Who manufactured Coleman lamps and stoves in Australia?

What do we know about who manufactured Coleman lamps and stoves in Australia? And when?

What I know so far is that in 1930, Australia held a Tariff Board Inquiry into raising the tariff on imported lamps to 30%.

Australian manufacturers of lamps were in favour; importers of overseas lamps were not, and argued that Australian manufacturers could not supply the volume, especially that required for the rural market.

I don't know the outcome of the inquiry (yet).

So at that stage, no Coleman lamps or stoves were manufactured in Australia - they were imported from Coleman Canada.

Fast forward to 1950, noting the intervention of the Great Depression and World War II.

In early 1950 the Coleman Lamp and Stove Co. Ltd. of Canada announced that it was not going to build a factory in Adelaide (South Australia) because the skilled labour and materials required were in short supply, and the market was too small.

In late 1950 the following was reported in the Melbourne Age:

"Colton, Palmer and Preston Ltd. of Adelaide, has obtained a
tie up with the Coleman Lamp and Stove Co, Ltd., Toronto, Canada, for manufacture of a range of kerosene and petrol-
burning appliances for domestic lighting and heating".

There the trail ends for me (so far), but Coleman products like the Australian made Coleman No. 249 Scout and various stoves were manufactured under licence from Coleman Canada:

Coleman 249 Scout, 1957, Made in Australia

Coleman Twin Burner (Kerosene) (Made in Australia)

What I don't know is when and for how long, and whether Adelaide was the sole place of manufacture.

Any enlightenment would be appreciated.

Best regards

Tony

 

Best of luck Tony .
Just keep hunting down those rumors.
We all want to know to .
Bob ,

 

This is the exact reason Fred Thompson gave the Tilley distribution licence up in 1932/33. He tried his best to rally public support and lobby the Federal Government without success.

He did pass the license onto another business man. (who's name escapes me at this time)

However, I don't believe that man actually acted on the license.

I don't believe Tilley were further imported into the country until about '36 when Kopsen and Nettlefold took up the license.

I'll do some rummaging around and see if I can come up with anything for you.

 

Great topic...and why do we know so little about it? Surely there must have been many workers employed at the plant...surely some of these workers are still alive and lucid today?

I have an advertisement from the Australian Pictorial Annual from 1936 that shows 4 addresses for the Coleman Quick-Lite Co. of Australia...would it be logical to assume that one of these sites was the place of manufacture (after that stopped solely importing from Canada)?
I can supply addresses if useful.A few people have mentioned to me that Austramax either made the lanterns for Coleman or purchased the old Coleman machinery.....what we really need are some facts.

 

Also were all parts made in Australia or were some imported and assembled here?

 

Similar to the situation with Tilley in the UK. They're still in operation but I've never heard of any contact with anyone who worked for them - Hendon until the early '60s, Dunmurry until 2000 and various places in Southern England up until today. I think it's probably fair to say we know more about what went on at Bletchley Park than we do Tilley. No internal paperwork seems to have survived either. Most strange...

 

Here is the label off my stove not a common one here.Also says made in Australia by arrangement with
Bob

 

Peter, every bit counts.
Post away.

 

30th of June 1949

New Companies. The following new companies have been registered; — Lindberg Foster Investments Ltd., capital £50,000, and Lindberg Foster Displays Ltd., capital £10,000.. C. J. Thomas and Sons Ltd., capital £40,000, and Coleman, Quicklite Co. Aust. Ltd., capital £25,000, merchants, agents, &c. Directors of both companies are: — A. C., W. P., Emily E. and Margery E. Tho mas and T. M. Male.

 

Nov 1954

Coleman Co.

C. J. Thomas & Son Pty., Ltd., Australian representatives of the Coleman Co. Incorporated of U.S.A.. hasmoved to new premises at Cato Street, Auburn.

Over the last five years O. J, Thomas & Son has been maintaining for the Coleman company production facilities in Adelaide. These, are to be co-ordinaited in Melbourne.

As well as this small appliance field, which includes lighting, cooking, heating, ironing and hot water facilities. C. J. Thomas & Son has been requested to co-ordinate manufacturing in Australia of the larger , heating appliances. With the new expansion plan in mind the new premises have been obtained.

 

C. J. Thomas and Sons Ltd.
That name seems to come up a lot.

 

Great... Keep it coming.

Coleman Quicklite Co. Australia appears to be an importer as far as I can tell (at least in 1930 when the Tariff Inquiry was underway. It would be good to nail down whether they ever manufactured here.

Cheers

Tony

 

Ps i've set this thread up over at CCS as well and will compile all of the info I get into one post later on.

