WILES COOKER: FEEDING THE DIGGERS

Before the Great War, feeding soldiers in the field was labour intensive and time consuming. But Australian soldiers got hot meals more often when the Wiles Travelling Army Field Kitchen entered service around 1915. The Wiles Cooker was invented by James (Jim) Fletcher Wiles from Ballarat. Wiles served in the Boer War where he saw the need for mobile cooking equipment to feed troops in the field. Returning home Wiles set out to revolutionise army catering.

He invented a horse drawn kitchen complete with a steam boiler, an oven, hot and cold tanks and two large steamers. The kitchen could be galloped into position and quickly set up so that regimental cooks could begin preparing hot meals for frontline troops.

At first the Army was reluctant to accept Wiles’ invention. The Adelaide Daily Herald reported on 12th of January 1915 that authorities had trialled the cooker and found it unsuitable for active service. They concluded the mechanical apparatus was not sturdy enough for cross-country travel and the kitchen might fail under fire. They also thought it would need the services of a qualified boiler attendant.

Wiles petitioned authorities for another chance to demonstrate his cooker. He would let it travel over the roughest roads and guaranteed to teach any boy with normal mechanical knowledge how to use it within two hours. He also declared he would allow a “company of picked rifle shot to fire a volley at the travelling kitchen from 500 or 600 yards” and if hit, he would get the kitchen back on line within the hour.

Eventually the Army accepted the cooker. A factory was established at Ballarat and over 300 cookers were manufactured to be used by units in Australia, Egypt and France during the Great War.

The Army Museum at Bandiana tells the stories of how Australian soldiers have been fed in the field for over a century. It has a superb replica of a Wiles Steam Kitchen used by the 1st Australian Infantry Division in France during the Great War. The model, which is a highlight of the Museum, was built by a master coach builder.

We now accept the horse drawn kitchen as standard military equipment from that era and it is hard to imagine the battles Wiles must have faced in getting his invention adopted.

Soldier’s Quick Five

Anderson Road , South Bandiana , Victoria, 3694
Phone: (02) 6055 2525
Monday to Saturday 9.30am – 4.30pm:
$10 Family (2 Adults, 2 Children) and $5 Adult
$2 Senior, Pensioner, Disabled
$2 Each for groups of 10 or more
(Closed Anzac Day, Good Friday and Christmas Eve to New Years Day)