Did you enjoy an Old Gold, Freddo Frog or Cherry Ripe chocolate over Easter? These much-loved chocolates were first manufactured by MacRobertson’s Steam Confectionery Works.
The company’s founder, MacPherson Robertson, was born in Ballarat in 1859. Robertson’s Scottish father and Irish mother were part of thousands of immigrants who flocked to Victoria during the Goldrush, keen to make their fortune.
Robertson’s carpenter father had no such luck, and when Robertson was 9 years old he moved with his mother to Scotland while his father sought work in Fiji. Young Robertson supported his mother and younger siblings with a slew of jobs, such as shaving men’s faces at a barber’s, selling newspapers, and working at Millar & Sons confectionery in Leith.
Returning to Melbourne with his family in 1874, Robertson served an apprenticeship with the Victoria Confectionery Co and dabbled in work with other confectioneries. In 1880, the entrepreneurial 21 year old started manufacturing his own confectionery in the bathroom of the family home in Fitzroy, using a nail can and tin pannikin to boil the syrup.
He first flogged his lolly elephants and tigers to Melbourne shopkeepers on foot, soon upgrading to a tricycle and then a one-horse wagon. By 1885, MacRobertson’s employed 20 people.
Robertson had a flair for branding and a thirst for product innovation. In the 1890’s, he toured “Colossal America” and subsequently introduced Australians to fairy floss and chewing gum. By 1922, MacRobertson’s employed over 2,000 people and was producing 110,000 sixpenny Old Gold chocolates per day to keep up with demand.
In contrast to Roald Dahl’s eccentric confectioner Willy Wonka, Robertson was known for his love of white. MacRobertson’s 30-acre factory complex in Fitzroy came to be known as ‘White City’ for its white-painted buildings and thousands of employees dressed all in white, Robertson included.
Robertson was generous with his immense fortune, frequently making donations to varied causes and projects, including donating £20,000 pounds to the Mawson Antarctic expeditions, and £100,000 to the State of Victoria for the London and Melbourne Air Race, a girls school, a herbarium and a bridge over the Yarra.
Sir MacPherson Robertson died in 1945, and his family sold the business to Cadbury in 1967. The cherry ripe wrapper still donned the MacRobertson’s logo (seen in the image here) until 2002.
Do you know the location of the shopfront in this image?
The company’s founder, MacPherson Robertson, was born in Ballarat in 1859. Robertson’s Scottish father and Irish mother were part of thousands of immigrants who flocked to Victoria during the Goldrush, keen to make their fortune.
Robertson’s carpenter father had no such luck, and when Robertson was 9 years old he moved with his mother to Scotland while his father sought work in Fiji. Young Robertson supported his mother and younger siblings with a slew of jobs, such as shaving men’s faces at a barber’s, selling newspapers, and working at Millar & Sons confectionery in Leith.
Returning to Melbourne with his family in 1874, Robertson served an apprenticeship with the Victoria Confectionery Co and dabbled in work with other confectioneries. In 1880, the entrepreneurial 21 year old started manufacturing his own confectionery in the bathroom of the family home in Fitzroy, using a nail can and tin pannikin to boil the syrup.
He first flogged his lolly elephants and tigers to Melbourne shopkeepers on foot, soon upgrading to a tricycle and then a one-horse wagon. By 1885, MacRobertson’s employed 20 people.
Robertson had a flair for branding and a thirst for product innovation. In the 1890’s, he toured “Colossal America” and subsequently introduced Australians to fairy floss and chewing gum. By 1922, MacRobertson’s employed over 2,000 people and was producing 110,000 sixpenny Old Gold chocolates per day to keep up with demand.
In contrast to Roald Dahl’s eccentric confectioner Willy Wonka, Robertson was known for his love of white. MacRobertson’s 30-acre factory complex in Fitzroy came to be known as ‘White City’ for its white-painted buildings and thousands of employees dressed all in white, Robertson included.
Robertson was generous with his immense fortune, frequently making donations to varied causes and projects, including donating £20,000 pounds to the Mawson Antarctic expeditions, and £100,000 to the State of Victoria for the London and Melbourne Air Race, a girls school, a herbarium and a bridge over the Yarra.
Sir MacPherson Robertson died in 1945, and his family sold the business to Cadbury in 1967. The cherry ripe wrapper still donned the MacRobertson’s logo (seen in the image here) until 2002.
Do you know the location of the shopfront in this image?
What a marvellous store and still is…I went to boarding school in the 60s at Clarendon and my parents shopped there up untill their passing…(dad 2016)….
Absolutely the best service and nothing was ever too much trouble…And a big shout out to Bernie and also to Frank…My sister also worked here when she was at uni…
Just great memories of an era that has now gone, but not forgotten…
There is a book about MacRobertson’s and a photo shows part of the town hall tower in the background my father thought it was in Dana street near the berry anderson building
Was great chocolate
Thank you loved this story
i love this story…thank you !!
Extraordinary story. Thank you.
‘Ironmongers’ signage is the ‘clue’.
I think …. Mair St. xxx
Vikki Holford good call.
Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute
Kim Rowe Vikki Holford may be Dana Street… getting warmer
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The building looks really familiar but I cant put my finger on it! Where’s the shopfront?
My grandfather worked for MacRobertson’s in the early 50’s.
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