Abel Hoadley

Abel Hoadley (10 September 1844 – 12 May 1918) was an English-born Australian businessman, confectioner, orchardist and manufacturer of jams and sauces, remembered today as establishing the company's that bear his name A. Hoadley and Company and the Hoadley Chocolate Company and inventing of the popular Australian chocolate honeycomb bar the Violet Crumble.

History Hoadley's "Rising Sun" sauce bottle pre-1910The motto Ex umbra in lucem may mean "From darkness into light". Hoadley was born in Willingdon, East Sussex, England, the son of Peter Hoadley, blacksmith, and Elizabeth Ann Hoadley, née Wheeler. Hoadley arrived in Australia in 1865. His first business was manufacturing and selling jams and pickles, with produce fresh from his own orchard in Burwood East. In 1889, Hoadley opened a jam factory in South Melbourne, Victoria, trading as A. Hoadley & Company. In 1892 he made a trial shipment of preserved fruit to England, with encouraging results. By 1894 he was selling "Rising Sun" brand jams in tins; in 1895 the "Rising Sun" brand was applied to a range of jams, sauces and confectionery. Business was good, and in 1895 a new five storey factory was opened at 222 Park Street, South Melbourne, where the jams and preserves were manufactured and canned on the upper floors.

In 1910 the business, apart from confectionery, was sold to Henry_Jones_IXL.

Confectionery was from around 1913 manufactured at "Barrackville", on St Kilda Road, South Melbourne, at the Coventry Street corner. The factory was totally destroyed by fire in January 1919. The company took out a lease on a nearby block of land bounded by Coventry, Hanna and Dorcas Streets and turned the old site into a public park.

The new factory was also given the name "Barrackville", and "Hoadley's Barrackville Cocoa and Chocolate" became a trade name, perhaps echoing Cadbury's Bournville Cocoa. Hoadley's "Violet" chocolates first appeared as a brand name in 1917, and their "Violet mixture" in 1921. This would appear to be their "premium" line, as they sold for nearly 50% more than their "Barrackville" mixture. The site now houses residential development, Crossway Baptist Church, the National Archives of Australia and the Tally Ho Business Park.

Hoadley and Susannah had fourteen children. He died at the age of 73 in his home, "Bella Vista", in the Melbourne suburb of Kew, Victoria. The Hoadley company was acquired by Rowntree's in 1970 and then by Nestlé in 1988.

Hoadley's in popular culture The Australian company MYOB Limited has its global headquarters in the Tally Ho Business Park, once part of the Hoadley estate. MYOB's corporate logo and corporate colour scheme is purple and gold, which is also famous as the colour scheme of the Violet Crumble. Hoadley's name is remembered in the name of the successful Australian rock band competition, Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds, which ran from 1966 to 1972 and was sponsored by the company. The competition was used to heavily promote the Violet Crumble bar.