Made In Australia

[Tony60]

Can anybody pass on information about whether Parker Pens were ever actually manufactured in Australia? Where and when? I'm particularly interested in a Parker 45 inscribed "Made in Australia".

Thanks

Tony

[watch_art]

It wouldn't surprise me. Parker had factories in South America and England. I wouldn't be surprised if there were others.

[Shaughn]

I have at least two Parker 25 matte black fountain pens 'MADE IN AUST'on the cap. They were sold from Thailand.

Further I haven't got any clue where and when these were produced.

[ray501]

Can anybody pass on information about whether Parker Pens were ever actually manufactured in Australia? Where and when? I'm particularly interested in a Parker 45 inscribed "Made in Australia".

Thanks

Tony

I seem to remember that in the sixties (and later ?) that the Australian government had a policy of insisting that multi-national companies wanting to sell in Australia also had to have a manufacturing plant located in Australia. This certainly applied to cars so it probably applied to other goods as well.

 

If Parker had a manufacturing plant in Australia, the question might be whether or not the component pen parts were locally made, as well as assembled. I have heard of plants in Mexico, Argentina, France, Canada, USA and UK on a regular basis but there are probably others as well. I suspect that the various plants world-wide specialised in certain models not all models being made everywhere - I have been intrigued by Shaugn's AUST P25s as I had always thought the P25 was produced solely in the UK......So what models did Australia actually make?

 

Janesville output is reasonably well documented, but the other site's less so. Hopefully the web sites that are interested in Parker history will pick up some of these aspects for more investigation.

 

Ray M

Edited January 10, 2012 by ray501

[icardoth]

I have a couple of made in Australia Parkers, if I remember well they are a 45 and a 17. Next week I can confirm this and supply some pictures, when I return home.

[Darryl.k]

Hi all,

 

I wanted to reignite this topic. I have seen Parker Pens with 'MADE IN AUST' on the cap, like the P25 and some P75s and have read Parkers were made over there. Although there is little if any information about the factory online. A very reliable ex Parker employee I used to work under sent me this link;

http://artdecoheritage.blogspot.com/2009/12/parker-pen-factory.html

 

Does anyone know anymore?

 

Kind regards,

Darryl

[Number99]

On 1/14/2023 at 5:05 AM, Darryl.k said:

Hi all,

 

I wanted to reignite this topic. I have seen Parker Pens with 'MADE IN AUST' on the cap, like the P25 and some P75s and have read Parkers were made over there. Although there is little if any information about the factory online. A very reliable ex Parker employee I used to work under sent me this link;

http://artdecoheritage.blogspot.com/2009/12/parker-pen-factory.html

 

Does anyone know anymore?

 

Kind regards,

Darryl

Thanks a lot!

Glad to see where the pen I own was manufactured.

 

I have a Parker 45 made in Australia.

It had a 10k nib made in the USA.

Japanese Used Equipment Sales Website sometimes list Australian made Parker pens.

I clearly remember that there was an Australian-made 180 as I considered purchasing that pen.

Then various ballpoint pens.

I think there were others.

I have seen writing instrument dealers list them as "One of several delivered long ago." so I assume they were distributed as products and not just souvenirs.

 

Google Maps street view could go back to 2007 and I was able to see the building before the renovation.

 

 

*I borrowed the product image at the time of purchase.

 

*There is no date code on this pen.

 We do not know if the date code rule applies to Australian-made pens, or if date codes exist on other pens…

 

Edited January 15, 2023 by Number99
Image attachment.and other corrections.

[Glenn-SC]

I have an Australian marked 75 which has an opal as the cap ”jewel” that I purchased from Ralph Prather. 

[RalphP]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I recall these were manufactured in the US and parts were sent to Australia to be assembled and marked "Made in Aust." to avoid import taxes... Only a few were further embellished with Opal Cap Jewels.

 

These are eight year old photos - have to look around & see any other types are here...

 

ralph prather

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Shaughn]

I recall Darryl suggesting the very same for P25s: parts produced (and stamped 'Made in Aust') in Newhaven, to be assembled in Australia to meet tax regulations. The Parker plant would then have been an assembly facility rather than a manufacturing plant. 

 

I may be wrong at that, but the Australian plant seems too small for all the machinery involved in pen manufacturing, compared to the Newhaven complex.

[GSP]

Yes, I can confirm that PARKER definitely had a presence down under. I investigated this a few years ago, and while there’s much, much more to learn, I contacted a woman who worked there; she was able to help me pin down its location. I’ll go through my research and post what I learned …

[GSP]

Here is most of what I’ve learned:

The earliest evidence shows that “E. Luft & Company, Sydney” acted a a PARKER sales agent; I have an advertisement dated 1907 as evidence.

George S himself visited Sydney and Melbourne in 1924. He certainly would have visited dealers at that time.

In approximately 1933 Brown & Bureau was selected to act as distributor for PARKER.

Richard “Dick” Brewer was hired by PARKER in 1958 to manage the business; he continued his work until __?__ . Brewer died in 2012. He came from Eversharp as I recall.

The relationship with Brown & Dureau lasted until 1963 when an official Australian subsidiary was established.

A factory in Redfern (Cleveland Street) was setup at an unknown date and continued to operate until 1979, when it’s closing was overseen by Peter Kibble.

The factory “assembled” and possibly produced Jotters. Additionally, models such as 45, 25, and 75 also came from Redfern, along with Quink line and a service department.

[GSP]

The first photo shows the PARKER factory building, located in the Redfern art deco district. A recent redevelopment maintained that building - or, at least, the facade - and is shown in the second photo.