Early Development of Kellerberrin
Kellerberrin is situated on the Great Eastern Highway, 203 km east of Perth and 55 km west of Merredin. The country around this Wheatbelt town was settled in the 1880s, but the town plan was not drawn up until 1895 and officially gazetted in 1901.
Martin & Myers: First Aerated Water Manufacturers (1909–1911)
The first aerated water manufacturers were Martin & Myers, who opened a factory in Hammond Street in December 1909. The block was located at the rear of Mr Patterson’s yards. This factory became necessary as the growing town had previously relied on drinks being brought by rail from Northam to all settlements between Meckering and Merredin.
They installed a Hayward and Tyler vertical machine capable of turning out 360 dozen bottles in a ten-hour day. Two of the latest bottling racks, jars, utensils and essences filled the shelves. The machine room measured 20 × 14 feet and had a concrete floor. Louis Kelly Myers was the manager for John Martin. Myers had previously been a hotel manager at Newcastle (Toodyay). By January 1910, their drinks were sold in Cunderdin and Merredin. Also in that month, the Government started a military camp at Tammin, and Martin & Myers secured the contract to supply the camp with aerated waters.
Myers met with an accident on 17 January 1910 while bottling lemonade, when a bottle exploded and flying glass badly cut his left arm. He was taken to the Kellerberrin Hotel, where the publican’s wife, a trained nurse, stitched the wound.
On 8 September 1910, John Martin secured the Kodj Kodj mail service. Although the roads were in poor condition, he persevered and eventually introduced a two-horse conveyance to carry out a parcel service to nearby settlements. The last advertisement for Martin appeared in the Eastern Recorder (Kellerberrin) on 4 January 1911.
Louis K. Myers later moved to Perth, and in 1925 gave his occupation as cordial maker when he lived in Aberdeen Street. He suffered another accident while employed at the Savoy Hotel in Hay Street as a cellarman, when his right thumb was crushed by aerated water machinery and subsequently amputated in hospital. He died in Perth in 1947, aged 73 years. John Martin is a common name, so his whereabouts after leaving the Kellerberrin factory have not been identified.
O’Brien & Nixon: Successors to Martin & Myers (1912–1917)
O’Brien & Nixon – Terence Leo O’Brien and William Nixon – began making cool drinks in January 1912 in Martin’s old factory, although the address was then given as Ripper Street. They did not have an ice machine, and the local reporter felt they would attract customers from far and wide if this service were added, especially during the hot summer months. They delivered drinks daily by cart or rail. The last advertisement for O’Brien & Nixon appeared on 2 March 1917.
William Nixon of Kellerberrin was a farmer according to all records located. Daniel James O’Brien is also listed as owner of the company on 30 September 1912 when he dissolved his partnership with William Nixon. Daniel had lived in Kellerberrin since 1909 and was listed as a blacksmith on the Electoral Rolls. He was born in 1867 in Victoria, and Terence O’Brien, born in 1883, may have been his younger brother. Terence Leo O’Brien is named as a cordial maker in 1912, so it is likely he made the drinks, while the company name remained in Daniel’s ownership. Even though Nixon had retired, the advertisements still included his name until 1917.
Daniel James O’Brien continued to be listed as an aerated water manufacturer until 1922 in Wise’s Post Office Directories. He died in Subiaco Hospital in May 1930 and is buried in the Kellerberrin Cemetery. Terence L. O’Brien had moved to Kalgoorlie by 1916 and was later a labourer in Kellerberrin in 1925. It is believed he moved to the Eastern States after his time in Western Australia.
George Maurice Williams: Longest-Serving Proprietor (1922–1970s)
George Maurice Williams was born in 1893. His first advertisement appeared in the Eastern Recorder on 4 August 1922. In January 1923, he sought half-pint and pint bottles free of kerosene and oil to help fill his orders.
In December 1930, he placed an advertisement in the West Australian stating that his Kellerberrin cordial business was for sale. Included in the sale were stock, plant, and a cement-brick house on 2½ acres of land. He offered to teach the new owner the workings of the aerated water trade. The sale must not have gone ahead, as he continued operating for many more years.
After the First World War, bottles were in short supply for manufacturers. The price of drinks was 10 shillings per dozen bottles, with 2 shillings refunded on return of the bottles at the factory. Williams was still the proprietor in April 1933, when he advertised 1,000 dozen heavy cork-stoppered champagne bottles for sale in lots to suit purchasers, suitable for vinegar, oils, etc., at 1 shilling and 6 pence per dozen.
During the Second World War, bottle shortages again made filling orders difficult. Plain crown seal bottles were sought for several months. In December 1939, despite rising commodity prices, Williams decided to keep his prices unchanged.
The Eastern Recorder ceased to appear on Trove after 6 March 1942. Williams’ name continued to be associated with cordial making in Electoral Rolls until 1977 at Kellerberrin, although he may have retired earlier. He died in July 1981, aged 88 years, and is buried in Kellerberrin Cemetery.
According to the Universal Country Business Directory (1954), the Kellerberrin Aerated Water Factory was still operating in town.
Bottles and Manufacturing Notes
There is no record of an impressed marble bottle from the early days of the town. If one existed, it would have had a paper label. Crown seals were definitely in use in the 1940s.
Vivienne Sinclair
Edited by Trudi Anne Gribble
References: Find My Past; Ancestry; Cemetery Records; Newspapers – Eastern Recorder (Kellerberrin): 15 Dec 1909, 29 Dec 1909, 5 Jan 1910, 19 Jan 1910, 14 Sep 1910, 4 Jan 1911, 6 Jan 1912, 13 Jan 1912, 5 Oct 1912, 4 Aug 1922, 5 Jan 1923, 9 May 1930, 5 Jun 1931, 21 Apr 1933, 15 Dec 1939, 9 Jan 1942; Daily News 27 Aug 1927; West Australian 6 Dec 1930.