Stories
The Aussie icons that united a nation REMEMBER WHAT YOUR GRANDPARENTS OR PARENTS DRANK? WEST COAST COOLER? RESCH’S? CHÂTEAU TANUNDA BRANDY? STILL AROUND - AND MAKING A COMEBACK - THEY ARE THE AUSSIE ICONS AND RETRO SURVIVORS THAT WITHSTOOD THE TEST OF TIME - FROM FLOODS TO FIRES, ECONOMIC DEPRESSIONS AND DOWNTURNS IN POPULARITY.
Château Tanunda
CHÂTEAU TANUNDA
In the heart of South Australia’s wine country stands an unlikely - but fitting - château. After all, the Barossans built Château Tanunda in 1889 on the plight of France’s wine industry. Europe needed wine and Europeans had been planting vines in the Barossa Valley since 1840, so the region was a natural choice. In 1890, table reds and brandy sailed west with success, but it was the brandy that made the château’s name. Ten years later, Sydney-based wine and spirit merchant Tucker & Co. became responsible for Château Tanunda Brandy’s interstate push. The company had a knack for clever marketing - first promoting the brandy as a cure for all ailments. Château Tanunda Brandy was now a household name. In 1914, the brandy accompanied Australian troops to the war front. Later, during the Great Depression, the brandy was the face of a major campaign, ‘The Problem of Youth’, aimed at finding work for Australia’s unemployed youth during the
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Great Depression. It worked. Next came Château Tanunda’s series of ‘Historical Firsts’ - capsule lessons on Australian history - which got the brandy’s name into libraries and schoolhouses. Then in the early 1930s, as brandy sales slumped across NSW, Tucker decided to up its advertising investment. Newspapers and radio stations were popular, but neon signs were all the rage. It proved to be quite the investment given that one of those signs still hangs in St James Station in Sydney. Sydney might also be without a symphony orchestra if it wasn’t for Château Tanunda. Silent by 1923, Tucker brought the orchestra back to life under the brandy’s banner. At 130 years of age, not only is Château Tanunda Australia’s oldest brandy but it is integral to Australia’s history. Today, it is still well sought after, no longer for its cure-all properties, but for its taste - now aged for five years in wooden casks for more depth and character.
Bundaberg Rum distillery
BUNDABERG RUM
What do fires, the Australian Prime Minister and a bear have to do with Bundaberg Rum? The story begins in 1888 when a group of Queenslanders built the Bundaberg Distillery off the back of the state’s burgeoning sugar cane industry. They made 225,000 gallons in their first production run - plenty to quench the thirst of rum-loving Australians. Bundy was off to a good start until the economic depression of 1890-93. Then two fires hit - in 1907 and 1936, destroying the building, stock and even setting the Burnett River on fire! Fortunately, the owners were the valiant type and rebuilt time and again. During World War Two, visiting American soldiers introduced Australians to mixing rum with cola. The Bundaberg team thought they were onto a good thing and created the popular Bundy and Cola. In 1961, the future Australian PM, William McMahon’s brother Sam was involved with the business and can be credited for Bundy’s square
