POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Cooler bricks by Willow

Object No. 2008/125/1

These cooler bricks, along with eskies and barbecues, reflect the evolution of Australian leisure activities. The cooler bricks can be used to illustrate the increasing popularity of picnics, barbecues, camping and caravanning that resulted from the increased mobility made possible as the motor car became more affordable. These cooler bricks document a technological and commercial response to the need to keep food and drinks cold while travelling. The rapid change in leisure activities after the Second World War was driven by three major social changes. The introduction in 1948 of the two day weekend, or the 40 hour week, saw an increase in leisure time for working people. This coincided with a change in the design of housing, moving from a traditional Victorian inward design to designs with more open areas such as patios, which made it easier to move activities like cooking and leisure outside. At the same time, increased car ownership and the development of portable domestic consumer goods such as the esky and cooler bricks (which allowed the safe transport of food), as well as portable radios, record players and barbecues, increasingly saw the important rituals of the barbecue and the picnic moving beyond the backyard to the beach or bush. These cooler bricks are also illustrative of the increasing role of the motor car as a work environment, as they originally belonged to a travelling salesman, for whom the car was also a work space. Anni Turnbull April 2008

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Summary

Object Statement

Cooler bricks (2), metal / silica gel, Willow, Melbourne, Victoria / Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 1960-1970

Physical Description

Cooler bricks (2), metal / silica gel, made by Willow, Melbourne, Victoria / Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 1960-1970 Two rectangular metal cooler bricks, painted in the red and white tartan adopted by the Willow Ware company in the 1940s. The bricks are filled with hydrated silica gel. Manufacturer's details and directions for use are printed on the larger sides of the bricks. 'WILLOW / COOLER BRICK / ESPECIALLY MADE FOR USE / WITH THE WILLOW COOLER' is printed on the front of both bricks.

DIMENSIONS

Height

800 mm

Width

100 mm

Depth

40 mm

PRODUCTION

Notes

The casing for the cooler bricks was printed in Melbourne and the bricks were manufactured in Sydney in about 1960. They are filled with hydrated silica gel. Willow is an Australian company that was started in 1887 at Flemington in Victoria by brothers Ralph and Richard Wilson. In 1889 their partnership was formalised as Wilson Bros. The company has produced a variety of iconic domestic products, including Penguin jams. Its first domestic tinware was produced in 1910, and the trademark WILLOW was registered in 1924. In the 1920s it produced a range of kitchen ware including ice chest drip trays, Coolgardie safes, butter coolers and baking pans. In the 1960s the company began to expand into plastic domestic products as well as leisure products including foam coolers, surfboards and insulated jugs. In 1965 it became Willow Ware Pty Ltd. An exporter of kitchenware since the 1920s, it only began serious overseas market development in 1960. The kitchenware with the blue willow pattern, under the Willow brand, a name they applied to the company in 1965. Willow Ware Australia Pty Ltd is currently located in Tullamarine. It is a great example of a company that began operating in a family backyard and has grown into a company exporting to over fifty countries. Willow Ware have won a Commonwealth Export Award (1972), design awards for their microwave cookware range (1987) and an award for manufacturing excellence (1987). For more detailed history visit the Willow website: http://www.willow.com.au.

HISTORY

Notes

These cooler bricks were used by Mr Alex (Alexander) Wilson, godfather of Mr Ian Debenham, the Powerhouse Museum's Curator of Transport. Ian says "My sister and I would often stay at Jean (my mother's cousin) and Alex's place when our parents took an occasional holiday to Melbourne. Jean and Alex didn't have children of their own but were very good with children. We would stay at their Ashfield place and catch the bus to school in Strathfield. Alex was a travelling salesman for Bardsley's, an Australian company that sold men's hair and grooming products. Every barber's shop kept these products. Later he was a salesman for Corning Glass. He had a 1935 Chevy he called 'Bertha'; then he replaced it with a 1950s Chevy, which he also called 'Bertha'. I remember having a picnic on the side of the road, as Alex was a keen fisherman, probably at West Head. We use to go for trips and picnics with Jean and Alex a lot, they would have used these cooler bricks in an esky." Interview by Anni Turnbull with Ian Debenham, 2007.

SOURCE

Credit Line

Gift of Mr Ian Debenham, 2008

Acquisition Date

17 June 2008

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