fridge.
• Combine condensed milk and lemon juice in a bowl using a whisk.
• Dissolve the gelatine powder in the boiling water, then add to the condensed milk mixture. Whisk to combine.
• Remove the biscuit base from the fridge and pour over the filling mixture. Place back in the fridge for at last one hour to set.
• Once the jelly has reached room temperature and the filling has been in the fridge for at least an hour, remove and pour the jelly over the slice.
• Return to the fridge and allow it to set for six hours.
• Once set, remove from the fridge, cut into pieces and enjoy!

You can order a copy of Dust Off & Dish Up HERE. Every book sold helps a School of the Air student thrive, plus you’ll be supporting work to save lives and bring primary healthcare to Australia’s outback communities.

If you enjoyed this jelly slice recipe, you might like our retro-inspired prawn cocktail recipe.