AMSCOL

File:Amscol Milk and Ice Cream stand at Royal Adelaide Show(GN12326) brightened.jpg

The business that later became AMSCOL was established by the Beauchamp brothers, who operated a milk delivery business from premises at 150 Carrington Street, Adelaide. They were sons of John Beachim Beauchamp (c. 1830 – 7 August 1913){{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60056007 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Register (Adelaide) |volume=LXXVIII |issue=20,824 |location=South Australia |date=8 August 1913 |access-date=5 March 2023 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}} who was married to Jane Caroline Beauchamp, née Baker (c. 1841 – 6 December 1897).{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article56542966 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=South Australian Register |volume=LXIII |issue=16,246 |location=South Australia |date=7 December 1898 |access-date=5 March 2023 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}} In the late 1800s, Beauchamp left Somerset for South Australia and, after failing as farmers, the family purchased a dairy on Junction Road, Rosewater, where the younger brothers spent their childhood.{{cite news |date=2 January 1928 |title=Captain of Industry |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129160771 |access-date=4 March 2023 |newspaper=The News (Adelaide) |location=South Australia |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=X |issue=1,394}} The Beauchamp brothers included Herbert, Frank, George, Walter, Harry, and Richard. One brother, George W. Beauchamp left for the United States around 1906 and founded a thriving ice cream business in Chicago.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58838215 |title=Romance of Adelaide Man |newspaper=The Mail (Adelaide) |volume=15 |issue=755 |location=South Australia |date=13 November 1926 |access-date=4 March 2023 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}} includes family photograph. By 1926, he was a major shareholder in the Whelan Icecream Company and Hydrox Dairy Corporation, but had little day-to-day involvement.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article40767521 |title=Adelaide Milk Supply Company |newspaper=The Advertiser (Adelaide) |location=South Australia |date=26 February 1927 |access-date=4 March 2023 |page=16 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Walter John Chancellor Beauchamp (21 August 1884 – 25 January 1966), started work delivering milk for James Anderson in Melbourne for three and a half years. On returning to Adelaide in 1909, he purchased a horse and milk cart and soon had a daily "round" of 120 customers, delivering 110 litres (24 gallons) before 8:30am.{{cite news |date=27 October 1921 |title=A Milk Vendor's Success |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63423269 |access-date=4 March 2023 |newspaper=The Register (Adelaide) |location=South Australia |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=LXXXVI |issue=25,321}} He brought in several of his brothers to operate the business. The Beauchamp Brothers and Anderson (as Anderson & Co.) were competitors in 1915,{{cite news |date=4 May 1915 |title=The Rural Voice |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59611530 |access-date=4 March 2023 |newspaper=The Register (Adelaide) |location=South Australia |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=LXXX |issue=21,366}} but combined in 1917 as Adelaide Milk Supply Company, employing 35 men, including 28 carters.{{cite news |date=3 February 1917 |title=In the Courts |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59897254 |access-date=4 March 2023 |newspaper=The Register (Adelaide) |location=South Australia |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=LXXXII |issue=21,915}} This article includes price of milk and men's hours and wages.

File:AMSCOL milk bottle.pngIn January 1921, a dairy manager in Enfield, P. C. Manuel, helped set up the Wholesale Milk Producers' Association.{{Cite web |title=Amscol company in 1922 formed by Adelaide milk supply dairymen; gains an establishment base of shareholders |url=https://adelaideaz.com/articles/amscol-company-formed-by-adelaide-milk-supply-dairymen-in-1922--gains-establishment-shareholder-base |access-date=2025-05-22 |website=Adelaide AZ |language=English}} In 1922, 579 (or 94%) of the milk producers agreed to purchase an established milk distribution company (so that supply could be controlled from production to distribution) and decided on A. M. S. C.. The new company, now renamed AMSCOL, was set up on the co-op model, with farmers supplying more or less milk depending on the number of shares held and being paid according to its butterfat content.{{cite news |date=24 March 1922 |title=Adelaide Milk Supply Co-operative Limited |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article147754414 |access-date=4 March 2023 |newspaper=The Mount Barker Courier and Onkaparinga and Gumeracha Advertiser |location=South Australia |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=42 |issue=2162}} Much detail on milk handling

Manuel and Walter Beauchamp became directors, with Harry Beauchamp as depot manager in Murray Bridge. The only other brother who figures prominently in the company is Francis Charles Zebedee Steeds "Frank" Beauchamp (1879 – 27 September 1949),{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131235469 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The News (Adelaide) |volume=53 |issue=8,158 |location=South Australia |date=28 September 1949 |accessdate=5 March 2023 |page=22 |via=National Library of Australia}} who was employed as works manager.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article74190878 |title=A Pure Milk Supply |newspaper=The Advertiser (Adelaide) |location=South Australia |date=17 August 1923 |access-date=4 March 2023 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}} Woodside butter factory was also purchased at this time, adding butter and cheese production to the business.

By 1922 the company had 41 carts delivering a total of 18,000 litres (4,000 gallons) daily to 26,000 homes. They also supplied 50 vendors and eight or nine milk shops. George W. Beauchamp returned to Adelaide in 1927 to help his brother install new ice cream plant and block ice manufacturing machinery capable of producing 70 tons of clear ice daily (this was 30 years before most houses had an electric refrigerator). He also advised on delivery of milk in bottles, rather than doling it out into "billy cans". The co-op also began supplying bottled milk to schools as part of governmental health initiatives.

Popular items from the 1950s included ice cream blocks (convenient for early square-shaped freezer compartments), Dandies, Eskimo Pies, Dairy Chocs, Hi Tops, Twin Chocs, and Berry Bars.{{Cite web |title=Amscol milk creates a classic range of 'it's a food not a fad' icecream melting into an icon of South Australian life |url=https://adelaideaz.com/articles/amscol-milk-creates-its-class-range-range-of--it-s-a-food-not-a-fad--icecreams-melting-into-south-australia-lifestyle |access-date=2025-05-22 |website=Adelaide AZ |language=English}}

In 1978, rival cooperative dairies SA Farmers Union and Dairy Vale purchased the company as competition increased.{{Cite web |title=Farmers Union, Dairy Vale take over Amscol in 1978 before all three disappear as South Australian companies |url=https://adelaideaz.com/articles/farmers-union--dairy-vale-and-amscol-become-state-famous-milk-cooperatives |access-date=2025-05-22 |website=Adelaide AZ |language=English}}{{Cite web |title=Factory relic at Mount Compass only trace of Dairy Vale's boom in South Australian milk industry in 1960-80s |url=https://adelaideaz.com/articles/factory-relic-at-mount-compass-only-trace-of-dairy-vale-s-booming-place-in-south-australian-milk-products-industry-in-1960-70s |access-date=2025-05-23 |website=Adelaide AZ |language=English}} In 1982, the company was purchased by Streets, a subsiduary of the British company Unilever. In 2012, the brand was sold to private interests who revived it as part of their restaurant business.[https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/delicious-sa/beloved-sa-dairy-brand-amscol-is-back-at-a-retro-burger-bar/news-story/6e60982ffa80f46233394709635ee45d Beloved SA dairy brand AMSCOL is back at a retro burger bar], Adelaide Advertiser, October 15, 2019

{{reflist}}

• [https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/B+54765/1/1-45 AMSCOL Photographs] , State Library of South Australia
• [https://history.pir.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0014/140711/AMSCOL.pdf Promotional material (1924)], Department of Primary Industries and Regions

Category:Dairy products companies of Australia

Category:Ice cream brands

Category:Companies based in Adelaide

Category:History of Adelaide

Category:Economy of South Australia

Category:Cooperatives in Australia