Whenever the word ‘Amscol’ is mentioned to an Adelaide raised baby boomer, their eyes glaze over and they seem to drift off with sweet memories of hot summers and an ice cream cone at the beach, an Eskimo Pie at the pictures or the special ‘once-a-week’ luxury of a slice of Amscol ice cream from the brick after tea.
Photo from a recent eBay advertisement. After the brick came the tins and then the plastic containers of our favourite ice cream, Amscol
Even as I’m writing this, I’m immediately transported back in time to being a kid again, and Friday nights, when sometimes as a special treat we had takeaway fish and chips, and then dad would carefully slice the brick of ice cream into six equal proportions served with mum’s preserved peaches from our own peach tree.
It’s not hard to understand why we still have such a soft spot for Amscol, it was the ice cream we grew up with and people today still swear it was creamier and had a far better flavour than anything currently on the market.
The Amscol factory in Carrington Street, deolished in the 1980s
Amscol stood for Adelaide Milk Supply Co-Operative Limited which took over the premises of the Beauchamp Brothers in Carrington Street in the city in 1922. It was an extensive business and produced bottled milk, ice cream, cream, cheese and butter.
The ice cream brick was first introduced in the 50s when refrigerators started to appear on the market. Most brands in those days had a small rectangular freezer compartment inside the body of the fridge itself and the brick was made to fit snugly inside. Later, as fridges were made with larger freezers, Amscol introduced tins, and finally plastic containers for their famous ice cream.
Amscol also supplied the milk when the Government introduced the ‘milk for school children’ programme back in 1950. They produced special third-of-a-pint bottles of milk and although we loved the ice cream, many people have less pleasant memories of trying to chug down the warm, sour milk at recess time.
Some memories from the ARW Facebook page about Amscol included going to the corner shop on a Sunday to buy a brick of ice cream to have after lunch with ‘pudding’. “They wrapped it in lots of newspaper so it wouldn’t melt on the walk home”.
Others recalled the different flavours, including Rainbow, Dutch Treat, Honeycomb and Strawberry.
Dandies and Eskimo Pies were sold at the pictures on Saturday nights by tray boys, usually dressed in a semi-formal military style uniform; “and you had to line up to get them before they
Dairy Chocs, Dandies and Twin Chocs…..”It’s a Food Not a Fad”
melted”.
Amscol’s milk processing works and factory remained in the same city location right up until the company ceased trading in the 1980s and was eventually sold off, demolished, and the land used for housing. Many will recall I’m sure the retail outlet off the side street where it was possible to purchase the full range of Amscol products.
Amscol may be gone but it’s certainly not forgotten….”It’s a Food, Not a Fad”.
My grandfather used to be the “amscol man” who did all the deliveries in kadina , south Australia. That’s when it used to get delivered to ur home too
Hi Andrea. I dont suppose you have any photos of that Kadina Amscol factory tina
I remember amscol very well I worked there in my twenties as did my late feather andthree of my uncles
My dad worked there in 1956/57.
I can still remember the commercial on radio.
Give me Amscol ice cream please sir,
its a food and not a fad,
It’s been south Australia’s favourite,
Since my papa was a lad.
Then when he left and went to SA railways at Tailem Bend he still used to make it for us at home.
But blue in colour just because he could.
Do you remember making a tropical ripple icecream tub? I loved it as a child and can’t find anything on it, please.
I was lucky enough to work for AMSCOL in the early 70’s until it’s demise when it was eventually taken over by Streets Icecream. The Beauchamp brothers were fantastic people to work for. I worked as a junior clerk originally and was responsible for giving every employee a free bottle of milk at the end of the day to go home with. I also use to take school tours and delighted in watching the looks of the kiddies faces when they were told they could eat all the Icecream they wanted at the end of the tour. They were fantastic times.
Thanks Barry,
They’re great memories, thanks for sharing them with us.
Cheers
Bob Byrne
Adelaide Remember When
Hi Barry, I am putting a little book together about the history of AMSCOL. My Dad ( Bill Brown) worked there too. I would love to include some stories from people who worked there. If you are happy to share with me it would be great! My email is deniseindarwin@hotmail.com. I see this is an old thread but hope you get this message.
You don’t remember a lady called Gay Hunt do you? She worked there around that time.
