The last McMahon’s Drinks sign has been restored to its former glory by Ipswich artist Michelle Mancy.
The iconic brand used to be splashed all over town on large signs in the businesses hay day, but in recent years, they have slowly disappeared, all except one.
Peter McMahon, son of founder of McMahon’s Soft Drinks Frank McMahon, had noticed the sign at Willowbank fading over the years and decided now was the time to take action.
“It’s a very emotional thing,” Mr McMahon said.
“I used to visit the store that the sign was attached to, The White Stumps Fruit Shop, to collect our drink orders.
“They were lovely people.
“Jim Rock from Rock Signs did the original sign and one of his assistants was Darcy Doyle for a time.”
Ms Mancy took up the task of restoring the large sign, which took 37 hours to complete.
“I have done some restorations work with large signage before as I work restoring railway carriages,” Ms Mancy said.
“There were a lot of gentlemen who had remembered the sign writers and gave me some advice and some of the brushes.
“It’s become somewhat of a rare trade.”
Ms Mancy was using enamel paint which meant it was slow going as she was only able complete one coat a day.
Preparing the old sign to be painted required various techniques including tracing the old sign, then picking the trace with pins and using chalk to see the lettering.
“The drink was before my time and I have never tried it which is disappointing,” Ms Mancy said.
“Meeting Peter was great, he has such a sense for his city, I found that a bit inspiring.
“It’s nice to work on the sign knowing that meant something to him.”
Image: Picture Ipswich
McMahon’s Soft Drink history
Frank McMahon established McMahon’s Soft Drink Factory in 1934 in West Street Ipswich.
The soft drink was sold to residents at three large bottles for three shillings.
As well as serving the public, McMahon’s also had a contract with the Army during the Second World War.
During this time Frank McMahon purchased the property on West Street and also extended the factory from Darling Street to Martin Street.
In 1989 the factory was sold to Cadbury-Schweppes but residents of Ipswich will always remember the amazing flavours of McMahon’s soft drinks.
White Stumps Fruit Shop owners Dorothy (left) and Joan (2nd right) along with shop assistants Elizabeth and Hellen. Images courtesy: Dorothy Armstrong.
The White Stumps Fruit Shop history
Dorothy Barden and her friend Joan Keane opened a small stall selling watermelons next to Dorothy’s house at Willowbank in the late 1960s.
Her husband Don Barden, made signs to put down the road so the cars would know they were there.
It was the start of a fruit and vegetable business that became The White Stumps Fruit Shop.
Don, with help from Joan’s sons, Gavin and Brian, built them a store on the site and painted the three old tree stumps white.
The shop operated from this site with various extensions over the years, for about 17 years.
Dorothy and Joan also operated their “fruit truck door to door sales service”, travelling to parts of Ipswich, Amberley, Harrisville, Rosewood and Grandchester.
Cold drinks, ice creams and other snack foods were also in demand to appease the thirsty highway travellers.
This is when Don established the best drinks to be sold in the shop were from local Ipswich company, McMahons Soft Drinks.
He had a McMahons Soft Drinks sign painted onto the whole wall on the side of the shop.
Produce for the store was sourced mainly from the Ipswich Markets by Dorothy, Brisbane Markets by Joan and Don also dealt directly with local growers and would often travel to farms to buy watermelons, rockmelons, pumpkins, grapes, zucchini, squash, tomatoes and to Stanthorpe for apples.
Valerie Smith (Dorothy Barden’s sister) at the early watermelon stall. Image courtesy: Dorothy Armstrong
Over the years, several young locals got their first job as a shop assistant at The White Stumps, including Dorothy and Don’s daughter, Dorothy May, who recalls an interesting time during the 1974 floods when Amberley was isolated and the tankers couldn’t transport milk from her grandmother’s family dairy, Ashton’s Dairy Farm, to the Jacaranda Milk Factory at Booval.
“The milk was brought to the shop in the old time milk cans and the local people, including those from the Amberley RAAF Base housing estate, would bring their jugs and containers and get fresh milk which would have otherwise gone to waste,” Mrs Armstrong said.
There were many long hours invested in the shop and many memories over that time but finally the decision was made to close the shop in the mid-1980s.
A huge auction sale was held on site and many people came from miles around to make their last purchase from The White Stumps.
