Cordial 6 – European history of the Richmond River

A History of Aerated Water & Cordial Manufacturers of the Richmond – Part 6

Don & Diane MACKIE

Don Mackie, proprietor of Summerland Cordials in Woodburn was born in Melbourne, Victoria on January 27, 1927. His childhood was spent at Moonee Ponds, a suburb of Melbourne in Victoria. At the age of 18 years, Don enlisted in the armed forces towards the end of the Second World War. At the end of the war, he was sent with the occupation forces to Japan for a few years. After returning from Japan, Don found employment in Melbourne working as a motor car salesman. On May 2, 1956 he married Diane Van Assche in Melbourne and the couple had six children.

After the death of his mother, Don took his father to Coffs Harbour for a brief holiday and was so impressed with the climate and surrounds of the northern coastal region that the decision was made to relocate from Melbourne. Don and his family ended up at Alstonville where he bought a banana farm and he remained farming there for about 8 years. A chance sighting of the Woodburn Cordial Manufactory operated by Stanley Martin for sale and the poor prices being paid for bananas prompted Don and his wife Diane to purchase the business in 1968.

Being a former laboratory technician, Diane soon found herself as the syrup maker in the new family enterprise and with optimistic enthusiasm Summerland Cordials commenced operations. A variety of aerated waters was produced including lemonade, soda water, sarsaparilla, ginger beer, dry ginger ale, cola, lemon squash, orange crush, pineapple and raspberry. The installation of post mix machines into hotels and clubs provided a much needed boost for the business, but this did not offset a series of mishaps that the cordial manufacturer endured, including the loss of bottle stock washed away in the major flood of 1974, the change from crown seal bottles to screw cap, and the investment that then required in new machinery and the delivery truck crashing with a full load of bottled cordials. By 1979 Summerland Cordials went into receivership and the apparatus, building and stock sold off at auction.

Don and Diane moved to Coraki and Don found employment as a maintenance worker at the local hospital. Don died in 2002 and Diane died in 2015 – both buried in the Coraki Cemetery.

Stanley MARTIN

Stanley Winton Earl Martin was born in 1901, eldest son of George Frederick and Agnes Talbott Martin (nee Sheaffe) in the Lismore district.

At the height of the Great Depression in 1930, Stanley married Doris Rose Ball in Lismore while he was farming at Repentance Creek near Eltham. Electoral rolls list Stanley as a farmer in that locality from 1922 until 1947. By late 1947, Stan was the proprietor of the aerated Water and Cordial Factory in Woodburn, taking over from Arthur Hatton Corby and David Gordon Dalziel who had been running the business for less than two years after acquiring it from Leslie George Olive. Stan remained in Woodburn manufacturing aerated water and cordials for over 20 years before selling the business to Don Mackie in 1968.

Stanley retired to Lismore prior to his death in 1974. There are no embossed bottles from his time as a cordial manufacturer at Woodburn.

William Seber & Agnes MATTERSON

William Seber Matterson was born in 1868 at South Creek on the Macleay River a son of William Seber and Jane Rebecca Matterson (nee Alford). He was born into a large family that moved from the Macleay River to Grafton on the Clarence River. He married Agnes Matida Fitzgerald in Sydney in 1899 and moved back to the north coast. His employment in Lismore was as a groom before he became a fruitier in the town around 1905.

During this period William applied for the Caledonian Privileges selling aerated waters and cordial at the local show. He took over the running of the refreshment rooms on Woodlark Street providing fruit, confectionary and soft drinks with his wife. This enabled him to also provide a shoeing service for hacks and draught horses in addition to blacksmithing and wheelwrighting while Agnes oversaw the operation of the refreshment rooms. He was also involved in a partnership making and selling sulkies with Frederick Davis. His involvement with horses seems to have been a lifelong association and his main interest throughout his life. In 1909 he imported the pure bred trotting stallion Primus to stand the season at stud in Lismore. He was a great trotting enthusiast and in 1915 sent his trotter Dixie Gold to compete against the state’s best trotters.

According to reports in the Northern Star newspaper a fire ripped through premises on Keen Street Lismore in February 1910 severely damaging property occupied by Michael O’Brien and William Matterson that was being used for the production of aerated waters and cordials. The manufactures were fined by Lismore Council in March 1910 for erecting a building without council consent and for illegal use of the domestic water supply to make aerated waters. A similar fire in May 1914 at the same location damaged the lower half of the building that was being used as a mineral water factory.

