115-years-old and thriving: Inside the wild revival of Aussie icon Lucas Papaw

One of Australia’s oldest family businesses was on the brink of bust just five years ago. Now the 115-year-old little red-tubed Lucas Papaw is hotter than ever as a Gen Z beauty must-have.

Lucas Papaw has had astronomical growth since being on the verge of collapse just five years ago.

One of Australia’s oldest family businesses has revealed how agonisingly close it came to collapse, forced to slash operations to just two days a week when sales plummeted by a staggering 80 per cent.

But like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the iconic Brisbane-based Lucas Papaw Ointment has now become an unstoppable must-have beauty essential for younger Australians with sales increasing by an astounding 51,000 per cent.

And its success story is sticking to one single red-tubed hero product for more than 100 years.

Lucas Papaw Ointment officially marks its 115th birthday this month - now in its sixth generation of family ownership.

It is churning out 150,000 tubes and jars of the therapeutic remedy a day at its Acacia Ridge headquarters - a rapid scale up from just 288 tubes 25 years ago.

But company leader Jake Swinglehurst said its most serious threat came just five years ago when the height of the Covid pandemic brought discretionary spending to a grinding halt across Australia.

Lucas Papaw was created 115 years ago and remains a single hero product.

“We’re going to have to close our doors and no one’s going to be employed,” Mr Swinglehurst said, recollecting the time during the pandemic when sales dropped 80 per cent.

“People have to support their families. They have to support their loved ones. And that was my biggest concern – that if this gets any worse, we’re going to have to close our doors and no one’s going to be employed.

“We had our team doing cleaning, we had them doing gardening and we were doing all sorts of things to keep the team here.”

Lucas Papaw’s Jake Swinglehurst recounts how close the family business came to closing.

The business began when Dr T.P. Lucas, Mr Swinglehurst’s great-great-great-grandfather, established the brand in 1910 when he purchased the Vera Hospital in New Farm after emigrating from the UK.

After his death in 1917, the third generation relocated the business from New Farm to its current location in Acacia Ridge, establishing a papal plantation alongside a modest facility they fondly refer to as “the little brown shed” – which still stands on the same site.

The famous Lucas’ Papaw Ointment, a staple on Australian shelves for more than a century, is one of Brisbane’s most famous and enduring success stories; a survivor from a time when patent medicines were used to cure everything from nervous disorders to liver disease.

The third generation became true pioneers of the business, taking to Brisbane’s streets on bicycles and public transport to sell the ointment through direct, door-to-door sales.

Their grassroots approach relied entirely on word-of-mouth promotion, with no formal marketing or advertising strategies.

That commitment to simplicity paid off and was highlighted in the early 2000s, when the product experienced an explosion of demand, becoming a must-have beauty essential for a generation of young Australians.

Lucas Papaw products stay true to their origins, says Mr Swinglehurst

“We’ve never measured success by financials or market share. For us, success is staying true to our traditions and values,” said 31-year-old Mr Swinglehurst, the sixth-generation custodian of the business.

The original formula has remained unchanged after 115 years, made from fermented Australian papal fruit sourced from North Queensland farmers.

The ointment is TGA-listed as a therapeutic good, and over the past decade, demand has led to significant operational growth.

Staff put the key ingredients together.

From a 264 sqm site in 2010, the company has expanded to a 10,000sqm facility in Acacia Ridge and scaled production from 288 tubes a day in the year 2000 to 100,000-110,000 tubes and 40,000 jars daily 25 years later.

Mr Swinglehurst said a core tradition and value was that every single tube and jar was physically touched, looked at, and checked by a human being, not a camera, before being packed, ensuring the highest quality.

“We don’t really chase hype, we just stay consistent to our values, which is investing back into the product, making sure that our product is the best it can be,” he said.

“And we don’t chase trends, we just stay true to who we are as a business and that keeps us focused on the product, which is the most important part.”

While Australia remains the primary focus for expansion, Lucas Papaw is strategically eyeing international markets.

A sentimental target for future expansion is the United Kingdom, specifically Scotland, where Dr Lucas was born.

Lucas Papaw Remedies factory at Acacia Ridge.

Mr Swinglehurst believes taking the brand back to its founder’s birthplace would be “pretty sentimental”.

The brand already has an international presence, exporting to New Zealand for nearly 25 years, Malaysia for 20 years, as well as Singapore and China.

There is also growing interest from the US market.

The ointment is a must-have for Gen Z.

Under Mr Swinglehurst’s leadership, he established the Lucas Corporate Remedies Foundation, which actively partners with various charities each year, currently supporting Dementia Australia and the Liptember Foundation.

The Liptember Foundation, in particular, aligns with Lucas Papaw’s core customer base, helping mothers return to work after childbirth.

This philanthropic endeavour is intentionally kept private, “purely for the purpose of helping people”.

Today, its fan base spans age groups, cultures, and continents; and it has achieved consistent year-on-year growth all while sticking to a single hero product for more than 100 years.

Originally published as 115-years-old and thriving: Inside the wild revival of Aussie icon Lucas Papaw