Kyogle Cordial Factory. William Samuel Walters had completed the building for the use of the cordial factory by the end of August 1904. The factory was situated on Kyogle Road, now Summerland Way, near the foot of the hill on the western side of the about 35 meters from the point where the street turns and continues north to Fawcett’s Creek Bridge. Later that year Philip Balzer of Casino, installed equipment to manufacture cordial in Kyogle. The Balzer family had a long history of cordial manufacturing and came to Casino from Nassau, Germany where they established a cordial factory in the lane behind the Tattersalls Hotel. Philip Henry Balzer conducted Kyogle cordial factory from 1904 to 1909 when it was sold to Henry Charles Scullin. A year after Henry bought the factory, he married Catherine Amelia Smith. In 1912 Henry built a new premises for the factory in Wiangaree Street and sold the business to the Casino firm who installed new updated machinery. Henry operated the factory until 1918 when the Exchange Hotel took over the operation of the factory. The licence of the Exchange was transferred to J.R Everette in 1920 and he took over the operation of the cordial factory as his own business. Charlie Scullin sold the factory to John McPherson who then sold the factory to Charlie Leverett in 1926. Charles Leverett started making cordial after he was discharged from the Army in WW1 with a leg wound. His business started in a shed in Armidale as he sold the cordial through a shop, he rented with his wife near to his factory. The trading name was C.E Leverett Aerated Water Manufacturer, Armidale. At this time the competition from 3 other cordial companies, in Armidale became too strong so Charles moved to Sydney to work in an office for a motor company. It was
in Sydney when he met Pat McMahon who told him about the cordial factory which was for sale in Kyogle. In 1926 Charles and his family made the move to Kyogle and took possession on May 1st. The factory was doing very well with boom time for Kyogle while the Kyogle to Brisbane railway was being constructed. With the completion of the railway, business stabilised, and Charles ran the factory with one employee, at first his brother-in-law, Bill Wright and later his son Mark, who after the outbreak of WW2, enlisted in the RAAF. The Army commandeered Charlie’s motor delivery truck so he replaced it with horse drawn four wheeled wagon. During this time two of his daughters helped him in the factory. After the war ended, Mark re-joined his father and they worked together with the new automatic machinery he installed. About 1948 he bought the business of Kyogle Cordials, which had been started by two young men, Milton Cork and Jim Follent who traded under the name C&F Cordials. Milton sold his interest to Jim, who changed the trading name to Kyogle Cordials. After Charlie Leverett’s death in 1952 his sons Mark and Allan with daughter Alice and Mark’s wife Gwen managed the business for their mother. In 1953 Mark took over the firm on his own account and continued to trade as Leverett’s Cordials, Kyogle. In the 1960’s Mark began bottling Cottee’s soft drinks is addition to his own brand. After the 1982 season Mark decided to retire and in August 1983, he leased the business to Denis Newton and his wife Jean who in the following year purchased the building and plant. They operated Leverett’s Cordials until June 1987 when they sold the business to Shane John Reeves. Shane married Alison Powell in 1990 and continued operating the business for 5 years and then sold it to Tony Arthur Moore and his wife Debbie.
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