By 1911 he was operating a wine depot while Agnes was now sole proprietor of the refreshment rooms. On 23 December 1913 William took out the lease on the Metropole Hotel on Keen Street Lismore and remained as publican of the hotel, supplying his own branded aerated waters and cordials in partnership with Michael O’Brien, until the lease expired on 11 April 1918.

William Matterson passed away in February 1955 and his body was interred with his wife Agnes who predeceased him in 1931, at the Rookwood Cemetery.

Angus Harold McDONALD

Angus Harold McDonald was born in Maclean on the Clarence River son of John and Ellis (nee Milgate). John was a train driver and Angus grew up on the North Coast of NSW.

Initially, Angus commenced farming at Dungarubba before moving to Broadwater on the Richmond River in 1908, where he was a hotel keeper at the Miners Arms Hotel until 1912. On 19 March 1912, Angus leased a site on River St, Ballina from George Alfred Lewis and commenced operations as a cordial manufacturer. The lease on the cordial factory was taken over by Alfred Earnest Phipps in 1914

Angus then worked as hotelkeeper at Casino at the Lion Hotel in 1915. The close association that existed between hotels and cordial makers suggests Angus may have still been producing aerated waters for use in the hotel. Angus then worked at the Commonwealth Hotel in Casino from 1921 until at least 1926 as a hotel keeper before relocating to Lismore in the 1920s. Electoral rolls from 1930 list Angus as a cordial manufacturer in Lismore up until 1939.

Angus moved to Randwick in the eastern suburbs of Sydney around 1940 where electoral rolls again show him as a cordial maker. When he passed away in 1944 and was interred in Botany Cemetery. Angus Harold McDonald was never married.

Mullumbimby Cafe

In 1906 the township of Mullumbimby amounted to a few general stores and other business providing goods and services to a population of around 3000 people in the town and surrounding rural area. Migration of Greeks in the early 1900’s was responsible for the establishment of cafes, refreshment rooms and oyster saloons in many towns on the north coast.

In 1910 the Carkagis brothers, James and Peter, ran the Carkagis Oyster Saloon which was to become the Mullumbimby Cafe. After refurbishment the cafe fell into the hands of Geoge Papas who installed an American soda fountain into a new marble bar. His soda was so well received that he began to bottle the product in his own crown seal bottles simply embossed with the wording of the establishment about 1923. The cafe closed around 1934 having survived the White Australia debates, returning WW1 soldiers and the worst of the great economic depression.
The Australian Glass Makers stamping on the base of the bottle indicates production between 1923 and 1930/1934.

Martin NOLAN

Martin Nolan was born in Gowan, Kilkenny Ireland in about 1845, a son of William and Ann (nee Tynan). At the age of eighteen he migrated to Australia on board the ‘Africana’ that arrived in Sydney in 1866, as a labourer who could both read and write.

In 1884 Martin married Annie Helena Farrelly at Coraki and they had four children. [His last son, Martin, was born after his death in 1897.] On 16 January 1884 Martin Nolan announced in the Northern Star newspaper that he was now the proprietor of the Richmond River Aerated Waters and Cordials Manufactory following the dissolution of a partnership between John Flynn and Thomas Tickle. Martin then formed a partnership with Thomas Tickle later that month and the pair remained together in business until at least June 1885. The cordial manufactory then fell into the hands of John Askew who was declared insolvent on 6 September 1886 and Martin, with his elder brother Kyran, regained control of the Coraki Aerated Waters and Cordial Factory from late 1886.

They continued running the business for a few years. Kyran Nolan was involved at the time running a hotel and then a general business at Coraki so all business were mutually compatible. Martin remained in Coraki working as a labourer according to the 1894/1895 electoral roll.

Martin died on 25 July 1896 in Prince Alfred Hospital Camperdown and was buried in the Rockwood Necropolis.

Leslie William George OLIVE

Leslie William George Olive was born on 3 March 1896 at ‘Rockvilla’ Bungawalbin, a son of John Thomas and Annie Winnifred Olive (nee Rippon). He married Gertrude Pretoria Whitman at Coraki on 3 December 1919. By early 1923 Leslie was listed in telephone records as a cordial manufacturer in Woodburn with a phone number of 14. On 2 December 1924 land was transferred from John Link‘s widow Flora to Leslie Olive.

Leslie remained at Woodburn manufacturing aerated waters and cordials for over twenty years. In 1945 Leslie moved for a brief time to Grafton where he worked as a baker prior to relocating to the Sydney suburb of Gladesville in about 1952. He worked in Sydney as a storemen and packer before retiring at Gladesville where he died on 6 October 1990 aged 94 years.

