Meadow Lea facts for kids
Meadow Lea is a popular brand of spread in Australia. It's a type of polyunsaturated margarine, which is a spread made from vegetable oils, often used instead of butter. Meadow Lea was started in Sydney, Australia, in 1932 by a man named Oliver Triggs. He said he was the first person in Australia to make this kind of table margarine. Since 1986, Meadow Lea has been owned by Goodman Fielder, a big food company in Australia and New Zealand. In 1995, Meadow Lea was very popular, selling 25% of all margarine and being the top-selling brand since 1973.
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History of Meadow Lea
Meadow Lea Margarine began in early 1932 in Newtown, Sydney. Oliver Triggs had been helping a company make a cheaper butter alternative in Melbourne during the Great Depression, a time when many people didn't have much money. When that butter alternative was banned in Victoria in November 1931 to help the dairy industry, Triggs decided to make margarine instead.
He moved to Sydney in April 1932 because the rules for making margarine were better there. Meadow Lea quickly became very popular. The factory moved to a new location in Newtown later in 1932. By March 1933, 70 people worked there.
In 1934, Triggs hired James (Jim) Andrew Armstrong to help sell Meadow Lea in country areas of New South Wales. By 1939, a large part of all margarine eaten in Australia was made in New South Wales. In 1941, the factory moved again to a bigger place in Newtown.
In 1945, James Armstrong sold his share of Meadow Lea to Oliver Triggs' son, Ken Triggs, and left the company. In 1956, Oliver and Ken Triggs sold the Meadow Lea Margarine Company to another company called Vegetable Oils Proprietary Limited.
Later, in 1986, Vegetable Oils became part of a bigger company called Goodman Fielder Limited. In 2015, Goodman Fielder was bought by two international companies, Wilmar International and First Pacific. By 2019, Wilmar International owned the entire company.
Meadow Lea Products
In 2010, Meadow Lea offered several different types of spreads:
- Original
- Salt Reduced (with less salt)
- Canola (made with canola oil)
- Light
- Extra Light
- Dairy Free (for people who can't have dairy)
About Oliver Triggs
Oliver Francis Triggs was born in Melbourne in 1895 and grew up on a farm. He fought in World War I with the Australian Light Horse. After the war, he became a tailor. In 1922, he married Nita Alice Beck, who was a seamstress. In the late 1920s, they opened a small grocery shop. They had four children: Kenneth, Audray, Marian, and Jill.
From 1935 to 1975, the Triggs family lived in a large house called Edgewater in Darling Point, Sydney. Oliver Triggs also owned a large sheep farm and horse stud called Kyalla Park near Orange from 1939 to 1946. This farm had Australia's first sheep-shearing shed that used electricity. Oliver Triggs also owned a racehorse named Gilltown, which won important races in 1939 and 1940.
About Ken Triggs
Kenneth Oliver Triggs OAM (1924 – 2022) was Oliver Triggs' only son. He was a director and part-owner of Meadow Lea from 1945 until the company was sold in 1956. After that, he became a farmer and held important positions, including Chairman of the NSW Egg Board.
Ken Triggs was also very involved with the Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL), an organization for veterans. He became the Secretary of the Auburn RSL branch in 2003 and a life member in 2008. In 2011, he received an Order of Australia award for his help to veterans and their families.
He married Ruth Carol Donnison in 1950, and they had two sons, David and Andrew.
The Meadow Lea House
There is a special house in East Lindfield, Sydney, called Meadow Lea. This house was finished around 1941 for James Andrew Armstrong, who was a co-owner of the Meadow Lea Margarine Co. at the time.
In 1945, the house's swimming pool and gardens were used to film parts of a movie called A Son Is Born. The house was sold in 1948 and again in 1955. In 1996, it was bought by Daniel Kalanderian, who co-founded a store called Victoria's Basement. He added a new part to the house. In recent years, parts of the garden have been sold off to build new homes.
