Melbourne Royal Show celebrates 60 years of Bertie Beetle showbag

A massive giveaway is taking place at the Melbourne Royal Show to mark the 60th birthday of the beloved Bertie Beetle showbag, while people can also claim free Wizz Fizz showbags.

Melbourne Royal will mark Bertie Beetle’s 60th birthday by gifting the beloved showbag to 1000 kids on the opening day of the Show on September 21.

Another thousand Wizz Fizz showbags will also be handed out from 11.15am in the Showgrounds’ Main Arena, to commemorate 75 years of that sweet treat.

Tens of thousands of Bertie Beetle bags are sold each year at the Melbourne Royal Show, and the distributors are anticipating a similar take up this year, despite a modest price rise.

Showbag king Tommy Carter invented the chocolate bar in 1963, to insert in the 40c Hoadley’s Chocolate bag alongside Violet Crumbles, Polly Waffles and White Knights.

See inside all 395 showbags on offer at the 2023 Melbourne Royal Show

Mia Owen, 8, and Mila Forsdick, 9, check out the Bertie Beetle showbags on offer at this year’s Melbourne Royal Show. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Bertie Beetle was created in 1963 to be inserted in the Hoadley’s Chocolate showbag.

Kate Young – head of marketing at showbag company Chicane Marketing and a self-made “Bertie Beetle historian” – said the late Carter created Bertie Beetle in an attempt to challenge Hoadley’s biggest competitor, Cadbury’s Freddo Frog and Caramello Koala products.

“They were made (in a factory in Southbank) using the leftover chocolate and shards of honeycomb from the production of Violet Crumbles,” Ms Young said.

“And the combination of Bertie and beetle (as a name) was a known thing – there was a cartoon in the 1930s, they think the inspiration came from that.”

Bertie Beetle moved out of the Hoadley’s showbag to become its own product in 1972, and is was still the highest-selling bag at agricultural shows across the country.

Ms Young put this down to its enduring affordability and “that whole nostalgia feeling” passing down through generations of Australians.

“Have you even been to the show if you don’t get a Bertie Beetle?” she said.

A Bertie Beetle showbag from the 1970s.

The Bertie Beetle Blue showbag that will be on sale at the 2023 Show.

The basic Bertie Beetle Blue showbag cost $2 from 1988, when the $2 coin was introduced, through to 2021, with the exception of a brief rise to $3 in 2006.

The price was then bumped up to $3 in 2022 and $5 this year.

Ms Young said despite the showbag managing to “withstand inflationary pressure for a long time”, cost increases to the ingredients, freight and packaging off the back of the Covid pandemic had forced the recent price rises.

The bag itself has been upgraded from plastic to a more environmentally friendly paper material, with the chocolate wrappers expected to follow suit in the coming years.

Ms Young said customers at this year’s Ekka in Brisbane and Royal Adelaide Show were “happy to part with $5 for it”.

With the exception of brief forays on to supermarket shelves and into a KFC kids’ meal in the ’90s, the Bertie Beetle largely been sold in showbag form. It can also be bought online.

The recipe remained the same until manufacturer Nestle recently sold the Violet Crumble brand. “It’s now made with fresh hokey pokey honeycomb,” Ms Young said.

A Bertie Beetle Retro showbag will also be up for grabs at this year’s Show.

Five varieties will be available at the 2023 Melbourne Royal Show, ranging from the $5 blue showbag featuring five Bertie Beetle bars and two KitKats, through to a $25 “retro” bag offering 20 Bertie Beetles and the choice of a branded camping mug, socks, chocolate tin or bucket hat.

An $18 Bertie Beetle Birthday showbag – with 20 of the chocolate bars, a birthday card and the choice of a helicopter cap or two ceramic egg cups – is also up for grabs.

The Melbourne Royal Show is celebrating its 175th anniversary year and will run from September 21 to October 1.

royalshow.com.au