Category Archives: Advertising

Advertising – Footscray Tech Magazines

Not normally known for advertising, W. G. Goetz placed these advertisements In the Footscray Technical School magazine. Form 7 students visited W. G. Goetz in 1957.

Below: ‘Footscray Technical School Blue and Gold 1947 no. 7
Magazine of the Footscray Technical School, 1947. Victoria University Archives, VUS 42.’
Page 30
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Below: ‘Footscray Technical School Blue and Gold 1948 no. 8
Magazine of the Footscray Technical School, 1948. Victoria University Archives, VUS 42.’
Page 26
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Below: ‘Footscray Technical School Blue and Gold, 1949 no. 9
Magazine of the Footscray Technical School, 1949. Victoria University Archives, VUS 42.’
Inside front cover
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Below: ‘Footscray Technical School Blue and Gold 1950 no. 10
Magazine of the Footscray Technical School, 1950. Victoria University Archives, VUS 42.’
Page 40
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Below: ‘Footscray Technical School Blue and Gold 1953 no. 13
Magazine of the Footscray Technical School, 1953. Victoria University Archives, VUS 42.’
Page 53
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Below: ‘Footscray Technical School Blue and Gold 1973
Magazine of the Footscray Technical School, 1973. Victoria University Archives, VUS 42.’
Page 40, top right
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RVB 21st – W.G. Goetz & Sons advertising

In May 1956, Goetz’s Hall Street neighbour RVB Engineering Products were celebrating their 21st anniversary. Not being one to usually advertise in the papers, Goetz took out a half page ‘congratulations’ style advertisement on page 9 of The Argus, 22nd May 1956 as part of the RVB celebration and promotion. Roy Butler is featured in the ad along with a photo of employees posing in front of the old Bickford, Smith & Co. Explosives building, which is set back from Hall Street, in between RVB and Goetz.

The caption reads ‘MR. ROY V. BUTLER, managing director of R. V. B. Engineering Products Ltd., surveys (top left) a picture of the company’s first home at North Melbourne, 21 years ago, and the staff of 230 at the present great Spotswood plant.’

Underneath , Goetz are saying ‘”WELL DONE” to an old friend – R.V.B. ENGINEERING PRODUCTS LIMITED’. RVB made tyre guages, automotive horns and other pneumatic equipment – some of it using Goetz machinery.

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Directors of RVB at times included names associated with W.G. Goetz and Sons. A newspaper clipping from The Argus on January 23rd 1951 regarding an RVB share offer following its conversion to a Public Company, lists directors including Captain J.H. Moss, O. Goetz, A.Goetz, F.C. Craddock and R.J. Burns.

RVB Engineering Products Limited was renamed as RVB Limited on 28 March 1974, which was in-turn deregistered on 26 April 1985. They had 11 patents listed with Intellectual Property Australia from 11 March 1954; the last being 24 March 1985 – a month before they were deregistered.

H.J. Heinz, Dandenong opening, Goetz advert

 

From ‘The Argus’, Monday November 7th, 1955. p.25, this advertisement featuring the Goetz Model 400R can making machine was included as part of a souvenir lift out celebrating the opening of the then new H.J. Heinz factory at Dandenong.

According to articles elsewhere, young Henry John Heinz commenced by growing, packing and selling his first product, horseradish, in his neighbourhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the USA in 1869. His product ‘lines’ soon extended to and beyond the famous ’57 varieties’, which became the company slogan in 1896.

Although Heinz products became available in Australia from around 1895, demand was such that an Australian factory had to be set up. Its Australian operations commenced in October 1935 in a converted former piano factory in Richmond, Victoria. Perhaps as a nod to H.J.’s original product, bottled horseradish was the first product off the line at Richmond. By 1939, there were 40 employees, but the move to Dandenong saw an expansion of the workforce to 350 employees.

Although still headquartered in Melbourne, Heinz closed the Dandenong factory in 2000.

Jobs, jobs, jobs!

A collection of job advertisements from ‘The Age’ newspaper.

Jobs-The-Age-13-Mar-1940-p1813 March 1940. p.18

Jobs-The-Age-2-Feb-1946-p182 February 1946. p.18

Jobs-The-Age-23-MAr-1946-p1923 March 1946. p.19

Jobs-The-Age-29-June-1946-p1929 June 1946. p.19

Jobs-The-Age-27-Jan-1951-p1227 January 1951. p.12.
In the early 1950s, Goetz brought skilled tradesmen from the U.K. under a migration scheme sponsored by the Victorian Chamber of Manufacturers. As part of the scheme, Goetz was obliged to provide accommodation for workers and therefore purchased suitable properties at Newport and Williamstown.

In addition to the cost of the accommodation properties, extra finance was needed as Goetz had acquired an interest in a foundry in Grace Street Dandenong in 1948, and made outright purchase in 1949 whereupon they commenced construction of an ‘up to date’ facility on the site. By 1951, the new foundry was still incomplete, requiring an additional ₤8,000 to complete the work.

Therefore, in April 1951 the company made available an issue of 35,000 ₤1 5% Cumulative Preference Shares.

 

Jobs-The-Age-31-Mar-1951-p3031 March 1951. p.30


Jobs-The-Age-1-Mar-1952-p41
1 March 1952. p.41