Just came across your site whilst I sit in my flat in Dumfries Scotland.
I grew up in Adelaide and well remember amscol strawberry milk, egg nog and iced coffee. They were practically food groups.
You’d moan if you had to settle for dairy Vale.
Took the school tour of the factory and loved every minute.
Your article on school milk brought back memories of in the 1940s when in grade 2 it was delivered to the Infant school at Thebarton. Being wartime ..we littlies had to be nourished! While most memories of those who had school milk in the 1950’s are generally that it was always “warm” mine and unappetising, ours was packed in Ice and it was so cold when you drank it it hurt when it hit the roof of your mouth! You can’t please us all.
Peters made Eskimo Pies, Amscol produced Dairy Chocs. Otherwise a great article.
As previously stated Amscol made Dairy Chocs. My dad and uncle occasionally called them Eskimo Pies but they were much more often referred to as Choc Ices. At the Adelaide Oval you would here the tray boys calling out “Choc Ice and assorted sweets” Still the best ice cream I have ever tasted. Great memories
I was one of those tray boys for years at Adelaide Oval. Sold a choc ice to Arthur Ashe and to Neil Kerley and Alan McGilvray. I even got summoned up to the interior of the scoreboard once. Amazing view. I knew every inch of Adelaide Oval. Most Saturdays we made $2 but in a final I used to get $10 which was a lot back then in the sixties. Actually we yelled out “chocolates choc-ice and assorted sweets” but the assorted got changed to “sordid”. We worked for Haighs Chocolates and had round trays that curved around one’s waist. Potato chips were 10 cents and choice-ices started at 6 cents and I remember it went to8 cents later in my illustrious career. People would call you to the top of the grand stand for a joke and then not buy anything but a lot of people were very kind and said keep the change. I remember Neil Kerley being incredibly kind.
I would be there every day for Sheffield Shield and the footy for years. Thinking back I have incredible fond memories. Oh yes we had dry ice to keep the choc-ice cold and we used to put coins on it to watch it sink into the ice. It was a different world back then but how can anyone not love Adelaide?
I worked at Haighs Chocolates, it was my first job in 1968. I worked in the chocolate room where we made proper chocolate from cocoa beans and other good ingredients. It was a secret recipe. We even roasted the beans, and coffee beans too. Even though it was/is the best chocolate, I found out that there is such a thing as too much chocolate!
They also made cordials and some of the older men, my boss the chocolate man included, would be drinking orange cordial all day, and were often very happy by the end of the day. I found out that they put a bottle of vodka in a big jug of cordial every morning!
I used to go with the delivery man sometimes and deliver great big slabs of chocolate to Amscol in Carrington Street. We always took some “rejects” with us and swapped them for “reject” Amscol ice creams.
The good old days indeed.
hi andy. In 1968 i worked in the Haigs outlet shop in Port Adelaide. We sold all the boxes and a range of individual chocs, milkdhakes and expresso coffee. Not sure if we made sandwiches. Mrs Muller was the manager.
http://www.samemory.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=973&c=7400 check it out.
You are so right., Amscol did not make Eskimo Pies. Peters did. My dear Dad worked at Amscol for many years and when growing up he forbid any other icecream in the house other than Amscol.
My Uncle Eddie was the chief electrician for yonks and a day at AMSCOL and he helped me get casual work there on high school holidays and weekends in the mid 70’s. I remember it was like having “the Golden Ticket” up in the attic there were really old advertising material and various ice creams made out of foam 🙂 . The basements were a bit nasty especially when a sump Pump had stopped and the 2+ foot deep dank water with all sorts floating and touching your calves was like the “garbage crusher on the Detention Level” The production floor well ….. samples had to be tested 😉
My father worked for Amscol in the 70s. He was a fitter and turner. My mum also work there on the production line. She had a tub of ice cream by her side. Lucky her! I enjoyed my visits to Amscol seeing my parents work, going up to the recreation room playing pool and table tennis and of course the complementary ice cream. Great memories.
I wonder if they knew a lady called Gay Hunt who also worked on the production line at that time?
