A Bag Full Of History

Hoadley's itself dated back to 1889, founded in South Melbourne by English businessman Abel Hoadley, first as a jam company.

By 1913 the business had pivoted to confectionery, and over the following half-century built a reputation as the maker of two of Australia's most enduring chocolate icons: the Violet Crumble and the Polly Waffle.

The Violet Crumble is the reason Bertie exists. Every time the Violet Crumble line ran, small shards of honeycomb toffee were left behind, too small to sell as a bar, too tasty to throw away.

Someone had the idea of coating them in milk chocolate and moulding them into a novelty shape. The Bertie Beetle was born.

The name "Bertie" wasn't new to Australian ears. Bertie the Beetle was already the cartoon mascot of the Royal Melbourne Show, and had appeared in its advertising.

There were older associations too, a series of newspaper children's stories in the 1930s (written by "The Sandman") featured a Bertie Beetle character alongside Will Wattlegum the koala.

In 1963, legendary showman Tommy Carter OAM saw the potential in a small chocolate beetle.

His idea to build an entire showbag around Bertie transformed it from a novelty chocolate into one of Australia's greatest show traditions, a legacy that continues more than sixty years later.

Bertie made his Royal Show debut in 1963, inside the Hoadley's Chocolate Showbag alongside Polly Waffle, Violet Crumble and White Knight.

In 1968, Australian artist John Perceval was so taken with the foil wrappers he collected nearly eighty of them and turned them into an artwork.

Then, quietly, in the 1970s, Bertie disappeared from shops. Sometime after Rowntree bought Hoadley's in 1970, the chocolate stopped being available at the corner store, a deal was struck and Bertie became a Show-only ritual.

Even Nestlé, later, couldn't quite pinpoint the year it happened. Nestlé bought Hoadley-Rowntree in 1988, and Bertie has been theirs ever since.

Bertie wasn't alone for long. In the 1970s, Hoadley's introduced Lady Beetle a white chocolate version of Bertie featuring caramel pieces. She even starred in her own showbag, becoming Bertie's official partner at Royal Shows.

While Lady Beetle eventually disappeared, she remains one of the most fondly remembered chapters in Bertie's history.

2023 was the 60th birthday, marked with an 8-showbag range that included 60 Bertie chocolates, two Bertie egg cups and limited-edition birthday cards.

But it was also the year a production shortfall left Perth Royal Show without any Bertie bags at all. The reaction was, unsurprisingly, loud.

More than sixty years after first appearing, Bertie Beetle is still one of Australia's most recognisable showbag brands.

Today the tradition continues through National Showbags, bringing Bertie to new generations of families at Royal Shows across Australia.