This collection of point of sale posters are examples of a notable period of Australian graphic design, when graphic reproduction technology and point of sale advertising combined to produce commercial art of excellent quality.

The posters encompass the range of aesthetic inspirations adopted by Australian graphic artists, from Modernist stylisation to the pictorialism of Walter Jardine, perhaps the best known commercial artist of the mid-century period.

The value of the collection is heightened by the rarity of poster art produced for Tooheys Ltd, today the major brewing company in New South Wales. Unlike its former competitor, Tooth & Co, the Tooheys company secured few artefacts from its history; these posters were rescued from destruction by a former employee.

The posters comprise a record of Tooheys marketing activities currently lacking from the Museum's extensive collection of brewing and hotel artefacts. Notable in this respect is the 'Mrs 'Arris & Mrs 'Iggs' poster, a document of a successful radio comedy which Tooheys sponsored from 1934 to 1940. (The show featured satirical gossip dialogues between two women, played on radio and on stage by two men, Athol Tier and Dan Agar).

A more recent document of a media 'tie-in' is the poster proclaiming Tooheys' sponsorship of the Nelson/Fenech WBC featherweight world title fight held at Princes' Park, Melbourne, in 1992. This was the most recent major title bout to be contested in Australia (Anthony Mundine's recent 'world' title carries little international recognition), and is an event worthy of documentation for its own sake.

The posters document other aspects of the history of Tooheys and of brewing in Australia. For example, 'New' (lager) beers became available on tap in New South Wales during the early 1930s; it is valuable to have a graphic record of this novelty, especially as the 'old' and 'new' nomenclature has survived.

Point of sale advertising was the major medium for hotel marketing for much of the twentieth century, and this collection is a fine summary of Tooheys commissions in that area.

Most of the posters are unsigned and appear to be the work of a variety of artists. The exception is the second poster, signed by Walter Jardine, who created numerous designs for Tooheys, Tooths and other advertisers during the 1940s and 1950s.

John and James Toohey purchased a brewery at Darling Harbour, Sydney in 1869, before establishing their Standard Brewery at Elizabeth Street (near Central Station). Tooheys became a public company in 1902, and was the smaller half of the Tooth's/Tooheys duopoly which dominated the New South Wales brewing industry for much of the twentieth century. The company owned an extensive network of 'tied' hotels.

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However Tooheys anticipated the beer market's increasing preference for packaged (over draught) beer during the 1960s, and quickly gained ascendency over Tooth & Co. More recently Tooheys has survived a period of ownership by Alan Bond, and re-emerged during the 1990s as the main competitor to Carlton and United Breweries in New South Wales and Victoria.

With the exception of the 1992 poster, these posters were produced for Tooheys during the 1930s and 1940s.

The donor took the posters from the offices of Tooheys Standard Brewery shortly before its closure during the 1970s.

Posters, advertising, (7) 'Tooheys', Walter Jardine and others, paper, Tooheys Limited, Australia, 1931 - 1992. Seven lithographic or photo process prints advertising Tooheys products, created as point-of-sale advertising for Tooheys hotels:

1. A large format poster for exterior display, vertical format, 'Here's To'ee. Stepping into highest favour. Tooheys Mild Bitter Ale'. Poster features stylised figure supporting bottle. 'Publicity Studios'. Poster is unsigned but is similar to the work of Gert Sellheim and other Modernist graphic designers.

2. A large format poster for exterior display, vertical format, 'Put this in your glass and drink it! Tooheys Oatmeal Stout'. Poster features combine harvester in barley field, plus glass of stout. Walter Jardine signature.

3. Poster for point of sale display, vertical format, 'Just as nice off the ice. Oatmeal Stout "In the Stout bottle". On Sale here'. Poster features stout bottle embedded in a block of ice.

4. Poster for point of sale display, vertical format, 'The Beer Drawn Here IS - Tooheys New Special'. Poster features a foaming beer glass and hop flowers.

5. Poster for point of sale display, vertical format, 'Mrs 'Arris & Mrs 'Iggs/"Here's To'ee"'. The poster features a cartoon of two women gossiping over a picket fence, and an illustration of a bottle of Tooheys stout.

6. Poster for point of sale display, vertical format, 'London Type Dominion Dry Gin Bottled in Bond by Tooheys Ltd'. Poster features portrait of a middle-aged couple raising cocktail glasses, plus an illustration of a Dominion gin bottle.

7. Poster for point of sale display, horizontal format, 'The Tooheys Big Blue. Fenech vs Nelson. Tooheys Blue Label Light Bitter'. Poster features photographs of boxers Jeff Fenech and Azumah Nelson.

Made: Sydney; 1931 - 1992


Used: Tooheys Limited; ; 1931 - 1992

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2004/11/1

1931 - 1992