CCSI Cork Crowncap Database - Brewer/Bottler
   
Entered: 07 Sep 2010 02:24 - Bob Burr - Modified: 11 Nov 2023 11:08 - Jon Bailey
 Brewer/bottler #3227
Name Shelley's Aerated Waters and Cordial Factory
Address  
City Broken Hill
State/Province New South Wales
Country Australia
Type Soft Drink Bottler
Website https://australianfoodtimeline.com.au/shelleys-soft-drinks/
Extra info Shelley’s Drinks were started in 1893 by J.A.M. Shelley, who had arrived in Broken Hill from South Australia a couple of years earlier. He worked for a while at Ryan’s cordial factory in Williams Street, Burton’s brewery on the corner of Bromide and Blende Streets, and for about three months on the mines before starting on his own to manufacture drinks.
Shelley’s first factory was on the corner of Williams Lane and the Silverton Road 9Brookefield Avenue) then was moved to the corner of O’Farrel and Morgan Streets. The old factory there was pulled down in the 1950’s and rebuilt by British Tobacco Co. who then owned it.
In the early days the main lines manufactured were hop beer and ginger beer and later a few other soft drinks were added.About 1907 Shelley expanded and bought new machinery.At first the machinery was all run by steam but later a gas engine was installed. The machines were driven by belts off line shafting along the back wall of the building. Steam was used to make the syrup which was boiled and saved a lot of fermentation later.
In the early days horse drawn trolleys were used for delivery of drinks to customers. At the back of the block were eight or ten stables and a big paddock for the horses. The drinks were packed into crates or boxes on the trolleys and the driver carried a wicker basket that held about a dozen bottles to carry the orders into the shops. In summer about twenty-five men were employed altogether.
J.A.M. Shelley ran the plant until his death in 1927, with his son Herb and Matt helping in the business. After J.A.M.’S death Herb and Matt ran the business together until Matt went to Sydney in 1929. He built a factory there and ran it for many years. It is now owned and operated by Amatil, the bottlers of Coco Cola.
Herb Shelley died in 1935 and then another brother Fred managed the plant.
In the late 1940’s Fred built a small factory behind his house in Morgan Street and worked that while the Shelley plant continued to work with Clarrie Holmes, from Sydney, as manager, but that did not last long due to hard times.
Fred Shelley and his son bought the plant back and Jack Shelley from Sydney, managed it.
The business was then made into a company and taken over by the British Tobacco Company who built a new plant and operated it until about 1980 when the Shelley family regained control.
In 1986, The West End Brewing Co. then purchased the property and converted it to be their distribution centre for Broken Hill.
Bottle washing at Shelleys’s in was done in a soaker tub with about sixteen trays. The bottles were put in upside down and moved down into a caustic soda solution heated by steam. When they had completed the circuit a lever was pulled to slide them into a rinser, then they were put onto trays and sprayed with clean water. The operator standing at the front of the machine had to smell all of the bottles as people used to put things like kerosene and phenyl into them. Those bottles were discarded and destroyed as it was impossible to clean them properly. When Shelley first started the bottles were corked and tied, then the bottles with the glass marble in the neck were used.
After those went out of use most of them were broken by boys to get out the marbles.
  
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