A SIMPSON & SONS LTD
They had several slight variations in their company name, two of which were Simpson & Sons Ltd. Adelaide and A. Simpson, Adelaide. This was by far the most prominent sign manufacturing company in Australia, originating in 1855 as a hardware manufacturer/general supply company that supplied bedsteads, ironware, ovens, safes, japanned and galvanized wares, tinware, tins, and buckets.
The company employed more than two hundred people in their several factories and produced thousands of different types of signs, a mere sample of which are mentioned below:
- Ask for Laurel Kerosene
- Buck Service Station
- New Zealand Insurance
- Plume Motor Spirit
- Plume Vacuum Oil
- Plume Please Shut The Gate
- Waltons Challenge Cocoa
- Shell Pennant Household Kerosene
- Shell Look for the Yellow Disc
- Top Brand Super
- Cumming-Smith Manures
- Yankee Doodle Dark Tobacco
- Vinola Toilet Soaps
- Lux Won't Shrink Wool Soap
- Hudons's Soap
- Rinso Soap
- Lifebuoy Soap
- Golden Fleece Motor Spirit
- Wertheim Pianos
- North British and Mercantile
- Sunlight Best Soap
- Monkey Brand
- T Gaunt Watchmater
METTERS
In 1890, Fred Metters commenced manufacturing stoves in Adelaide. Four years later, he opened in Perth, and in 1907, Metter Ltd was formed and based in Adelaide. A Sydney operation was commenced in 1913, and by 1927, they had amalgamated with a Sydney foundry for manufacturing. Another factory in Footscray, Melbourne, opened soon after this.
List of some of their well known signs:
- Bushells Blue Label Tea
- Goodyear
- Texaco Motor Oil Clean Clear
- Texaco Motor Oil Rack Sign
- Texaco Motor Spirit/Motor Oil round sign
- Cross Kerosene Shut the Gate
- Shell Spirit and Oils, The Quick Starting Pair
- Shell Shut the Gate
- Shell Power in Motor Spirit
VICTORIAN ENAMEL WORKS, GEELONG (Vic enamel Works)
By the 1960s, their trading name was Victorian Ferrous Enamelling Works, Geelong (V.FE.W.), and they were responsible for making many Castrol signs in this period. The company still operates today.
Francis Newberry founded the Victoria Foundry and Enamelling Works in 1890. Situated in Geelong West and operated by the founder and later his descendants. Two short-term proprietorships followed, spanning several years.
The factory was relocated to the present site in Moolap, an industrial suburb of Geelong, and renamed Glassmetal Industries Pty. Ltd.
The company was acquired in the early 1980s by Geoff and Annie Morgan as a family-owned and operated business.
Some of their signs include:
- Lifebuoy Soap Sailor Man
- Waratah Motor Spirit
- Voco Petrol
- Shell Imperial Spirit
- Golden Fleece Motor Spirit
- Please Shut the Gate and Use Federal Manure
- Motor Service Station
Plume - Benzine - Gargoyle
- Sennitts Ice Cream
- Plume (Vacuum Oil Co. Pty Ltd)
- W Haughton & Co Skins Wood Hides Tallow
- Hudson's Soap. The Time and Money Saver
The following are more obscure sign companies, many of whose:
J.A.S. Robertson, Sydney
- Dr Morse's Indian Root Pills
- Burgon Sheep Shearing
- Kiwi
- BIOC (Shell) Imperial Motor Sign
K.F.B. Foundry
- Smith's Weekly
- National Insurance Co.
Standard Signs, Sydney
- Brasso
- Reckitt's Blue. Out of the Blue Comes the Whitest Wash
Myttons, South Melbourne
- Shell Motor Oil. We Stock It, We Recommend It
J.T Paken & Sons, Melbourne
This company also made early Shell Motor Oil tins.
- Shell Motor Oil Superior as Shell Spirit
- Look For the Pure Shell disc
- Shell Motor Spirit Shorten Every Road
Rice & Co, Sydney
- Abraham's Pills
McLean & Rigg Ltd, Melbourne
- Australian Widow Fund
- Yankee Doodle Cigarettes
Ronaldson & Tippet, Ballarat
- Transfer Flag Sign
Saddler & Co., Melbourne
- The Daily Telegraph Tasmania
Laughtons Enamelling, Footscray, Melbourne
- All Mobil and Mobil Oil signs