Nicholas administration building, corner Warrigal Road and Waverley Road, Chadstone, circa 1980s
Alfred Michael Nicholas (1881-1937) and George Richard Nicholas (1884-1960) were the founders of the pharmaceutical company that bore their surname. When WW1 cut off supplies of acetylsalicylic acid, better known as the pain killer aspirin (produced by the German company, Bayer), Attorney-General William "Billy" Hughes, announced that German patents and trade marks would be suspended; they would then granted to any home-based manufacturer who could meet the required standards of purity. George was a pharmacist with a store in Punt Rd and the brothers, with the help of Henry Woolf Shmith, managed to produce what Hughes wanted. The government subsequently granted Shmith, Nicholas & Co a licence to make and sell aspirin in Australia.
Shmith withdrew from the company in 1916, leaving the Nicholas brothers to form Geo. R. Nicholas and Co. The company's aspirin was initially marketing as Nicholas Aspirin before brothers trade marked the name Aspro in April 1917; this was to protect their aspirin product when Bayer inevitably returned to Australian market after the war. A further refinement of the company's name came in 1921, when it was renamed renamed Nicholas Pty Ltd.. The names Nicholas and Apsro would become synonymous over the next several decades.
By 1946 Nicholas was making a substantial portfolio of pharmaceutical, nutritional, personal care and veterinary products, not just for Australia, but also for export. The brothers had become well known for their wealth and philanthropy and Aspro was a household name in Australia and overseas through extensive advertising (see our gallery of Aspro ads and promotional material). The Home Beautiful even published articles on Alfred's family home (and research centre) Burnham Beeches in 1934 and again in
1935.
The intention of Nicholas Pty Ltd to build a factory on Warrigal Rd became public in May 1946. The Dandenong Journal reported in its 8 May edition that the company had acquired a "23 acre" site for a price "in the vicinity of £lO,OOO." The Sun News Pictorial wrote on the 22nd that "planning would probably continue for another year, when tenders would be called."
The site offered room for extensive staff amenities. Referencing Dr. Francis Chllson, "a leading New York industrial consultant," The Herald wrote that the site "would include an Australian rules football field, a cricket pitch, a basketball field, tennis court and a putting green." In what might later be called an open plan office, "executives will sit behind fences and not walls" in what was termed a "smooth industrial flow."
Interestingly, the Dandenong Journal called the suburb Holmesglen and The Herald and The Sun call it East Malvern. For our purposes, we'll call it Chadstone.
However, the road to construction was anything but a smooth industrial flow. In December 1947 The Herald reported that the construction of the "£200,000 factory" had been postponed due to "the building situation." This is likely a reference to the post-war shortages of labour and materials available for building.
The Dandenong Journal noted in June 1950 that Nicholas had contacted the Mulgrave Shire to say that "we have as yet been unable to proceed with this project on account of factors beyond our control.” By then, the land (which was know said to be "24 acres") had been zoned residential, requiring the company to apply for an exemption. As the land had been purchased with the intention to build a factory, this was granted.
Even then, the building of a factory on the site was not a done deal. Just a month later, in July 1950, The Dandenong Journal ran an article about the Department of Education seeking properties in the Oakleigh area for future schools. In an intriguing what-if scenario, the Mulgrave Shire President, Cr. J. Stocks, had "revealed that in addition to the area south of Highbury Rd. adjacent to Montpellier St., the Department was seeking two other sites about 50 acres in all. The area referred to above was Harrison’s Estate and although the Department was not going to build there for some time, it realised the growth of the district and was going to acquire a site now." Cr Stocks had accompanied Mr. Percival Inchbold (Minister for Education) on a tour of inspection of other sites and said that the Department "was very interested in the Nicholas Aspro site at the corner of Warrigal Rd. and Waverley Rd., Holmsglen (sic), as a site for a future High School. They had looked at other sites on Moroney’s Hill in Oakleigh, but the Department preferred Nicholas’ land (about 20 acres). Negotiations were proceeding with them and the Department was quite willing to help that firm obtain an alternative site if it so desired."
The tenders were finally called for building the
"£1 million factory" in January 1956 with an expected completion date of about June 1957.
The building was designed by Melbourne architect D Graeme Lumsden and was opened in July 1957. A Victorian Heritage Database Report on the building noted that it was "a pioneer in the use of double-glazed curtain wall construction and free-form reinforced concrete in the form of the porte-cochere, while the pharmaceutical factory behind was laid out to facilitate a U-shaped production flow to and from the vast warehouse." The Report noted that the "extensive landscaping of the site, with plants propagated at the Nicholas country property, Burnham Beeches at Sassafras" were "maintained at the highest standard by a team of gardeners [that] set the standard for industrial buildings in Victoria."
