McMahon’s Soft Drink Factory, Ipswich, 1947.
Image courtesy of Picture Ipswich.

McMahon’s Fruit Drinks was started by Frank McMahon in 1934 in a small rented building in West Street, Ipswich. With eight pounds in the bank and four pounds needed to connect electricity to the premises, Frank began his business with outdated machines and a large amount of hope. Combining ingredients, Frank would then bottle the mixture using his first bottling machine which filled only one bottle at a time. Then he would be off to sell his soft drinks, often leaving his wife, Mrs McMahon to look after the factory as well as her housework. The price of a shilling would get you three large bottles of soft drink.

As war broke out in 1939, Frank was fortunate enough to land an offer to supply soft drinks to the Army and later the U.S. forces at Amberley which enabled him to purchase the factory premises that he had been renting. Soon after, he bought the two adjoining houses and land next to the factory, the family moving into one of the houses. He then extended the business premises through the block from Darling Street to Martin Street.

In 1959 his sons joined the family company and the name changed to McMahons Aerated waters. By 1961-62 the business had grown in strides and housed a fleet of trucks delivering to a regular clientele.

In 1977 after the resulting flooding and damage of the Woodend premises in the 1974 floods, Franks two sons, Jim and Peter moved the soft drinks business to the newly established Wulkuraka industrial estate. In its prime, the McMahon’s business became the second biggest home delivery operation for soft drinks in Queensland and were early pioneers in terms of recycling because of their returnable bottles process. The Factory was sold to ‘Just Juice’, then ‘Pepsi Cola’ and then to ‘Schweppes’.

McMahon’s Soft Drink factory, interior, Ipswich, 1965. Image courtesy of Picture Ipswich.