Alfred Earnest & Arthur George PHIPPS

Alfred Earnest Phipps was born in Grafton in 1863 a son of Paul and Jane Phipps (nee Hall). He was married to Elizabeth Lee in 1887 in the Tweed River district. By 1901 the N.S.W. Census shows him living at East Wardell with a household of three males and two females. Alfred’s younger brother Joshiah George Phipps as well as both of his sons, Robert Edward and Arthur George and one of his daughters Matilda Frances were to become involved in the cordial manufactory business either directly or indirectly at various stages of their lives.

Alfred worked as a farmer in the Wardell area growing cane sugar and dairying. Around 1905 however Alfred Ernest Phipps took over the running of the Crown Hotel at East Wardell until 1914 when it went out of existence due to the Local Option Act. Alfred was a noted athlete and a sculler of outstanding ability.

His son, Arthur George was born in Wardell in 1889. Arthur also worked on the farm until 1914 when he and his father took over the lease on the aerated water and cordial manufactory run by Angus Harold McDonald on River Street in Ballina.

Elizabeth died in 1915. Alfred and Arthur George operated the cordial factory together until Arthur enlisted in the Australian Army on 17 February 1916. He embarked on board HMAT Ceramic on 14 April 1916 as part of the 53^rd battalion winning the Military Medal for bravery. Alfred married Winifred Lydia Kilpatrick in Queensland and returned to farming at Wardell with his new wife after his son returned from the front on 31 March 1919 and assumed responsibility for the running of the factory. Arthur married Elsie Maud Shepherd in 1921. They operated the cordial works until 1924 when Charles Crockett took over the business.

Alfred and Winfred moved to Queensland and settled in Chermside, Brisbane where he worked as a gardener maintaining his interest in horticultural pursuits. Alfred died in Queensland in 1954.

After the sale of the cordial works Arthur worked as a labourer in Ballina. His wife died in 1935 in unfortunate circumstances in a psychiatric hospital after suffering post-natal depression following the birth of her daughter Ruby. Arthur remarried in 1943 to Ethel Varity and remained in Ballina until his death on 25 April 1984. The poignancy of the day is extremely appropriate for an WWI digger.

Josiah George PHIPPS

Josiah George Phipps was the youngest son of Paul and Jane Phipps (nee Hall) who was born at Maclean on the Clarence River in 1873. He was the brother of Alfred Earnest and Matilda Frances Phipps. George as he was commonly known, was married in 1901 to Emily Beatrice Roberts in Ballina. George was working as a farmer at East Wardell prior to taking over the aerated water and cordial factory at Broadwater from his nephew Samuel Blanch in 1913.

In 1915 George is listed as the proprietor of the Miners Arms Hotel at Broadwater but with the Local Options Act the closure of many hotels in the area was imminent. It would be reasonable to assume with the demise of the hotel trade the aerated water and cordial manufactory at Broadwater was also dealt a final blow. Electoral rolls show George working as a ferryman in 1916 before he returned to farming at Keith Hall on the Richmond River. By 1930 George was employed as a labourer and tried his hand panning for gold on the beach sands at Black Head in the mid 1930’s. He resided in Ballina until about 1948 when he retired to Matraville in the suburbs of Sydney. His death was recorded in 1962.

Robert PILGRIM & Sons

Robert Pilgrim was born on 25 January 1887 in Marrickville an inner west suburb of Sydney, the son of William and Annie Sophia Pilgrim (nee Roberts). He spent his childhood at Bundanoon in the Southern Highlands and then worked in one of the many dairies prevalent in the Sydney area, before moving to the north coast of N.S.W.

He leased farms running cattle, growing maize and felling timber before he took up a selection near Nimbin around 1912. Robert married Catherine Ellen Walker in 1914 and they had eight children. In 1930 Robert moved to Lismore and bought a small mixed business in Conway Street to provide employment for three of his daughters. During his time in Lismore Robert was occupied with secretarial duties for the show society, Rotary, Masonic Lodge, primary producers’ union and supported cricket in town. He sold the convenience store in 1945 and purchased the aerated water and cordial manufactory in Mullumbimby from Earl Starr in the same year. Over time extensions were made to the factory with a concrete floor replacing the old wooden floor. Following the war bottles were scarce and the cordials were sold on a bottle for bottle basis. No bottle meant no drink. In 1953 Robert sold the business to two of his sons and the business then operated under the name of R. Pilgrim & Sons. After he sold the business Robert became involved in Rotary, the show society and served on the board of the Mullumbimby hospital. He was an enthusiastic lawn bowler and before his death on 19 December 1977 had contributed greatly to the humanitarian life of the biggest little town in Australia.

His two sons Stanley Robert and Alan Ernest operated the cordial factory utilising the star symbol and above all as the wording embossed on their crown seal bottles. Stan was born on 31 January 1926 and younger brother Alan on 26 March 1931. Stan initially helped out in the factory during school holidays, but circumstances saw him curtail a university course and he embarked on a career as a cordial and aerated water manufacturer. Stan married Marcia Dawn Bower on 18 October 1947 and they had a son. Stan served as a secretary of the Far North Coast Branch of the Soft Drink Association and was involved in the Apex club, played cricket and tennis and provided support for the Methodist Church. Alan worked in a variety of jobs prior to joining his brother in the cordial manufactory. He married Nita Valmai Chittick on 27 February 1954 and they had two children.

In 1968 Pilgrim & Sons amalgamated with Spencer & Sons to form Nor East Cordials with the business headquarters in Ballina. The Mullumbimby cordial factory became a distribution center.

Frederick & Faith PLAYFORD

Frederick Leonard Playford was born on 27 July 1898 at Ashfield a suburb in inner western Sydney. His parents were Robert and Athelia Frances Playford (nee Evans) and Frederick was the eldest in a family of five boys and one girl. Robert and his brother Harry Playford operated a dairy farm in Ashfield but in 1901 they drove a horse and sulky north taking six weeks before arriving and finally settling at Springvale Hill near Clunes where they rented a dairy farm for five years. The Playford family then relocated to a farm situated at the thirty mile peg south of Grafton between Glenreagh and Nana Glen and ran dairy cattle, pigs and grew corn. This was Frederick Leonard (Len) Playford’s early life and it was here he met and married the local school teacher Faith Duncan on 27 March 1930. Faith was the daughter of Robert Duncan who was the chief engineer at Norco in Lismore.

Len and Faith then moved to Bryon Bay where Faith purchased the local Byron Bay aerated water and cordial manufactory from Sidney Clarence Benton in 1934. The property compromised of the cordial factory, plant and cottage on Byron Street. The cordial enterprise was purchased in Faith’s name because the farm south of Grafton was mortgaged under Len’s name, and he was still attempting to pay it off during the Great Depression. A condition of the sale was that the cordials manufactured were to be sold under the name of W.E. Bryant as Bryant’s cordials. Len made cherry cheer, creaming soda, krinkly lime and orange, squash, lemonade and ginger beer. Len continued making aerated water and cordials in Byron Bay until 1942 when the business was sold to Earl Starr from Mullumbimby. Earl removed all the plant and machinery. The factory on Shirley Lane was demolished and Faith’s father Robert assembled the timber in lots to be auctioned. Len by this time had enlisted in the Australian Army and saw active war service in New Guinea prior to his discharge in 1945. He then found employment as a dental mechanic in Lismore where he worked for Faith’s brother, Allan Robertson Duncan known as Mack. Len remained in Lismore working before finally retiring. In 1969 the family moved to Sydney but a few days after the relocation Len died on 8 July 1969.

James & David POLLOCK

James and David Pollock were sons of Robert and Agnes Pollock (nee Barbour). Robert had emigrated from Lochwinnoch in Scotland on board the ‘Portland’ that arrived in 1838. Robert and his family spent the early years of their lives in Australia on the south coast of New South Wales at places such as Jugiong, Araluen and Berry. David was born in 1854 at Brundee on the Berry Estate while his elder brother James was born in 1840 at Araluen. David married Jane Housten in 1882 in the Shoalhaven district and they were to raise six children whilst James married Janey Rennie in 1886 in Sydney and they had three children.

In early 1883 the Pollock brothers had established an aerated water and cordial manufactory at Nowra on the south coast. It is not apparent as to what brothers were involved but it is possible that William, Alexander, John, James and David all played some part in the establishment of the business. By 1885 John had set up a cordial factory at Fernmount near Bellingen and by 1886 James and David were operating an aerated water and cordial manufactory at Woodburn. This enterprise at Woodburn was in fact the first cordial factory established in the town.

Electoral rolls for 1886/1890 revel David on leasehold property at Woodburn and James residing at Broadwater. James however appears to have had a short stay at Woodburn as state records show that he applied for auriferous leases at Nerrigundah in 1889 through till 1893 whilst David continued to advertise the Woodburn aerated water and cordial manufactory in the local newspapers. By 1881 David Pollock had relocated to Casino where he continued to manufacture aerated water and cordials until about 1907/1908 before ceasing the operation. He remained in the Casino area working as a dairyman until his eventual death in 1928.