Author Bruce Pascoe says that Aboriginal people were the world’s first bakers Australian’s invented bread. In his book, Dark Emu, Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident? Bruce points to the journal entries of Charles Sturt, Thomas Mitchell and other European explorers who wrote about Aboriginal people cultivating fields and growing grain. Sturt recorded an incident when villagers treated him to roast duck and cake.

Bruce also says that grindstones, found at Cuddie Springs in northern New South Wales, have been dated as around 30,000 years old, some 15,000 years earlier than when ancient Egyptians started baking.

“Which means, of course, that we’re the world’s first bakers,” Bruce told Gourmet Traveller. He added, “My hope is that Australians will learn to feel proud about this—that, when they go overseas, they won’t just talk about Vegemite, or about their cricket team, but they’ll say, ‘Hey, we’re the country that invented bread.’”

Bruce, a member of the Bunurong clan of the Kulin nation, was recently inducted into the 2017 Hostplus Legends hall of fame at the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival.