It’s one of the iconic Australian brands, up there with Rosella and Arnott’s. White Crow was a brand adopted by Francis Longmore & Co. of Melbourne. An article in Punch, suggests the pharmacy company was operating by 1866, although another source suggests Longmore wasn’t licensed as a pharmacist until 1877.  Better known in its early days for a range of remedies, including Sulphur Hair Restorer, Strengthening Tonic, Blood and Liver Pills, Asthmacur and Hoyle’s Miraculous Oil, the business branched out into food manufacture.

Among Longmore’s first food products was his own brand of baking powder, on display at the Melbourne Manufacturers’ Exhibition in 1904, along with his Java Sauce, Curry Powder, and Tomato Chutney. The White Crow brand first appeared in 1908, with tomato sauce as its foundation product. Longmore died in the early 1920s, and in 1927 Longmores became a public company, Francis Longmore Ltd, headed by his son.

By the 1930s, the range of White Crow products included tomato, vegetable, pea and celery soups, tomato chutney, canned tomatoes, coffee essence, and jelly crystals. But there were more products to come. A 1933 advertisement proudly announced “70 White Crows come to Melbourne”, with an expanded range to include 22 varieties of jams and jellies, four varieties of canned fruits, and six varieties of pickles, as well as tomato juice and horseradish.

During World War II, the company focused almost entirely on providing foodstuffs for the armed forces. By 1950, Longmores had abandoned the pharmacy business, and in 1959, the company name was changed to White Crow Ltd.  It seems that the range of products had been reduced along the way, as The Age reported in 1960 that:

Directors had been conscious for some time of the need to diversify and extend the company’s products.  Directors felt too much reliance should not be placed on manufacture of tomato products. Also, plant should be kept employed in the “off tomato” season. 

The Australian ownership of White Crow ended in 1972, when the shareholders accepted an offer from the British dairy and food group, Unigate. The manufacturing facility was moved from Spencer Street, where it had been for 70 years, to Dandenong. In 1986, the Australian operations of Unigate were acquired by Bonlac, which was later acquired by Cerebos Pacific, which was then 90 per cent owned by the Japanese beverage company Suntory.

Cerebos also owned the Fountain brand, giving it a significant share of the tomato sauce market in Australia. But the corporate merry-go-round hadn’t finished. Cerebos Pacific was sold to Kraft Heinz in 2018. White Crow is now nothing more than a sub-brand of Fountain. Victorians, especially, remained fond of the 600 ml bottle of Fountain White Crow tomato sauce, but as of 2026, it was becoming increasingly difficult to find. My bet is that the brand will gradually disappear altogether.