Navigation

---

Historic Videos - Hillier's Chocolate Factory (c.1926)

VIDEO MENU » Part 1. (1min 45secs) Chocolate packing department » Part 2. (1min 25secs) Chocolate dipping department » Part 3. (1min 42secs) Making biscuit kisses and chocolate creams

Film Notes: "A Visit to Ernest Hillier's Factory" (c.1926)

Ernest Hillier having established Australia's first chocolate manufactruing company, made this promotional film as competition was fierce in the halcyon days of Australia's confectionery industry with Cadbury producing confectionery in Tasmania in 1922, MacRobertson's based in Melbourne and Haigh's established in 1915 in South Australia.

Ernest Hillier, was a very savvy business man and learned the confectionary trade in San Francisco prior to establishing his confectionary-manufacturing company bearing his name in Pitt Street in 1914. In 1934 the company relocated to Melbourne where it continues to manufacture chocolates today.

The promotional film, demonstrates the food standards, division of labour, and  manufacturing processes typical of the era. Ernest Hillier employees wore protective clothing appropriate for food manufacturing but not gloves. Women’ were typiical of manufacturing industries that involved food processing, supervisors and managers were, typically male. Ernest Hillier was renowned for making premium quality hand-dipped chocolates, each delecate piece carefully hand selected and hand packed, on a labour-intensive production line.

Australian Screen Society Curator’s notes ...

	Part 1: Chocolate packing department 1:45 Ernest Hillier was Australia’s first chocolate manufacturer and began making premium quality chocolates in 1914. Prior to this time, chocolates were imported from overseas. This documentary takes the viewer inside the factory’s walls and details the delicate work and attention to detail required when producing handmade chocolates and sweets for Australian consumers.
Part 2: Chocolate dipping department 1:25 In this documentary it is the women who carry out the detailed work of dipping individual chocolates, sorting and packaging them while the men work the machinery and oversee the hot vats of melted chocolate. This division of labour down gender lines was accepted as the norm at the time and can also be seen in the 1932 film "A Day in a Biscuit Factory".
	Part 3: Making biscuit kisses and chocolate creams 1:42 The descriptive inter-titles throughout the documentary identify the various parts of the chocolate factory as well as promote the idea that Ernest Hillier’s chocolates are handcrafted, beautifully presented and of the highest quality chocolate. Aside from the opening title card, there are no production details on the film and it ends abruptly.

Courtesy of Australian Screen Society and National Film & Sound Archive.

---