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While Sir John Winthrop Hackett probably spent his final years watching benevolently over the University he funded, his wife was otherwise occupied.

Australian Household Guide, edited by Lady Deborah Hackett, was published in 1916, the year of Sir John's death. UWA has two copies in the Scholars' Centre, rediscovered recently as centenary activities and publications are researched and organised. (One is dedicated to Edith Cowan.)

Lady Hackett, at the age of just 28, became known as the Australian Mrs Beeton for her book, a 1,136-page compendium of recipes, domestic advice, household lore and handy hints. Despite her youth, she was already a mother of five children and had a reputation as a remarkable society hostess.

WA historian Prue Joske observed that it "broke new ground in treating problems faced by Australian mothers and families day by day, year by year."

As Lady Hackett wrote in the preface: "Of the making of cookery books, there is literally no end. They fall from the press thick as autumn leaves ... The present work however is not merely a cookery book but a book on household management."

The first half of the book, written by experts in many fields and edited by Lady Hackett, has chapters on Hints Upon Personal Appearances, What Young People Should Know (an extremely short and not very informative section on sexual health), Backyard Poultry Keeping , and How to Do the Washing (including gathering equipment for melting soap and making starch).

A chapter on General Hygiene recommends the best choice of house design and soil ("dry and porous") on which to build it.

There is a long chapter on home nursing, with tips for looking after patients suffering from diphtheria and tuberculosis. A ‘cure' for the common cold is still in vogue today: "A hot bath followed by a drink of hot home-made lemonade and 24 hours in bed will often cure an incipient cold."

Even nearly 100 years ago it seems housewives were interested in nutrition. A chapter is devoted to the percentages of water, protein, carbohydrate, fat and ash contained in a huge variety of foods.

Lady Hackett's 3,000 recipes cover everything from homemade fish paste to puff pastry, from wedding cakes to cooking mutton. A section of French cookery includes galantine of lamb breast and choux pastry, with some of the recipes written in French.

A second edition of the Guide was published in 1940 to raise money for the Australian Red Cross and its efforts during World War II. The name was changed to Lady Hackett's Household Guide even though, by then, she had remarried and changed her name to Deborah Buller-Murphy.

The publishing expenses were covered by advertisements which are as amusing and interesting as the editorial. They include ads for Kodak cameras, women's fashions, pianos, the Commonwealth Bank and the Savoy Hotel.

The charity edition of her book raised the fantastic sum (in those days) of $10,000.

If you would like to learn how to clean a white parasol, treat acne (with mercury), disguise mutton as goose or increase a nursing mother's milk (by drinking stout), let Lady Hackett be your guide.

Australian Household Guide was brought to light by Senior Honorary Research Fellow John Melville-Jones in his research for a book on Hackett: the man, the bequest and the Hackett memorial buildings. It will be published next year as part of the Centenary celebrations.

Published in UWA News , 20 August 2012