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Creating History
A Brief History of Campbell Brothers Limited The Early Days -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Early Days As the business grew, Peter Morrison bought 25 acres of land at Bowen Hills to build his family home, "Barrambin", and provide a new site for the business to operate from. In 1891, the Brisbane Soap Company was formed through an amalgamation of Peter Morrison's business with two other competitors: Kitchen & Sons and Apollo Limited. Peter Morrison was the majority shareholder. The business operated on the Bowen Hills site making soap and candles until 1921 when Peter Morrison's children (as heirs to his estate) decided to put the company into voluntary liquidation and merge it with Campbell Brothers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Campbell Brothers is formed Campbell Brothers was established in both Brisbane and Toowoomba with Norman Carlisle responsible for the Brisbane works while Ronald Clifford looked after operations in Toowoomba. To establish the Toowoomba factory, the Campbell brothers would board the train in Brisbane on a Saturday afternoon for the four hour journey west and spend the remainder of that day and Sunday building the premises before boarding the train back to Brisbane for work on Monday. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The 1920's,'30's & '40's The names Kangaroo Emu (as reflected in the company trademark), Excellar, Varsity, Lingerie and Camsol were all registered as trademarks for the ever expanding range of toilet soaps and cleaners. Looking for other means to improve the business, the directors also sent the Brisbane sales representative to Sydney to investigate the potential of this market. This was the first successful foray into regions outside of Queensland and resulted in an immediate contract for £600 worth of soap. In 1923, the company appointed a Sydney agency: Taylor & Colledge to represent their products in this market which received moderate success despite a very competitive industry. Regular visits by travellers (sales representatives) to regional Queensland also ensured the company's markets were ever expanding. In 1923, the business separated into three areas: household soap, toilet soap and chemicals. Campbell Brothers also aimed to expand its share of the general chemicals area so as to dilute its reliance on fluctuating soap prices. In 1924, Kitchen & Son made an offer of £12,500 to buy the business which would have changed its future course significantly as this company has become the modern day giant, Lever &, Kitchen. However, the directors voted to reject the offer as they didn't feel it was large enough. New additions continued to be made to the plant including a Glycerine recovery facility in 1927 (which paid for itself in the first year) new soda tanks, and a silicate digester. Some of the company's land was also converted to storage space for petrol and lubricating oils. Horse and carts were still the main form of transport and many loaded carts were despatched each day to the Brisbane wharves in Eagle Street for shipping soap up the coast of Queensland. In 1931, a natural disaster affected the company's operations with the great flood that swamped both the offices and factory. Employees were ferried around on makeshift rafts and all the toilet soap had to be boiled down and mixed in with the household soaps to reduce the losses suffered as a result of this event. A large pump was acquired to clean up the site and a wall of earth was built around the factory to hold back rising waters from Breakfast Creek. Both these measures later proved useful in the 1974 floods. In the late 1940's and the early 1950's the company purchased several modern trucks to improve transportation in both Brisbane and Toowoomba. The horses and carts were retired and the stables were converted to an equipment shed for transforming oils and lubricants. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sharing in our Growth The first Annual General Meeting of Campbell Brothers Limited was held at the Queensland Chamber of Manufactures on 13 December 1952. Another chapter of the company's history was also closed when the decision was made to firstly reduce the Toowoomba factory to a sales depot in 1959 and finally close this operation in 1962. In 1960, the company celebrated its 50th anniversary. It was the start of a change in direction for the company to a more expanded industrial chemicals business and a more sophisticated consumer products range. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Campbell Brothers Today Corporate are a services unit of the Company who oversee mainly financial/tax, compliance, corporate governance issues and administrative issues throughout the Group, led by the Company's Managing Director, Greg Kilmister. Corporate are based from offices in the inner Brisbane suburb of Milton: Level 2, 299 Coronation Drive , Milton, Qld 4064
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