Amenities for workers included "extensive facilities provided for the health, welfare and recreational needs of the 250 employees." There was a "fully-equipped commercial kitchen providing subsidised hot meals for all employees [and] a spacious cafeteria opening onto a cafeteria garden." The cafeteria included a "stage at one end and space for table tennis and pool tables at the other. A bio-box for showing movies was built at the south end of the cafeteria." The building included a "medical centre with a surgery and consulting rooms, large male and female locker rooms, free issue and cleaning of protective clothing and shoes, a squash court, a gymnasium and a large staff lounge."
In September 1981 it was announced that "Nicholas International Ltd and shoe polish and house products group Kiwi International Co Ltd would merge to form Australia's largest manufacturer and distributor of pharmaceutical and consumer products." The new company, to be known as Nicholas Kiwi Ltd "would have manufacturing facilities in 47 countries and total sales of more than S250 million in more than 170 countries."
As if to demonstrate the virulence of 1980s business culture,
Castlemaine Tooheys Ltd announced a $307 million takeover bid for Nicholas Kiwi Ltd in July 1984. This was followed by Reckitt and Colman PLC announcing a $340 million takeover bid in September.
In October Nicholas Kiwi announced a massive restructuring that split its operations, selling its highly profitable overseas interests to the Chicago-based Consolidated Foods Corporation, which owned Sara Lee. Sara Lee completed its takeover of Nicholas Kiwi in 1986.
On 11 July 1990 it was announced that the Chadstone factory would close and that the company would relocate to the Sara Lee site at 610 Heatherton Rd, Clayton South. The production of the company's pharmaceutical products would be outsourced, but it would continue to make toiletries, confectionery, shoe-care products and household cleaning products. The Chadstone factory was said to be too outdated to meet the company's needs and too expensive to refurbish. "More than 140 jobs" were axed.
In June 1991 the Sara Lee Corporation sold its over-the-counter pharmaceutical interests, including Aspro and other Nicholas brands, to Hoffman La Roche. The Aspro story came full circle when Roche Consumer Health was sold to Bayer in 2004.
By then the Nicholas buildings on Warrigal Road had been demolished and the site turned into a bulky goods retail park.
In May 1992, the Australian Financial Review reported that much of the Nicholas family's wealth had been lost.
MPLSLH000663
Nicholas administration building, corner Warrigal Road and Waverley Road, Chadstone, circa 1980s
Alfred Michael Nicholas (1881-1937) and George Richard Nicholas (1884-1960) were the founders of the pharmaceutical company that bore their surname. When WW1 cut off supplies of acetylsalicylic acid, better known as the pain killer aspirin (produced by the German company, Bayer), Attorney-General William "Billy" Hughes, announced that German patents and trade marks would be suspended; they would then granted to any home-based manufacturer who could meet the required standards of purity. George was a pharmacist with a store in Punt Rd and the brothers, with the help of Henry Woolf Shmith, managed to produce what Hughes wanted. The government subsequently granted Shmith, Nicholas & Co a licence to make and sell aspirin in Australia.
Shmith withdrew from the company in 1916, leaving the Nicholas brothers to form Geo. R. Nicholas and Co. The company's aspirin was initially marketing as Nicholas Aspirin before brothers trade marked the name Aspro in April 1917; this was to protect their aspirin product when Bayer inevitably returned to Australian market after the war. A further refinement of the company's name came in 1921, when it was renamed renamed Nicholas Pty Ltd.. The names Nicholas and Apsro would become synonymous over the next several decades.
By 1946 Nicholas was making a substantial portfolio of pharmaceutical, nutritional, personal care and veterinary products, not just for Australia, but also for export. The brothers had become well known for their wealth and philanthropy and Aspro was a household name in Australia and overseas through extensive advertising (see our gallery of Aspro ads and promotional material). The Home Beautiful even published articles on Alfred's family home (and research centre) Burnham Beeches in 1934 and again in
1935.
The intention of Nicholas Pty Ltd to build a factory on Warrigal Rd became public in May 1946. The Dandenong Journal reported in its 8 May edition that the company had acquired a "23 acre" site for a price "in the vicinity of £lO,OOO." The Sun News Pictorial wrote on the 22nd that "planning would probably continue for another year, when tenders would be called."
The site offered room for extensive staff amenities. Referencing Dr. Francis Chllson, "a leading New York industrial consultant," The Herald wrote that the site "would include an Australian rules football field, a cricket pitch, a basketball field, tennis court and a putting green." In what might later be called an open plan office, "executives will sit behind fences and not walls" in what was termed a "smooth industrial flow."