I was a van salesman in early 70s and have lots of fond memory’s .I guess a reunion would be a great thing one day love to catch up
The Amscol ice cream I can remember most were the ‘Footy Colour’ iceblocks from the 70s – all different flavours in SANFL team colours. Even though I didn’t barrack for Centrals, I used to think their version was the best as it had a milky kind of cream coating at the top of the red and blue flavour stripes.
I started as an office boy with AMSCOL in 1974 and moved into credit control.. I remember Frank Beauchamp very well. One of the best managers I have ever worked for, a true gentleman. One Saturday morning job I remember very well was cleaning out old cupboards and finding memorabilia from WWII. Yes I remember the free bottle of milk, the world’s best milkshakes from the AMSCOL shop. I also remember their first computer system (card based). My favourite ice cream honeycombs fudge.
Hi Ian
My Dad worked at AMSCOL at that time his name was Bill Brown. He worked as a driver then moved into telesales supervisor. My uncle Bob Clark also worked there.Your mention of the computer cards reminded me that sometimes I would go with Dad into Amscol on a Sunday when he had some work to do and he would show me the computer and the cards. I am putting together a little book for my Dad about AMSCOL as it was such an important part of his life. If you have any more anecdotes or memories to share that would be great!
i worked with Your father in the mid 70,s My father was his drinking budy at the 7 stars hotel
Does anyone remember Snips (Chocolate,Strawberry and Iced Coffee). Tuckshop favourite.
1970-1980 ? Does anyone have a photo of a snip. Tried Google/Bing
Yes, I remember Snips. They were very good!
Well i grew up with Amscol icecream as well and like everyone else here still think it was the best icecream ever made. If anyone is driving on main road Coromandel Valley look for the Amscol sign on the side of the fodder shop. Too bad streets dont break out the old recipe and make some old Amscol favs.
As an old Adelad now living in Victoria I also remember how great Amscol vanilla icecream tasted. I reflect happily that as as kid how much of it I must have eaten, with fresh strawberries, in summer.
It’s a shame when large corporations simply buy up existing companies to obtain their market share but do not continue to manufacture their formulated products. Unilever also did that with Sennitts icecream in this State. Streets isn’t bad but it has always been inferior to Amscol.
The good news for Victorians is the current availability of ‘Bulla Creamy Classic’ vanilla icecream. I have long suspected that this is the old Amscol recipe. If it’s not it’s the closest you will find in our country. It’s certainly not full of the usual alginates and gelatinous thickeners/ extenders that although harmless, make make many cheap icecream products tasteless and chewy.
Life is too short to deny oneself great full cream icecream – fat police take note!
My fondest memory if the Amscol icecream shop on Pulteney St was Tutti Fruti ice-cream. I have not been able to find anything that comes close to it in the last 40 years.
Oh yeah I remember Tutti Frutti ice cream. My dear old dad used to come home from a big day at Hills on the Port Road ready to take us for a well earned swim at West Beach. On the way home we would stop at the small grocery shop, Food “””” something & he would order double icecreams for us. Tutti Frutti had chunks of cherry in it and he would get a mint choc, they were so delicious after a swim. Oh, the good old days indeed.
The name Amscol has great memories for me as my father and uncle worked there from the early 50’s through to the 70’s. Best memories, we all use to get Ice Cream cakes for our birthdays and of course all the ice cream and ice lollies and milk on tap…There names where Andy and Cyril Thompson
My grandfather, Don ALLAN.,worked at AMSCOL for 45 years.,
He began work as a Dairy Technician,& finished as the Butter & Cheese dept. manager.
They won many prizes at the Royal Adelaide Show,for butter & cheese.
My father ,Peter ALLAN,also worked,for a few years, there as a van delivery / salesman.
I particually remember the cinnamon ice cream Christmas puddings,only made in small numbers
just before Christmas !
Hello cousin Neil, Pauline aka my Mother in law has talked a lot about her Uncle Don over the years.I am not sure if you would have been told but he lived with Eric & Elsie as a boarder for quite some time before he married Chrissie.He was working at Amscol back then.Your Aunty Rae also lived there as a boarder after her Mum aka your Grandmother died. I never knew that Peter worked at Amscol.I was only ever told that he was in the Navy.
