The Story
W&A Gilbey, owners of Gilbey’s Distillery, built in Melbourne in 1937, have a long and illustrious history in the wine and spirits trade. The company was started with a small London cellar in 1857 by two brothers, Walter and Alfred Gilbey, after they returned from the Crimean War. They quickly grew and expanded the business, opening further locations in Edinburgh and Dublin. Their first gin distillery came online in 1867, and they then acquired three Scotch whisky distilleries – Glen Spey (1887), Strathmill (1895) and Knockando (1903) – to supply their increasingly popular Scotch whisky blends.
The company was diverse and agnostic when it came to liquor, selling everything from port, sherry, marsala, liqueurs and all manner of spirits. They were also one of the first successful importers of Australian wines into the UK, and it was this experience that gave them an insight into the potential of the Australian market. This was further helped by Fred Collins, a manager in advertising for the company, who left England for Australia in the 1880s.
Collins maintained contact with Gilbey’s, and when he reported back on the health and growth of the Australian wine and spirits trade, Gilbey’s took notice. They began working with a range of local producers and merchants to import Australian wines and spirits, and began selling large quantities of London dry gin and Scotch whisky back into the Australian market.
Present-day, heritage listed Gilbey’s bottling plant, first constructed in 1927 and now converted into apartments. Rosslyn Street, West Melbourne
But in the 1920s, tariffs on Australian-made spirits were slashed by the Labor government to make them more competitive with imports. As a result, Gilbey’s laid plans to gain a stronger foothold in one of their largest markets. The first solution was to construct a bottling plant in West Melbourne in 1927. Stills were supposedly sent to this location in the late 1920s, but it’s unclear as to whether they were erected and producing at this time.
By now, Gilbey’s were intent on producing Australian spirits to shore up the local market and dodge unfavourable tariffs. In 1937, after years of searching for the right location, they completed construction of Gilbey’s Distillery in the Melbourne suburb of Moorabbin (no doubt DCL’s Corio Distillery in Geelong influenced that decision). The official opening of the distillery on November 3rd attracted close to 1500 guests, with everyone from the Federal Treasurer to the Victorian Premier toasting the future success (and significant taxes) the venture promised.
Sunday Times, 1936
Originally, the plant produced gin, whisky, liqueurs and other spirits. However, it’s unclear whether malt whisky was originally produced onsite. Gilbey’s had acquired stocks from Thebarton Distillery in Adelaide and other large Melbourne distilleries, even though neutral spirit was frequently distilled from barley in the early years. Gin took up the bulk of production, while Bond 7 Australian blended whisky was released in the late 1930s as the distillery’s primary Australian whisky brand. A plethora of other whisky brands were then later released in the 1950s and 60s.
The operation was a success in the decades following, receiving a £250,000 expansion in the 1960s. But as a series of international mergers and acquisitions diluted W&A Gilbey, problems started to emerge. In the 1970s, the company flagged the lowering of import tariffs and the raising of Australian excise duty as disastrous for its Melbourne operation. By 1980, the plant was still distilling gin and grain spirit, but its bottling of brands like Jim Beam, Hennessey and Smirnoff was particularly successful (sales of Beam were starting to climb). If nothing else, it was the bottling side of the business that led the 80+ staff working there to feel that the facility still had a future.
Gilbey’s Distillery and Reg Hunt Motors; Gilbey’s Distillery Demolition in 2000. Photos – Kingston Local History
But in 1983, Gilbey’s merged with Castlemaine Toohey’s and Lion breweries of New Zealand to form Swift and Moore. Two years later in 1985, all bottling and distilling operations were ceased and moved to New Zealand, leading to the eventual closure of Gilbey’s Distillery and the loss of over 60 jobs. The building was later converted into a car sales yard for Reg Hunt Motors. In 2000, it was then completely demolished despite calls for its preservation as a symbol of Melbourne’s distilling and industrial heritage.