Interestingly, the Dandenong Journal called the suburb Holmesglen and The Herald and The Sun call it East Malvern. For our purposes, we'll call it Chadstone.
However, the road to construction was anything but a smooth industrial flow. In December 1947 The Herald reported that the construction of the "£200,000 factory" had been postponed due to "the building situation." This is likely a reference to the post-war shortages of labour and materials available for building.
The Dandenong Journal noted in June 1950 that Nicholas had contacted the Mulgrave Shire to say that "we have as yet been unable to proceed with this project on account of factors beyond our control.” By then, the land (which was know said to be "24 acres") had been zoned residential, requiring the company to apply for an exemption. As the land had been purchased with the intention to build a factory, this was granted.
Even then, the building of a factory on the site was not a done deal. Just a month later, in July 1950, The Dandenong Journal ran an article about the Department of Education seeking properties in the Oakleigh area for future schools. In an intriguing what-if scenario, the Mulgrave Shire President, Cr. J. Stocks, had "revealed that in addition to the area south of Highbury Rd. adjacent to Montpellier St., the Department was seeking two other sites about 50 acres in all. The area referred to above was Harrison’s Estate and although the Department was not going to build there for some time, it realised the growth of the district and was going to acquire a site now." Cr Stocks had accompanied Mr. Percival Inchbold (Minister for Education) on a tour of inspection of other sites and said that the Department "was very interested in the Nicholas Aspro site at the corner of Warrigal Rd. and Waverley Rd., Holmsglen (sic), as a site for a future High School. They had looked at other sites on Moroney’s Hill in Oakleigh, but the Department preferred Nicholas’ land (about 20 acres). Negotiations were proceeding with them and the Department was quite willing to help that firm obtain an alternative site if it so desired."
The tenders were finally called for building the
"£1 million factory" in January 1956 with an expected completion date of about June 1957.
The building was designed by Melbourne architect D Graeme Lumsden and was opened in July 1957. A Victorian Heritage Database Report on the building noted that it was "a pioneer in the use of double-glazed curtain wall construction and free-form reinforced concrete in the form of the porte-cochere, while the pharmaceutical factory behind was laid out to facilitate a U-shaped production flow to and from the vast warehouse." The Report noted that the "extensive landscaping of the site, with plants propagated at the Nicholas country property, Burnham Beeches at Sassafras" were "maintained at the highest standard by a team of gardeners [that] set the standard for industrial buildings in Victoria."
Amenities for workers included "extensive facilities provided for the health, welfare and recreational needs of the 250 employees." There was a "fully-equipped commercial kitchen providing subsidised hot meals for all employees [and] a spacious cafeteria opening onto a cafeteria garden." The cafeteria included a "stage at one end and space for table tennis and pool tables at the other. A bio-box for showing movies was built at the south end of the cafeteria." The building included a "medical centre with a surgery and consulting rooms, large male and female locker rooms, free issue and cleaning of protective clothing and shoes, a squash court, a gymnasium and a large staff lounge."
In September 1981 it was announced that "Nicholas International Ltd and shoe polish and house products group Kiwi International Co Ltd would merge to form Australia's largest manufacturer and distributor of pharmaceutical and consumer products." The new company, to be known as Nicholas Kiwi Ltd "would have manufacturing facilities in 47 countries and total sales of more than S250 million in more than 170 countries."
As if to demonstrate the virulence of 1980s business culture,
Castlemaine Tooheys Ltd announced a $307 million takeover bid for Nicholas Kiwi Ltd in July 1984. This was followed by Reckitt and Colman PLC announcing a $340 million takeover bid in September.
In October Nicholas Kiwi announced a massive restructuring that split its operations, selling its highly profitable overseas interests to the Chicago-based Consolidated Foods Corporation, which owned Sara Lee. Sara Lee completed its takeover of Nicholas Kiwi in 1986.
On 11 July 1990 it was announced that the Chadstone factory would close and that the company would relocate to the Sara Lee site at 610 Heatherton Rd, Clayton South. The production of the company's pharmaceutical products would be outsourced, but it would continue to make toiletries, confectionery, shoe-care products and household cleaning products. The Chadstone factory was said to be too outdated to meet the company's needs and too expensive to refurbish. "More than 140 jobs" were axed.
In June 1991 the Sara Lee Corporation sold its over-the-counter pharmaceutical interests, including Aspro and other Nicholas brands, to Hoffman La Roche. The Aspro story came full circle when Roche Consumer Health was sold to Bayer in 2004.
By then the Nicholas buildings on Warrigal Road had been demolished and the site turned into a bulky goods retail park.
In May 1992, the Australian Financial Review reported that much of the Nicholas family's wealth had been lost.
MPLSLH000663