So no need to repeat info on both sites.

Cheers

Tony

 

By the time of the Nov 1954 post above, Mr. Alan Thomas, was managing director of C.J. Thomas and Sons Ltd.

 

Obtained by Coleman or C J Thomas?

 

Peerman 'Pumpless Iron'; C.J. Thomas & Son, Melbourne; c ...

This Australian Peerman I/46 iron was made by C. J. Thomas & Son, Melbourne, circa 1948.

14 Jan 1950 - Advertising
nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22804414
The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957). (about) ... C. J. THOMAS & SON Pty. Ltd. (Coleman Quick-Lite Co. of Australia Pty. Ltd.) 185 WfLLIAM STREET.

 

9th of April 1941

MR. CHARLES J. THOMAS

Mr. Charles J. Thomas, proprietor of the Coleman Quick-Lite Co. of Australia collapsed and died suddenly in the city yesterday. Mr. Thomas was a well-known figure in Melbourne business circles, and was a director of the Cyclone Fence and Gate Co. and the Southern Can Co.

He was an active member of the Congregational Church all his life. He spent several years in America, and later returned to Victoria in control of the Coleman Quick-Lite Co. He leaves a widow, a daughter, and a son who is abroad with the A.I.F.

 

Posting this to show C J Thomas did not only distribute like some others did.

 

Jointly.

19 Feb 1954

SALES of the Coleman

Quick-Site Co. of Australia Lid. were almost equal, on a population basis, to those of the parent company in America.

The company's U.S. sales are valued at more than £12,000,000 a year.

These statements were made by Mr. C. Terrell of Toronto, a top executive of the parent company, on his arrival in Australia this week.

Mr. Terrell will assist the Australian concern with the problems of production and marketing.

General manager of the Australian company, Mr. Alan Thomas, explained, that it was a completely independent concern, drawing its supplies from the parent company's headquarters in U.S.A. and Canada.

Hie headquarters of the Australian company were in Sydney with a branch in Melbourne and agencies scattered throughout the States.

The local company had expanded rapidly since the war in the distribution of home lighting plants,

It was now importing a new and most efficient type of burner to service home lighting units built, by Australian engineering firms.

 

The 4 addresses are,

84 Pirie Street, Adelaide

185 William Street, Melbourne

500 Kent Street, Sydney

120 Charlotte Street, Brisbane

 

Well the address on the C J Thomas tag above matches the address of the Coleman Quick-Lite Co of Australia in 1936. I wonder what era the tag is from?

 

Being tied to a Kayen it has to be after 1945.

 

It appears 500 Kent st was at least a servicing centre for lamps. Whether it was a factory that also produced lamps at this stage I don't know.

477 Kent St were their offices.

 

I have a copy of a Coleman Aus catalogue from around 1951. Here is the inner front page which gives addresses Etc. ::Neil::

 

I'm not so sure about that.

I'm starting to think Coleman commenced production in Australia somewhere between 1921 and 1925.

So far, I have two reasons for that belief.

Firstly, in Australia on the 28th of January 1921 there was a trademark accepted for the wording and logo for engraving plates for Colemans.

This is the wording of the accepted trademark.

"Portable vapour lamps: Word: 'Air-o- Lite' — The Coleman Lamp Company, Kansas, . U.S.A. Finished plates for engravers' use: Device of a Crown 'and: words 'Crown Brand' — Engravers Metal Co., Ltd., Ontario, Canada"

Secondly, by 1925 imports of Coleman lamps had virtually ceased.

IF I'm correct and I know it's a big IF it may have taken the Coleman factory a couple of years to get up to speed with demand. So it's difficult to know if they started exactly in 1925.

 

Does anyone have the street number for the location
Cato St Auburn?

 

2

 

Cato st Auburn is now Hawthorn .

 

So far, the earliest Coleman item I have seen that says "Made in Australia" is from Feb 1951. If they were making stuff in Australia before 1950 then I would expect to see items from these years marked as such. What is the earliest item anyone has seen where it says "Made in Australia"?

 

Matty/Nils

My thinking goes like this:

1. The taking out of an Australian Trademark for Coleman would have been done to protect Colemans's name and products, as at that time, US Trademarks were not automatically legally recognised in Australia.

2. IF Coleman products were manufactured in Australia in 1925, they were not being manufactured in 1930, because the evidence the Tarriff Inquiry points to imports only.

If we apply Occam's Razor, the shortest route to an answer is that all the evidence (so far) favours Coleman products being imported to Australia, (?mainly) from Canada, until around 1950.

What we need, if it exists, is a pre World War II date on a Coleman.

Keep digging.

Cheers

Tony