When Paulette Flint was growing up in central Queensland in the 1960s, Ward’s Cordial and Soft Drink Factory was far more than a local institution.
Key points:
- Wards Cordial Factory was an iconic Gladstone institution from the 1920s through to the 1980s
- The factory closed down due to high inflation and globalisation in the ’80s and the building was turned into a rental car agency
- Now the old factory is going back to its original purpose, brewing different kinds of drinks
“It was a treat,” she said.
“We’d only get soft drink at Christmas time or on special occasions.
“We used to go down to the factory and get a case of soft drink, which was 12 big bottles and you’d be allowed to pick the different flavours.
“Rockhampton had their brand, Brisbane had their brand, but Gladstone had Ward’s. It was ours and we just thought it was the best ever.”
Gladstone might be known today as an industrial centre, but prior to the industry boom of the ’60s the factory was one of the town’s top employers.
Ward’s also had factories at Biloela and Cracow and delivered its soft drinks and cordials right across the region.
Michael Comley’s parents bought the brand and factory in the 1970s.
“Ward’s originated at Many Peaks [southwest of Gladstone] when there was the [gold] mine up there as A Ward and Son,” he said.
“When the mine closed, they then relocated down to Auckland Street in Gladstone, and they acquired this land back in 1922.
By the mid-1950s, the business was one of about 600 soft drink companies thriving across Australian cities and towns.
Times change
The Gladstone institution’s fortunes changed in the 1980s.
“It was sort of going into a similar economy to now; really high inflation, higher interest rates,” Mr Comley said.
“Also, globalisation really took a hold and moved people away from buying local and towards big shopping centres.
American brands Coca-Cola and Pepsi dominated the market.
Mr Comley said that made it difficult for cordial and soft drink factories around Queensland to survive.
“It’s about that time that Mum and Dad moved away from the cordial factory and towards [a rental car business],” he said.
“And that’s what was here until fairly recently, about five years ago.”
Back to life
Mr Comley said he and his siblings, who now operate a range of rental car outlets throughout central Queensland, decided they wanted to convert the old cordial factory back into a beverage business, albeit a different kind of drink.
“With the development of the craft beer industry, we thought yeah, let’s go with building a brew pub,” he said.
The project, Mr Comley said, is a homage to the history of the building, as well as Gladstone as a whole.
As part of restoration and renovation works, Mr Comley has discovered a treasure trove of old artefacts in the nooks and crannies of the factory, including bottles over 100 years old and manufacturing equipment.
He said some of those items, such as old drink trolleys and former toilet doors, would be incorporated and repurposed into tables, while other artefacts would be on display for everyone to see.
“I recently found a whole heap of labels under the house dating back to Many Peaks, when they moved to Gladstone,” he said.
The venue has also been gifted Gladstone’s old weather radar by the Maritime Museum, which has been painted bright orange and sits out the front.
Mr Comley said there was also an old birch timber barrel still in the factory, which he hoped to use to make Horehound, one of the popular soft drinks Wards used to produce.
Change of attitude
For Ms Flint, now a local historian, the project symbolised a change in attitude in Gladstone towards the city’s history.
“Gladstone doesn’t have a very good record with keeping its old buildings,” she said.
“Something gets old and it gets knocked down, when it was perfectly OK.”
She said that included old cafes, theatres and banks, which made way for new buildings, leading to the disappearance of local history.
“It’s a real change to have somebody valuing something, that really is just a shed, but it’s that history behind that shed that is being preserved,” she said.
“This is almost like the factory is coming to life again. It’s not going to be what it was before with all the soft drinks, but it’s a new beginning.
