Adversity & Resilience: Agriculture & Food Production

Dairying remained the predominant industry and in 1939, Harrisville and Rosewood both had 368 dairy establishments, Marburg had 236, and Ipswich itself had 219 plus one butter factory.

The country areas were not as hard-hit by the Great Depression as the city. People continued to work on family-based farms and dairy farms much as before, although times were much tougher and life was more difficult. Farmers saw the procession of unemployed people passing and were often asked for work, although most of them didn’t have the money to employ extra hands. [1]

Today, the soft drink market is dominated by a few international firms, but in earlier years, every town and city had its own local manufacturers.

In Ipswich, one of the early names was W.G. Livermore in East Street who used the brand name “Lavoob” - Booval backwards. Other manufacturers included Hooper, Barnes, Ferguson and Hydes. McMahon's Aerated Waters was started by Frank McMahon in 1934, during the Depression. He had £8 in the bank but had to pay £3 to have the electricity turned on at the new business. He survived by initially buying the minimal amount of materials, making soft drinks and then selling them door to door by truck.

Things were starting to do well when the war began. Refused enlistment for medical reasons, he continued to operate the factory but was hampered by shortages of materials. However when the Americans arrived, demanding soft drinks, he was finally able to get supplies. The process was quite simple in those days and students sometimes earned pocket money by working at McMahon’s factory after school, seated on a crate, cutting up and squeezing oranges and lemons for soft drinks. For indecisive people who were happy with “anything”, McMahon's made a special soft drink called - “Anything”. [2]