Whisky in jar was ours
THE former Corio Distillery in North Shore, which was closed in 1985, was in 1955 producing the largest-selling brand of whisky in Australia.
The distillery had opened in 1929 and had reached its peak in the 1940s and 1950s when it was part of the post-World War II manufacturing boom.
At the time the distillery employed about 70 people who operated the distillery in three shifts around the clock to keep up with demand.
When the distillery opened in 1929 it was a time when the wellbeing of an industry was gauged by the extent of smoke belching from its chimney.
The official opening, on March 21, 1929, was performed by William Ross, the chairman of the parent company, The Distillers Company Limited of Scotland.
Mr Ross opened the distillery using the Scottish phrase: “Lang may its lum reek’’, which roughly translated meant “Long may its chimney smoke’’.
The Geelong Advertiser reported the next day that Geelong could be proud of the new industry.
`”It is truly an important industry for the district, as an inspection by various citizens made evident yesterday,’’ the paper wrote.
“There was a large crowd of official guests in attendance shortly after 11.30am, when the music of the St Augustine’s Band attracted them to a position of the Excise Department. There a display of bunting marked the importance of the occasion, and from that position the opening ceremony was performed.’’
A special train had brought 250 people to the opening from Melbourne and elsewhere while others had travelled to Geelong by car.
The paper noted that the actual manufacture of whisky at the North Shore plant had started three days before the opening, and the first malt whisky made at the plant was stored in casks to mature by the end of April.
The first Corio Whisky was placed on the market in 1934 and the company boasted that is tasted very much like Scotch whisky.
When Corio 5-Star Whisky was first made in 1956 it won first prize and the championship at that year’s Sydney Royal Easter Show.
In the mid-1980s it was decided to moved the Corio Distillery operations to the Barossa Valley in South Australia, and most of the plant and equipment was moved there. The impressive copper pot stills were kept on the Geelong site as a showpiece for some years. The Geelong plant closed on December 31, 1985.
By 1989 the site became the first home of Geelong’s first commercial FM radio station BAY-FM.
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