From the 1920s through to the 1960s, there were few Australian kitchens without a cake tin, a pie dish, a metal funnel or even a Coolgardie safe that bore the name Willow. That’s when the company, founded in 1887 as Wilson Bros., adopted the brand that became synonymous with kitchenware.
Initially, Ralph and Richard Wilson made tinned plate tea and biscuit canisters, and supplied manufacturers with attractively adorned tins for their products. Their first factory was at the rear of their Flemington home, moving later to North Melbourne. A foray into canned jams and sauces proved unprofitable, and during World War I, Wilson Bros. focused on producing munitions and packaging for the services.
In the 1920s, under the leadership of Ralph Wilson’s son (also named Ralph), the company diversified, making canisters with the blue and white “Willow” pattern and adopting Willow as their brand name. Among their other products were tinplate tiles, candlesticks, kerosene pumps, milk skimmers, ice chest drip trays, billies, boilers, basins, butter coolers, Coolgardie safes and baking pans.
The cookware range continued to expand. I am in possession of a Willow soldier’s cake tin, which I acquired while experimenting with recipes developed for cooks struggling with rationing during wartime. A butterless, eggless cake recipe, published in The Age in 1944, had a footnote: “This mixture fits the soldier’s cake tin, and can be sent with safety to boys as far away as New Guinea.”
Further investigation revealed that Willow manufactured such tins in their thousands during World War II. In kitchens all over Australia, women baked fruit cakes and shipped them in their Willow tins to husbands, sons and sweethearts on active service. We tracked a soldier’s cake tin down online – a bargain at $20. When it arrived, I remembered one just like it in my mother’s kitchen. Our example still had marks on the lid where sticky tape had firmly attached it to the tin itself, suggesting it had made at least one long-distance journey.
Another uniquely Australian dish that owes a lot to Willow is the nut loaf. The cylindrical loaf made a regular appearance as I was growing up, cooked in the special nut loaf tin with a cap at either end. It was served sliced and thickly buttered.
In 1959, Willow moved into plastics, although the metal fabrication side of the business continued, even expanding into producing that ultimate ’50s accessory, the portable barbecue. In addition to making its now highly collectible plastic canisters and other kitchenware, the company introduced new technologies, including injection moulding, blow-moulded products and expandable polystyrene foam. The expanded product range included foam products such as surfboards and portable coolers, marketed under the new brand, Willow Ware.
By 2012, Willow had more than 400 product lines, an annual sales turnover of more than $50 million, and around 200 staff at its 25,000 square metre Tullamarine factory. Led by five generations of Ralph Wilsons, Willow continued as a family company until 2018, when it was bought by Decor Corporation, a subsidiary of Marlin Brands, which is owned by the private equity group Alceon. The product range listed on the Decor site now appears to be limited to household waste bins, foam coolers, and fuel containers.