I lived in salisbury north in the fifties I remember the amscol lyric I’ve been back in England for 60 years ive never forgotten just like hop Harrigan and Clancy of the over flow good times and great icecream
There was a better Ice cream than Amscol and that was in Port Adelaide known as ALPINE ICE CREAM, made by the De giglio family
I used to go into Amscol Ice Cream factory with my father in his truck when I went to work with during school holidays, also got free ice cream, or chocolate milk.
I remember Amscol it was the best. Lived in London for the last 10 years still nothing comes close. I also remember my dad driving us past the factory on the way to victor.
Great memories we lost the best chocolate ice creams in particular eskimo pies and my wifes favourite dutch treat nothing made today comes close.
I remember Amscol icecream in a square metal tin. I used to collect the tin lids and make body armour out of it a la Ned Kelly. Tutti Frutti was great – had nuts and dried and glazed fruit in it. The school milk did get quite warm on hot summer days, but I never remember it tasting sour.
I would love to find the old strawberry snips. Such a great childhood memory. Does anyone know if you can still buy them. I know sunny boys are still around.
I really liked Snips. Chocolate was by favourite.
Looks like Golden North ended up with the flavoured milk ice block market, the “Swing” (http://goldennorth.com.au/product-category/single-serve/).
Q. Why did parents buy their children Amscol ice cream?
A. Because it kept them off the Streets!!!
I love the comment, had a good laugh, yes AMSCOL was the best ic cream
I have great memories of AMSCOL, 3 members of my family drove the delivery trucks, they are Andy Thompson (Dad), Cyril Thompson (brother) and Noel Thompson (Nephew). I used to go on the round with my Dad (Andy Thompson) on most Saturdays (winter only, shorter day), I did this for a number of years, and loved it, ice cream/block on tap whenever I wanted one, got to know some of the shop keepers and drivers, one driver in particular I remember is Les Bromilow, lovely guy, caught up again with him and his wife in 1982.
Hi Jan I worked for amscol for 37 years and new Andy Cyril and Noel ,i did clerical work including paymaster for over 500 employees and when the computer took over I became a salesman on the ice cream trucks , yes I knew les bromilow great person as were all the amscol people it was like one big family
I have many fond memories of those days , it was sad to see a massive business be taken by a multi national giant streets ,I live south of Adelaide and in days of amscol the south run used to top the sales in ice cream every week , in the last three years we seen streets ice cream truck twice ha ha , loved reading your notes Peter.
Hi my father worked for AMSCOL in the late 1950,s and we lived across the road from AMSOL In Eden street, I recall when I was a kid I jumped onto the back of a truck that was leaving the factory, silly me I licked the pipe work that was on the back which was covered in ice, my tongue got stuck to it, true story, good old days.
I lived in Regent st back in the fifties and nearly every night I would go around to Amcol’s and get some rejects of Eskimo pies They were great old times I also remember when Moore’s burnt down my father and I stood up at Victoria Square watching the huge flames and on the way home stopped of at Amscol’s and got some free ice creams Choc ice I remember that day Joey I was with your bother Francis and Romeo. Feather’s was my auntie………
My dad worked for News Ltd. He was one of their truck drivers. Every year dad would drive the borrowed News truck into the Adelaide Hills for the work social club picnic, us kids would ride in the back with the trestle tables and beer kegs. We would stop at the AMSCOL outlet in Adelaide to pick up boxes of Dandy ice-creams packed in dry ice. At the end of the day we loved nothing more than throwing the dry ice into the puddles of water made by the melting ice in the beer cooler and tubs of softdrinks to watch the water “boil”. Well there was something better,eating those delicious tiny tubs of white frozen pleasure!
I worked at Amscol as a boiler attendant, refrigerated engine driver after it had been sold to Streets.
We looked after an ammonia refrigeration system, largely run by reciprocating compressors (they did have a small ‘screw’ compressor). The reciprocating compressors had 2 pistons. The way they were made, they introduced oil into the ammonia and it had to be drained regularly. We opened valves to drain into large 44 gallon drums of water to stop any ammonia gas from coming straight up at us.
It was a very dangerous site to have ammonia on. If there had been an explosion or fire in the building, a large part of the CBD would have been gassed with ammonia – which from the few times I got exposed to it, was horrible and potentially lethal. It induces massive amounts of phlegm….
Great place to work though and our own freezer in the boilerhouse stocked with ice creams (which were provided free of charge, along with some specialty items whos carton had somehow mysteriously been hit by a forklift.
