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Neptune Oil Company
1900 - John Ambrose Kitchen establishes a family company called Kitchen and Sons, making Velvet Soap in Port Melbourne, even though they’d been producing soaps since they bought Gossage Bros’ soap and candle factory in 1870. Prior to this, they’d been making tallow candles in the backyard of their South Melbourne House, before moving to Port Melbourne, where a fire destroyed their premises in 1860.
1903 - Shell Transport and Trading Company, in joint venture with the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company, establishes the Asiatic Petroleum Company (APC).
1905 - Shell Transport and Trading Company, in joint venture with the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company, establishes the British Imperial Oil Company.
1907 - April: Shell Transport and Trading Company merges with the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company.
1909 - The Neptune Oil Company is established by the Kitchen family as an independent petroleum company, based in Melbourne, Victoria. They refine Pennsylvania crude oil that they import by ship and sell it under the Neptune name.
1912 - Neptune Oil establishes itself in Western Australia with a port facility on Napier Street, North Fremantle.
1914 - Neptune Oil Company is sold to the Lever Group (makers of Sunlight soap since 1899 in Balmain, New South Wales).
- Neptune Oil quickly becomes a well-known brand name, thanks to the installation of bowser pumps in service stations throughout Australia. These hand-operated pumps are known as Bowsers, due to a Canadian subsidiary of the US firm S.F. Bowser & Co, introducing these pumps in Australia, starting with their first one in Castlereagh Street, Sydney. The pumps are installed with a combined underground storage tank.
Neptune 6 Gallon Hand Cranked Fuel Pump at Paynes Find
1916 - Alexander Cowan joins the Neptune Oil Company, after seeing the potential to build the fledging company.
1917 - Neptune Oil begins marketing motor spirit.
1922 - Neptune oil introduces their own brand of motor spirit called Waratah, although many reports state they started selling it in 1917.
- Alexander Cowan becomes the General Manager for Neptune Oil’s Western Australia division.
1926 - The Shell Oil Company acquires the Neptune Oil Company.
1927 - Waratah blue pumps are being widely installed, differentiating it from other brands.
- The British Imperial Oil Company is renamed the Shell Company of Australia.
1928
9 January: Neptune Oil’s North Fremantle factory is completely destroyed, along with two other factories, when a fire starts at Kitchen and Sons. With winds reaching speeds of up to 79km/h, the fire quickly spreads to the two other businesses.
For Neptune Oil, with more than 63,645 litres of oil stored in their facility, it certainly spells disaster and even causes the nearby railway lines to buckle from streams of falling resin. Three trucks parked at the siding are completely guttered.
The fire is believed to have been caused by the fusing of electric wires on the premises of Kitchen and Sons. Upon receiving the call at 1.55am, it takes four fire brigades several hours to put out the fire, which is made difficult by the strong winds, as well as poor pressure in their hoses. Every few minutes, oil drums and tanks explode. By 3am, huge fireballs light up the sky as high as 150 feet, which can be seen for miles around.
10 January: The total loss experienced by Neptune Oil is difficult to estimate, due to unspecified amounts of oil supplies remaining on the wharves from received shipments and quantities currently being transported by trucks. Stocks that have been destroyed include:
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10,000 cases of kerosene
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300 x 181.8L drums of lubricating oil
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13 x 4,456L tanks of oil
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20 tons of cotton waste and
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Tons of belting and engineering lines.
The British Imperial Oil Company is accommodating the office staff from both the Neptune Oil Company and Kitchen and Sons with temporary offices. So far, no staff employed by Neptune Oil have been made redundant.
1928
9 February: One month on from the fire, General Manager Alexander Cowan says that at present, they aren’t considering rebuilding the factory in North Fremantle, which had been owned by Kitchen and Sons. Neptune Oil has been renting stores in South Fremantle, with their head office in Perth.
27 December: Alexander Cowan suddenly dies this morning at 5am. Whilst in the office on the previous day, the 38 year old had suffered a seizure at approximately 10am. He leaves behind his widow and two young sons. Six months after his death, his daughter Poppy Joy would be born.
1930 - Waratah motor spirit is marketed as a “highly refined first grade motor spirit, having a distillate range that ensures economical running under all conditions”.
1934
7 October: Neptune Oil’s exhibition at the Royal Show showcases a range of their products, including the Waratah and Trident motor spirits and the Neptune super-refined motor oils, all which are blended at their Fremantle plant. Under a “special agency agreement with the manufacturers”, they also display a range of Veedol’s 100% motor oil and greases. Veedol oil is exclusively used by “the Graf Zeppelin in all its flights around the world”. A number of other Neptune products on display include:
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Neptune power kerosene
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Neptune tractor oils
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Neptune agricultural machinery oils
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Neptune lighting kerosene
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Neptune spraying materials
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Squatter wool branding oils
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Neptune fly blown sheep oil
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Leuka golden yellow axle grease and
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Black Diamond axle grease.
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1935 - 17 October: At this year’s Royal Show, Neptune Oil display their fruit spraying oils:
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Neptune white spray,
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Neptune red spray and
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Prepared crude spray.
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Neptune Oil Royal Show Display (1933)
1952 - Neptune-branded service stations are being established throughout Australia.
Neptune Oil Service Station with Pusey and Esberey Automotive & Diesel Engineers - Great Eastern Highway, Midland
Neptune Oil Service Station - Stirling Highway, Nedlands
2014
21 February: Shells sells their Geelong refinery and all petrol stations to Vitol for $2.6 billion. Vitol, a Geneva-based company, operates as Viva Energy and keeps the Shell branding on all the service stations under a brand licence agreement.
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Neptune Oil Tanker (1954)
