Golden Fleece Company

Golden Fleece was an Australian brand of petroleum products and service stations operated by Harold Sleigh and Company, a business founded in Melbourne, Australia in 1893 by shipowner and merchant Harold Crofton Sleigh (1867–1933) and manufacturer and shipowner John McIlwraith (1828–1902).

According to one account, Sleigh started in the petroleum trade in 1913, when a customer was unable to pay freight on a shipment of motor spirit, and the company took possession of the consignment.

At its peak, Golden Fleece had about 5,000 service stations, roadhouses and distributors nationwide, and was also the operator of Australia's largest restaurant chain.

[3] Some time during the 1960s or 1970s[clarification needed] Golden Fleece gained a major contract by the, then small, major trucking company Linfox, that is still held by Ampol today, due to a friendship between Regional Manager for Victoria Max Collins and Lindsay Fox.

Inevitably Golden Fleece was itself acquired by Caltex in 1981 and no longer trades under that name, though its unique livery can still be seen on some older roadhouses in rural Australia.

Advertisement placed in the Melbourne Herald of 20 October 1919
A Golden Fleece roadhouse in Kondinin, Western Australia, photographed in 2014
A Golden Fleece roadhouse in Kondinin , Western Australia in 2014