About Melba's Chocolate and Confectionery Factory

Melba’s Chocolates was started by Graeme & Joy Foristal in March 1981 in a small wash house behind their Adelaide Restaurant, ‘Melba’s’! The business progressed in varying stages and with the restaurant sale, was relocated to a single car garage behind their Oakbank home.

In June 1990 the Adelaide Convention Centre asked Melba’s to supply their after dinner chocolate. Larger premises were required. This coincided with Graeme’s attendance at an Adelaide Confectionery Company’s liquidation sale where he purchased 5 truck loads of equipment. Little did they know that this was the lead up to Melba’s becoming significant chocolate & confectionery makers and a South Australian tourist attraction.

July 1st 1990 Melba’s transferred to this historic Woodside Farmers Union Factory site which had closed in 1977 and been left to languish. Melba’s took over the former cheese factory building. The mammoth task of cleaning the old site commenced. Fourteen years of abandon and neglect were washed away – Stage 1 of Heritage Park had commenced.

Historically Melba’s operated old heritage chocolate and confectionery making machinery and this continues today allowing visitors to experience the old arts and techniques.

Stage 2 of Heritage Park commenced in 1991, taking in the former smallgoods buildings. Burnt out shells were repaired, floors and walls rebuilt and the buildings divided into separate tenancies, where small manufacturers and crafts people set up work/display areas.

A residence was built in 1991 on the upper floor of the Chocolate Factory, the former testing laboratory, milk receiving depot and can storage area. It is a 3 bedroom residence.
Packing Room

This area was originally used for waxing Edam Cheeses.

We have people trained in gift wrapping working in this area. The co-ordinating of ribbons and colours plus quick nimble fingers is important. There is an array of ribbons, cellophane, tapes and bows on the work benches.

This room is a buzz of activity all year round especially with the new labeling law requirements of 2002.  Technology has caught up with Melba’s and we now have a labeling machine that delivers a label with all the latest information within a blink of the eye. It has to be quick as we have almost 300 lines to label.
Panning Room

Years ago this was a closed cheese storage room, until we made the walk through doorway.

In the room we chocolate coat most of our small products such as sultanas, almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts and a range of fruit centres. Basically, anything that is small and roundish is made in this room.

The two red pans are coating pans and were made in Sydney for Hoadley's Confectionery Company. The copper pan is for polishing product so it has high shine when made. It is necessary to keep the chocolate at a workable consistency. Therefore, the cooling air ducts in the ceiling are a must in this area to keep the product from sticking together as it rotates.
Limbo Room

This was a cheese storage room for the Wagon Wheel Cheddars. Large wooden racks were mounted on walls to take the cheese weight.

This in now where we make the fruit slices, fudges, chocolate slabs, rocky road, and a range of chocolates.  

The packaging machine located in this room was the first mechanical packaging machine used by Nobbies Nuts.

Toffee Room

This area has been divided off specifically for the manufacture of toffee. It was originally part of the large gallery where cheese whey tanks were located.

In this room we make a vast array of Old Australian favourites such as 1'' Licorice Block and  boiled sweets. All the toffee products are cooked in the copper pots at the back of the room. When cooked the batches are pitched onto the confectioners slab. These slabs are heavy steel water jacketed tables designed to cool the batch at a steady rate so it is at a workable consistency.

Product is also packed in this room using the horizontal flow pack machine - currently set to individually pack 1'' Licorice Blocks.
Chocolate Enrobing Line

This is a  long structure which runs the length of the building. A range of fillings are chocolate coated by passing through the enrobing machine.  The enrober creates a curtain of liquid chocolate and the items to be coated are placed on a conveyor belt and run through the chocolate curtain. Once coated in chocolate the item passes under an air curtain and over a  vibrating plate to remove the excess chocolate.  They continue on through the cooling tunnel where they slowly set before reaching the 'off-load' room where they are packed out for our shop.
Wander the Shop

This entire area was originally used for the cheese making vats. Once the whey had drained off, enormous beaters which were suspended from the ceiling trusses into the vats would constantly stir the curds. The current location of the shop counter is where the milk vats were located.  These vats were filled from above by pipes.
 
The area above the shop is now Melba’s/Heritage Park office/administration area but was formerly the milk receiving area, remembering that milk only came in cans not tankers. It was a time of hard manual work and also a pre-fork lift era factory as you will notice by the height and width of doorways.