For this cache, you need to bring a pen. You might even want to commemorate the moment with your favourite Arnott’s biscuits and a thermos of your preferred drink as you reflect on the rich history that sits behind this location.
Take a seat on the bench while you read.
WALK DOWN HISTORY
To look at homes now located in Montpellier Gardens you would not know that a biscuit factory used to stand here until September 2002. It had been operating there for about 50 years and employed about 600 staff. Kingston biscuits were the last of the assorted creams produced here.
The Arnott’s Biscuit factory was originally a Brockhoff Biscuits Company factory. This biscuit factory was opened in 1953 as part of a bold ambitious plan of three Brockhoffs brothers – Jack (1908-1984), Harold (1902-1966) and Alan (1904-1989). The factory was built on a large block of land that they purchased in East Burwood in 1951. This area in East Burwood once favoured market-gardening.
Jack was a Wesley College student. ‘Reserved, introverted and markedly shy, Brockhoff was nevertheless an astute businessman and investor who was also kind and honest. Much of his wealth came from private investment, an abiding interest. He could be very generous, but abhorred waste, show or pretence. He was a life governor of the Sandringham and District Memorial Hospital, the Royal Children’s Hospital, the Burwood Boys’ Home and the Victorian Civil Ambulance. In 1979 he organised a philanthropic trust, the Jack Brockhoff Foundation, and endowed it with $5 million. He was knighted that year. The foundation was dedicated to assisting `the people of Victoria’. Most of its grants were of moderate amounts disbursed to a wide range of charities, but it gave priority to helping children and the elderly, and to funding medical research.’ (Australian Dictionary of Biography)
Brockhoff’s Biscuits was a medium sized, one state manufacturer. Brockhoff’s and Guest’s had amalgamated with Arnott’s in the 1960s to form the Australian Biscuit Company in response to American Nabisco’s entry into the Australian market. The Australian Biscuit Company was later renamed Arnott’s Biscuits.
Arnotts Biscuits was the product of a Scottish immigrant by the name of William Arnott (1827-1901). Arnott opened his first bakery in Australia in 1847 in Morpeth, NSW (Wikipedia).
‘William Arnott … was born on 6 December 1827 at Pathhead near Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland. He was apprenticed to a baker and confectioner and, with his younger brother David, followed his family to Australia, arriving at Sydney in the Sir Edward Parry on 17 February 1848. Both brothers were bakers in Maitland until 1851 when they went with separate parties to the Turon River diggings. William had no luck as a gold miner but did well baking bread and pies on the field and early in 1853 he was back in Maitland as a baker and pastry-cook.
‘He prospered until the two great floods of the Hunter River in 1857 brought disaster. The new building he had put up in 1856 was flooded and he had hardly recovered when he was flooded out again in 1861. In 1862 he was forced to compound with his creditors and in 1864 there were more floods. In February 1865 one of his creditors demanded full payment and in April his wife Monica, née Sinclair, died; he had met her on the voyage to Sydney and they were married in 1850.
‘Arnott moved to Newcastle in 1865. By September he was established in Hunter Street, Newcastle, and quickly built up a successful business, helped by his second wife, Margaret Maclean, née Fleming, whom he married at Morpeth in October. The move to Newcastle was made possible by loans from friends but he repaid all his debts within twelve months. In the next few years the name of Arnott became famous for bread and cakes but especially for sweet and plain biscuits and ships' biscuits, in which there was a big trade with the growing number of ships in port. Between 1869 and 1876 he acquired land in what became Union Street and built a family home and a factory fitted with the latest machinery.
‘William Arnott's success was founded on hard work, integrity and insistence on quality. He was a sincere Christian, noted for his lovable and kindly nature. He and his wife were active in philanthropic work and the Wesleyan Church. In 1857 he was elected a trustee of the church in Maitland; in Newcastle he was connected with the Sunday school for twenty-four years, in twenty of which he was superintendent. An example of his honesty in business dealings was in 1883 when he repaid in full his 1862 Maitland creditors; they presented him with an address and a gold medal and held a luncheon in his honour’ (Australian Dictionary of Biography).
Thus ends the history lesson.
ABOUT THIS CACHE
It’s a very small micro (could be considered nano). There is space for only a date and your initial. Please do not retrieve or replace it unless the coast is clear. Great stealth is needed. Please replace the cache carefully so that it will be concealed from sight.
Do share your adventures but please avoid spoilers for the sake of others coming after you.
For a ‘related’ cache you might want to check out Home Sweet Home GC7KFM3 which has links to the Burwood Boys’ Home mentioned previously.
REFERENCES
“Arnott, William (1827 – 1901)” by Phyllis Mander-Jones in Australian Dictionary of Biograhy. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/arnott-william-2903
“Arnott’s Biscuits” in Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnott%27s_Biscuits
Arnott's Biscuits Ltd, Group Tour, Factory Interior, Burwood, Victoria, 1957. Item MM 126773. (A photo) Museums Victoria Collection. https://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/items/1758430
“Brockhoff, Sir John Stuart (1908-1984)” by Robert Murray in Australian Dictionary of Biography. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/brockhoff-sir-jack-stuart-12256
“Ruthless Arnotts — sacks 600”, April 9, 2001, The Guardian. https://www.cpa.org.au/z-archive/g2001/1044arn.html
“Tearful workers feel the final crunch at Arnott's”, August 3, 2002, The Age. https://www.theage.com.au/national/tearful-workers-feel-the-final-crunch-at-arnotts-20020803-gdugjg.html
“The Great Salada Riddle”, April 28, 2002, The Age. https://www.theage.com.au/national/the-great-salada-riddle-20020428-gdu5uu.html