Woodroofe made cordial and soft drinks that every South Australian drank

AT its height, soft-drink maker Woodie’s had 75 per cent of the state’s lemonade market — that’s how much we loved it. Take a look back at a truly iconic SA company.

Former SA premier John Bannon drinks a Woodie’s during the Festival City marathon in Adelaide, 1985.

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“WE drink Woodie Woodie Woodroofe’s, Cos the flavour lasts so long.”

I’d bet the many thousands of local Baby Boomers who grew up with that radio (and later TV) jingle, singing the praises of Woodroofe’s Lemonade, can still sing it to you today.

In the 1950s and ’60s, almost every house in South Australia had a couple of big bottles of Woodies Lemonade and Southwark Bitter longnecks in the fridge, so Mum could have a shandy with Dad on a hot summer night and we kids would have a glass of the iconic lemonade.

“It’s Still the Best Lemonade Made” went the slogan. Woodroofe’s has had a long history in our state. It was established in 1878 by William Woodroofe and, to a lesser extent, Bruce Randall, at Norwood.

The Woodroofe’s delivery wagon, which was led by Clydesdale horses, in 1982.

William was working for another local soft drink manufacturer, George Hall & Son, when he decided to branch out and start his own business.

He found the perfect location in Theresa St, and built his factory over a natural spring, which remained the source of water for the firm’s products for the next 130 years.

Woodroofe’s innovative beverages and aggressive marketing saw them operate profitably as a regional independent soft drink producer for more than a century.

By the 1970s, with the growth of several national producers and increasing popularity of international brands such as Coca-Cola, Woodroofe’s found itself facing market challenges. The business had remained wholly family owned until 1979 and in that year, facing decreasing sales, it was acquired by local businessman (and later Lord Mayor) Michael Harbison and Tim Hartley.

W. Woodroofe’s cordial factory at Norwood. Date unknown

“It was a very, very old company and even had its own museum,” Michael recalls. “It was a little hard to tell where the museum finished and the company began.”

Michael and Tim set about resurrecting the fortunes of the firm and, blessed with several long, very hot summers and clever advertising, quickly turned its fortunes around.

“In their heyday, Woodroofe’s had always been a tremendously progressive company and dominated the South Australian soft drink market,” Michael says.

“At one time, they had 75 per cent of the local lemonade market and were one of the first companies to see the potential in TV advertising. They weren’t afraid to spend money on publicity and they went for it with all kinds of things and we kept that going.”

An advertisement for Woodroofe’s soft drinks on an idle double-decker bus in 1957.

Woodies also had an eye for flamboyant promotions, which included a team of Clydesdale horses with a beautifully painted wagon used to deliver crates of soft drinks in the city once a week.

They appeared as a special attraction at the Royal Adelaide Show each year.     

Another major campaign was the sponsorship of Donald Campbell’s world land-speed record attempt at Lake Eyre in 1964.

As the Bluebird’s principal sponsor, the Woodroofe name and logo was seen internationally in newsreels and photographs showing Campbell drinking the renowned local lemonade and other soft drinks under the label.

“You may recall in 1964, after he achieved the world record, he brought the Bluebird back to Adelaide and drove it down King William St,” Michael says. “That was all sponsored by Woodies.

Teams of horse-drawn wagons deliver Woodroofe’s drinks at Norwood. Date unknown.

This is 1969, during the Vintage, PVT and Historic Racing and Sports Cars scratch race at Mallala, with a Woodroofe’s soft drinks advertising billboard in the background.

“They also sponsored TV shows such as Woodies Teen Time with Ian Fairweather and Glenys O’Brien and their radio and TV jingles just rattled around in everybody’s heads. When we got the opportunity to buy the company, I just couldn’t resist it because it was the song that I used to sing in the shower every morning.”

Woodies Lemonade was always the flagship product of the company but there was also a whole suite of other flavours, all with their own radio and TV jingles.

“Woodies Sno Top, Hear it go pop”, Woodies Kola Beer and, of course, Big Sars.

“Big Sars was very popular in the school grounds. Big Sars sounds like ‘pig’s arse’ so the kids loved the name. It’s sarsaparilla, known in America as root beer, made from the root of the sarsaparilla plant.”

Michael remembers another important turning point for the group was the introduction of Woodies mineral water.

A worker at the Blackstone diesel engine at Woodroofe’s drinks factory in 1947.

“It was part of our quest to find the healthy soft drink,” he says. “And we were able to utilise the famous spring under the factory.

“It was a huge success and we then went on to dominate the mineral water market and followed that with a range of mineral water and natural fruit juices. They took off
like crazy.”

In 1983, with other business interests now dominating their time, Michael and Tim floated their now hugely successful enterprise as a public company on the Adelaide Stock Exchange.

Shortly thereafter the South Australian Brewing Company bought the soft drink manufacturing activities and sold the Woodroofe’s business to Cadbury Schweppes.

An undated image of the delivery wagon outside the Woodroofe factory.

The wagon leaves the Woodroofe factory in 1954 to make deliveries.

It was decided at that time to close the historic Norwood factory and relocate production to the manufacturing area at nearby Payneham. Then in 2009, Schweppes was acquired by Japanese conglomerate Asahi.

Today, Woodroofe soft drinks continue to be marketed in SA but are now produced by Asahi/Schweppes at its manufacturing facilities in Melbourne and Perth.

Gone are the days of the Woodroofe radio and TV presence, the ear-catching jingles, the Clydesdale horses and wagon, the colourful promotions, the extravagant sponsorships and the showy campaigns.

But we can all still remember Mum giving us “flat” Woodies Lemonade as a pick me up when we had a cold and we can all still sing the jingle.

Bob Byrne is the author of Adelaide Remember When and posts memories of Adelaide every day on Facebook.com/AdelaideRememberWhen