The Cyril Callister Foundation Inc will create a pop-up museum in Beaufort in 2022 whilst funding and plans continue for a permanent museum that would showcase his life and achievements
Australia is famous globally for many iconic things – the Outback, Mad Max, liveable cities, Tim Tam’s, Kylie Minogue, Aboriginal culture, Kath and Kim, meat pies and natural icons such as Uluru and the Great Barrier Reef.
One of our absolute most iconic brands though is Vegemite.
Aussies love it, most overseas tourists hate it, but there’s no denying Vegemite is and always will be a well-loved ingredient in many Australian lunchboxes. So, it deems it necessary then to have a museum dedicated entirely to the dark coloured spread.
In honour of the spread and the man behind the Aussie icon, a pop-up museum has been flagged to open in Beaufort this year.
Keep up with the latest in local good news here.
Cyril Callister was born in Chute (just outside of Beaufort) in 1893 and later studied at Ballarat’s Grenville College and the Ballarat School of Mines (now Federation University Australia).
In February 1923, the chemist and food technologist was hired by the Fred Walker Company, which later became Kraft Foods Limited, to develop the tasty yeast-based spread for retail sale.
After months of laboratory tests, the tasty, spreadable product (made in Port Melbourne) hit grocery shelves in 1923 as ‘Pure Vegetable Extract’, which later became known as ‘VEGEMITE’. “Delicious on sandwiches and toast, and improving the flavours of soups, stews and gravies,” was how the spread was first described and marketed.
The reality was that at the time, Marmite (a thick, dark English spread), already dominated the Australian market and Australians were reluctant to even try Fred Walker’s locally made product. Poor sales of VEGEMITE resulted in its name being changed in 1928 to ‘Parwill’. Walker was determined to emulate the success of Marmite and the logic behind the re-branding strategy was simple; “If Marmite…then Parwill.” Walker’s innovative method of marketing was, however, unsuccessful. Parwill failed to gain momentum across the country. It would take Fred Walker more than a decade of perseverance and a change back to the original VEGEMITE brand for Australians to embrace what would later become an Australian icon.
It wasn’t until 1939 that it caught on with the public, gaining official product endorsement from the British Medical Association for its high vitamin B content.
By 1942, Vegemite was so firmly fixed in Australian hearts and palates, it had to be rationed in order to meet the huge demand by the armed forces during World War II.
While the taste can be polarizing to those unfamiliar, today the spread is firmly part of our everyday diet.
The pop-up museum – spearheaded by The Cyril Callister Foundation – will take to Beaufort later this year to showcase Cyril’s life and achievements.
The Cyril Callister Foundation Inc was established in 2019 to celebrate the legacy and the contribution of Cyril Callister and establish a permanent museum in Chute / Beaufort, regional Victoria where he was born.
The foundation will create a pop-up museum in Beaufort in 2022 whilst funding and plans continue for a permanent museum that would showcase his life and achievements. This museum would be a valued tourist attraction for the Pyrenees Shire and the small town of Beaufort as it prepares to be by-passed.
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As vegemite enthusiasts all our lives, we sure are Happy Little Vegemites with this news!
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