Hello, what is a refrigerated engine driver? My great grandfather had this listed as his occupation on the 1891 census.
As I remember, certainly the inner suburbs and at Glenelg, there was a sort of “Holden v Ford” thing with ice cream: – Amscol vs Alaska.
(BTW We were an Alaska family)
I worked with Bill Brown as a driver and later in the office spent a few lunch breaks together at the Seven Stars.Amscol was a great place to work
Hi all my husband Darryl worked at Amscol as a driver from 1970-77 he was managing Naracoorte when Streets took over! Loved the Amscol days!
Sounds like you all have very find memories of AMSCOL ice cream.
Can anyone tell me why they sold out to Streets ?
Hello Gail,
I can tell you exactly what happened in the late 1970’s.
I am one of the bosses son’s. I grew up hanging around as a little boy in the icecream factory with my father being one of the bosses in the icecream department in the mid 1960’s early 1970’s in the Amscol Factory. I was allowed to gain access everywhere being one of the bosses son’s..
The reason why, in the late 1970’s one of the new bosses in the icecream department at Amscol did not know how all the ice cream production machinery ran, being old Italian machinery that broke down a lot, they use to fly a mechanic in from Italy which he would tell my father being Italian, what ever goes wrong, given instructions on what and how to fix it and then he had all the icecream machinery up and running with no problems 24 / 7. The other bosses did’nt like my father, so they got together and got him sacked. A few months after there were many machinery break downs and the employees did’nt know how resume the ongoing problems and breakdowns and when to change ice cream pipe lines etc. Therefore Amscol kept washing millions of dollars of ice cream down the drain. This was unaffordable and a huge amount of money losses and loss of profit in those days and Streets wanted Amscol gone, so they jumped at the opportunity and bought them out and closed the Amscol factory down a few years later.
There’s more to the story and Amscol did have the best ice cream in those days and i remember meeting the owner of the factory in the late 60’s, I was about 8 years old, she was an elderly lady in her 80’s the factory was left to her by her father being the only child.My father was employed by Amscol for over 30 years. .After my father was sacked Amscol begged him to come back to which he declined and Streets bought Amscol out and the rest is history.
I was the Marketing Manager for the Ice Cream Division from 1973 to 1977. I can tell you why Amscol was taken over by Streets (Unilever). Amscol was simply not making any profit for its shareholders who were mainly members of the founding families and dairy industry people. They became increasingly impatient and when they were made offers that were too good to ignore, they sold their shares.
Amscol senior managers failed to respond to the Whitlam inspired recession of the early to mid 1970’s with rigorous investment aimed at reducing product cost. Instead, we were misdirected into spending hugely on programmes to increase market share for a product that was not making a profit. Great … we won the Australian Hoover Award for Marketing, and sent the Company broke.
How can we people living say Edwardstown heading to the city and onwards get Amscol icecream without having to travel to Colonades? Would love to try it now and see if it is as good as it used to be in the good old days.
The ditties live on as we sing the Amscol Icecream and Woody Woodroofes songs at our annual Adelaide Boys (1960s) Xmas lunch in Sydney. I will be looking to bring some Amscol back to Sydney on my next visit.
I have a can that contained cream, NOT ice cream and can not find it shown on any AMSCOL site
Can you give me any info re this.
Can send a photo if requested. My uncle was a milkman and I have his churn, measures, bottles and invoices.
Whilst researching Glenelg 1950s I came across a picture of myself advertising amscol ice cream. I have a clear memory of the day, my parents operated the large kiosk near the merry go round….Jackie Clarken. (Jacqueline Mahon)
I worked there, in maintenance, in the early 70’s having just arrived as a new migrate from Canada. One day I decided to decorate the outside of the large stainless steel brine tanks with decorative “swirls” using a sanding disc. I thought it look awesome….took me hours ! The boss ( who’s name I cannot remember) wasn’t impressed.
I remember I guess it must have been around 1972 from where we lived, mum buying Amscol in a carton. I reckon it was maybe violet and gold carton if I recall corerectly made from waxed card.
Then at primary and high school the Snips.
I recall there was a coffee Snip, which was ,my favourite, but they dissapeared and then it was only chocolate and strawberry.