On the origins of Bertie Beetle

Words by Imogen Sabey

It’s a sunny day at Olympic Park, the sky is a cloudless blue and crowds shift slowly through the streets like shoals of lethargic fish. Music is pumping so loud it makes your ears ring, you can smell something deep-frying on top of the sounds of a motorcycle revving. Children are zooming like chocolate-addicted moths towards the stripy red tent of the Showbag Pavilion.

This is the Sydney Royal Easter Show, where thousands of sugar-fuelled children, myself included, swarm in each year to get their fix of the most obscure chocolate of all: the Bertie Beetle.

For those uninitiated in the sacred tradition of the Easter Show, the Bertie Beetle may be entirely unfamiliar. For those who have been attending the Easter Show since they were old enough to ask for a chip on a stick, the Bertie Beetle is a fact of life. Its origins are known by few, it is nowhere to be found at the local convenience store. Yet, to this day, the Bertie Beetle is by far the most iconic and well-known goodie at the Easter Show and it dazzles children at agricultural shows across Australia.

So where did this mysterious chocolate come from, and why is it so difficult to obtain?

The Bertie Beetle came about in 1963, when the Melbourne company Hoadley’s Chocolates wanted to use up shards of honeycomb that came from the production of the Violet Crumble. It was made using milk chocolate and small pieces of honeycomb, which was then moulded into a beetle shape and wrapped in foil, selling for threepence. At first, it was available in stores and sold at agricultural shows around Australia. At its debut, Bertie Beetle was sold alongside other Hoadley’s chocolates like Violet Crumble and Polly Waffle. In 1970, the company was bought by Rowntree, which gave Bertie Beetle its own showbag in 1972 and withdrew Bertie from stores sometime during the 1970s.

In the same decade, came Lady Beetle, Bertie’s partner that many few know about or remember. Made of white chocolate and caramel pieces, Lady Beetle is even more obscure than Bertie Beetle, because it was created and discontinued sometime during the 1970s. Lady Beetle left very few traces of her existence on the internet, and aside from the fact that white chocolate and caramel sounds like a wicked combo, it is unclear why she was discontinued.

In 1988, Hoadley-Rowntree was sold to Nestle, and since then, Bertie Beetle sports a retro helmet with glasses on a blue plastic wrapper. Even Nestle isn’t able to pinpoint when Bertie Beetles were taken out of shops and became an exclusive showbag goodie.

Since it began selling in agricultural shows, Bertie Beetle has arguably become the most popular showbag ever made, with incredibly cheap prices, selling bags as cheap as $3, even in 2022. A revolutionary change in the sale of Bertie Beetle came about in 2016, however, when they became available online at the new Showbag Shop website. These wonderful little chocolates were finally made available year-round, and have hitherto been cemented as the most well-loved of the chocolate bars.

Though the Bertie Beetle is scarcely stocked, it has managed to remain a much-loved Australian icon, with its air of mystery only increasing its popularity. In the 2017 Ekka Show in Brisbane, over 250,000 Bertie Beetles were sold in various showbags. A Bertie Beetle stall has been a staple at the Easter Show and in 2019 was turned into an ice cream by Peters. Today, there is a factory in New Zealand that exclusively produces Bertie Beetle and Violet Crumble. The Bertie Beetle has even introduced merchandise, including items like socks, egg cups, tins (to store all the Bertie Beetles of course), and plush toys.

The Bertie Beetle has, for many years, been a highlight of the Easter Show. Hardly anyone who went to the Easter Show as a child can’t remember the times they waited in the queues and pushed through the crowds to arrive at this blue chocolate paradise, with jawdroppingly cheap prices and heaps of bags to choose from.

2023 marks the special occasion of Bertie Beetle’s 60th birthday, with an 8th showbag being launched that includes 60 Bertie Beetles, two Bertie Beetle egg cups and limited-edition Bertie Beetle birthday cards for $25. Available at shows including the Sydney Royal Easter Show, the Brisbane Ekka and the Royal Adelaide show, the Bertie Beetle is sure to find its place in the hearts of a new generation of Australian children, and to remain a haven of nostalgic bliss to those who fondly remember our days at the Easter Show.