Community & Business
13 May, 2025
Memories of Cambooya Drinks
The photo of an old Cambooya Drinks glass bottle published in On Our Selection News has sparked some memories for the final owner of what was a proud local business for over 80 years.
Gwenda Williams and her late husband Ronald were the last owners of the business which operated from 1911 to 1998.
Mr and Mrs Williams bought the company in 1976 and ran it over the next two decades with the help of their children.
Mrs Williams said she believed the original owner in 1911 was a Mr Matthews and the factory was located on Hodgson Creek.
It went through numerous owners over the next few decades, the most prominent being Don Mathies.
By the time the Williams’ had bought the business, it had relocated to 44 Eton Street, where three different streams provided ample bore water.
“It was a hard life - there was always so much to do, especially on the weekend when the staff were off,” Mrs Williams said.
Although Cambooya does not have a good reputation when it comes to bore water, Mrs Williams said the success of the Cambooya Drinks business proved there was good water to be had.
“Our drinks were always done with bore water. We won prizes at the Melbourne Show for it,” she said.
Mrs Williams said local authorities would test the quality of the water every year and federal authorities from Canberra would come every second year.
Despite this, reporting in the press about the poor water quality in Cambooya was affecting sales of Cambooya Drinks until the Williams’ were able to sort it out.
Mrs Williams said by the 1990s they were finding it very difficult to compete with Coca-Cola Amatil, who were the industry heavyweights.
She said they would have to pay 25 cents sales tax versus Amatil’s 13 cents and would have to get a 12 months supply from suppliers to get the same price as Amatil, which was unfeasible as a small business.
“You can’t do that sort of thing,” she said.
Although Cambooya Drinks was not able to survive, fortunately other beverage makers in small towns around the Downs have managed to remain afloat and are in business to this day, including Crows Nest Soft Drinks and Cooks Soft Drinks in Pittsworth.
