[4][7] The technique of making Johnny cakes on a hotplate is common in the likes of Ireland, so as the Irish etc migrated to US or to penal colonial Australia, so too did their cooking influence.

The Aboriginal communities have been using the flour of ground seeds mixed with water and cooked on coals to make Mingari (aka Damper) likely since their discovery of grinding stones and fire control.

[Citation needed] Damper was eaten by stockmen who travelled in remote areas for long periods, with only basic rations of flour (much less bulky than baked bread[1]), sugar and tea, supplemented by whatever meat was available.

[8][non-primary source needed] Damper is generally held to be unleavened and made without added rising agents, but historically, if the bread dough was left overnight, it could sometimes have leavened naturally, and this may have been a commonly understood technique in bush lore.

[citation needed] Damper is considered quintessentially Australian, and emblematic of early European settlement and rural life there, although this way to make bread was not unique to colonial or pre-colonial Australia.