Fred Walker (entrepreneur)

Walker was born on 5 January 1884 in Hawthorn, a suburb of Melbourne,[1] and won a scholarship to attend Caulfield Grammar School.

[3] He went to China at the age of 19, when American goods were being boycotted there,[4] and founded Fred Walker & Co. in Hong Kong in 1903, an import and export business.

[4] In 1918 the company started making Bonox, a beef extract product still produced today, at a new factory in North Fitzroy.

[3][1] The company grew to operate in Sydney, Adelaide and New Zealand in 1918–1919, and in 1920 acquired the former South Melbourne College in the suburb of Albert Park, to consolidate his manufacturing.

[5] Vegemite was created, and first sold in 1923[4][6] after Walker's daughter Sheilah selected the winning entry from a public competition to name the product.

[7][8] After poor sales performance, Walker changed the product's name to Parwill (a joking reference to Marmite: "Ma might, but Pa will") before returning to Vegemite.

[9] (In 1935, customers were given a free jar of Vegemite with every Fred Walker & Co. product purchased, and the popularity of the spread grew steadily after this promotion.

[3] Callister, appointed as chief chemist and production superintendent, engaged scientific staff and set up a laboratory for the cheese-making process.

[14][15][16][17] Walker was successful at attracting staff by offering workers a social club, allowing for morning tea breaks from manufacturing, providing first aid and canteen facilities, and modern work systems that increased employee productivity.