Woodroofe (often shortened to Woodies) is a brand of

soft drinks A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a class of non-alcoholic drink, usually (but not necessarily) carbonated, and typically including added sweetener. Flavors used to be natural, but now can also be artificial. The sweet ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

History

William Woodroofe and to a lesser extent, Bruce Randall, founded the business in 1878 in

Norwood, South Australia Norwood is a suburb of Adelaide, about east of the Adelaide city centre. The suburb is in the City of Norwood Payneham & St Peters, whose predecessor was the oldest South Australian local government municipality. The Parade, Adelaide, The Parad ...

. The factory was sited at a natural spring, which was the source of water for the firm's products. Woodroofe's innovative products and aggressive marketing saw them operate successfully as a regional independent soft drink producer for over a century. The most popular flavour was, and continues to be,

lemonade Lemonade is a sweetened lemon-flavored drink. There are many varieties of lemonade found throughout the world. In some parts of the world, lemonade refers to an un-carbonated, traditionally, homemade drink, using lemon juice, water, and a sw ...

. In the 1970s, the growth of national producers and increasing popularity of international brands (particularly

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

) resulted in Woodroofe facing increasing challenges to its market position. The business was family owned until it was acquired by

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

businessmen

Michael Harbison Michael John Henry Harbison was the Lord Mayor of Adelaide, South Australia from 2002 to 2010. He was succeeded by Stephen Yarwood in 2010. He is also Adelaide's longest serving mayor. Before becoming Lord Mayor, he was a successful businessma ...

and Tim Hartley. They reinvigorated the business, including introducing new flavours, such as fruit flavoured mineral water. Briefly, they bottled

RC Cola RC Cola (short for Royal Crown Cola) is a carbonated cola beverage owned in the United States by Keurig Dr Pepper and internationally by RC Global Beverages, Inc. History In 1901, the Cole-Hampton-Hatcher Grocery Store was established in Col ...

under licence. Kathy and

(later

Lord Mayor of Adelaide This is a list of the mayors and lord mayors of the City of Adelaide, a local government area of South Australia. The first local government in Australia was formed on 31 October 1840 with the election of nineteen councillors to the new Adel ...

) co-purchased Woodroofe in the 1980s, along with the Hartley family, and Kathy Harbison was involved in the day-to-day running of the operations. In 1983, they floated the business as a public company on the

Adelaide Stock Exchange The Royal Institution of Australia (RiAus) is a national scientific not-for-profit organisation based in Adelaide, South Australia, whose mission is science communication. It opened in October 2009 and is housed in the historic Stock Exchange bu ...

. Subsequently, the

South Australian Brewing Company The South Australian Brewing Company, Limited was a brewery located in Thebarton, South Australia, Thebarton, an inner-west suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is a subsidiary of Lion (Australasian company), Lion, which in turn is owned by ...

purchased the soft drink manufacturing activities and they onsold the business to

Cadbury Schweppes Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational corporation, multinational confectionery company owned by Mondelez International (spun off from Kraft Foods, Inc., Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second-largest c ...

, who closed the historic Norwood factory and relocated production to their facility at nearby Payneham. In 2009, Schweppes was acquired by

Asahi Asahi (Japanese 朝日, 旭, or あさひ 'morning sun') may refer to: Places in Japan Cities * Asahi, Chiba (旭市; ''Asahi-shi'') Wards * Asahi-ku, Osaka (旭区; ''Asahi-ku'') * Asahi-ku, Yokohama (旭; ''Asahi-ku'') Towns * Asahi, Aichi ...

. Today, Woodroofe soft drinks continue to be marketed as a regional brand in

. Asahi/Schweppes closed the Payneham operations in 2016 and shifted their production to Melbourne (Tullamarine) and Perth.

Flavours

Woodroofe's best known and most popular flavour is

, advertised for many years with the slogan and jingle "Still the best lemonade made". Generations of South Australian mothers gave their sick children boiled Woodroofe's lemonade under medical advice. Other distinctive proprietary flavours included "Big Sars"

sarsaparilla Sarsaparilla often refers to the sarsaparilla (soft drink), sarsaparilla soft drink, made from Smilax plants. Sarsaparilla may also refer to: Biology *Several species of plants, of the genus ''Smilax'', including: **''Smilax ornata'', also known a ...

and "Sno-Top" (a brown vanilla-flavoured

cream soda Cream soda (also known as creme soda) is a sweet soft drink. Generally flavored with vanilla and based on the taste of an ice cream float, a wide range of variations can be found worldwide. History and development A recipe for cream soda written ...

). In addition, Woodroofe's produces a range of fruit flavours. A former flavour that is no longer manufactured is Kola Beer. However, a similar product is now produced by Bickford's. Woodroofe's also made a chocolate flavoured carbonated soft drink (Woc) in the 1960s.

References

{{Reflist *Woodroofe Limited Prospectus. 1983 *Woodroofe Limited 1983 Annual Report Soft drinks Lemonade Economy of South Australia Companies based in Adelaide Drink companies of Australia Food and drink companies established in 1878 1878 establishments in Australia

History

Flavours

See also

References