The Cure-All Tonic for Most Common Ailments!

On May 8th, 1886, pharmacist John S Pemberton in the USA developed a drink which was named Coca Cola,

It was originally billed as a “cure all” tonic for most common ailments. It was based on cocaine from the coco leaf and caffeine extracts from the kola nut. The cocaine was removed from the formula in !903 and now synthetic chemicals are used to resemble the flavour of the kola nut.

Here in Mundaring in 1926 Mr Harry Ramsay Gordon-Hart purchased a shop on Jacoby Street. He was a man of many talents - a hairdresser, an orchardist and a poultry farmer. At this shop as well as practicing hairdressing, he set up the Mundaring Aerated Water Factory. The factory was at the rear of the shop. A Waltho bottling machine was installed which cleaned a dozen bottles at a time.

Mr. Hart produced various flavours including, Cola, Lemonade, Strawberry Cream Soda, American Cream Soda, Ginger Beer, Hop Beer and Ginger Ale. All the recipes were a closely guarded secret. Mr. Hart also sold his soft drinks to the local hotels. His embossed bottles with the image of Mundaring Weir are hard to find. During the war there was a shortage of bottles, and his drinks were sold in old screw topped tomato sauce bottles.

The business was scaled down in the 1950s and Hart retired in 1956, and the store was taken over by Frank Waters. The shop was in a good location as it was next door to the open air picture theatre.

If you are looking for the location today it is approximately the open space east of the Mundaring pub opposite Sculpture Park.

The bottles below are his bottles. We would love to find more of them.

Mr Hart's rare embossed bottles depicting the Mundaring Weir