100 Years Fresh
May 2020 marks 100 years in business for AJ Baker & Sons, a significant achievement and milestone. We are a proudly Western Australian owned and operated family business, with offices spanning across Australia.
Starting as a
general mercantile business back in 1920, AJ Baker is now one of the most
successful privately owned refrigeration contractors in Australia. We pride
ourselves on providing our customers with top of the line products, sourced
both locally and internationally.
We have spent the
start of 2020 working with the fabulous Shannon Lovelady, Historian, Archivist
& Curator at the Museum of Perth documenting and digitising our company
archives and working alongside Peter and Mike Baker to uncover both the Baker
business and family history.
Albert John Baker
was a fabulous record keeper and we have discovered some amazing advertising
campaigns from the 1930s which we are super excited to start sharing with you
and photos with some brands that are still trading today.
As for our
Birthday party, we will review this when the time is right, in the meantime we
hope you enjoy some of the amazing items we have uncovered.
The team at AJ
Baker & Sons.
Original AJ Baker & Sons Compressor Found
31 July 2020
What a fabulous find! Gina and
Andrew at Chittering Acres have re-purposed this original AJ Baker Compressor
and are now using it as a fireplace!
To our knowledge it is one of two
remaining in existence, the second one our Service Manager, Glen Moscarda,
restored to be a working model and is now on display in our Perth showroom.
Peter and Mike Baker were both excited to see there was still oil in the
pistons so many years later! Gina and Andrew kept the conventional original
isolation valves, the internal piston, the original flywheel and eccentric
cranks that are all now part of the fireplace.
Shannon Lovelady at the Museum of Perth has written about
these compressors in our 100 year celebration book, due to be released later in
the year. The compressors were manufactured by AJ Baker & Sons in the early
1940s with only 84 units produced.
Thank you to Kim Cramer for alerting us to this and to Gina &
Andrew for allowing us to re-use the photos!
Chittering Acres is located just 1 hour from Perth in Western Australia on
a 700 acre private farm with an art studio and accommodation in the beautiful Avon
Valley.
Gallery
Click on the image/s below to view a larger version
Perth Royal Show in the 1940s
17 July 2020
With the possibility of the Perth Royal Show going ahead in Western Australian in 2020 we thought we'd share this fabulous photo.
For a period of some 30 years AJ Baker & Sons displayed products in a corporate pavilion like this one pictured in the late 1940s. We showcased our range of household and commercial refrigerators.
The Baker kids were excited each year as they were able to store all their showbags at the pavilion!
According to the Perth Royal Show Facebook page, the show was founded on January 3, 1834 at a historic meeting of the Royal Agriculture Society of Western Australia, they decided to hold an annual show - this show came to be known as the "Fair and Cattle Show".
1941 Staff Picnic
12 June 2020
In 1941 AJ Baker & Sons rewarded staff with staff picnics like this one held at Yanchep, staff
took part in team activities outside in the fresh air.
Staff at AJ Baker
have always been part of the extended Baker family and this hasn’t changed in
100 years.
To all our family we
just wanted to say thank you.
100 Years Fresh - AMAT ICE
08 June 2020
We found this handwritten advertising gem we produced for AMAT-ICE, Mauri Brothers and Thomson Ltd which was founded in the 1800s.
When the depression affected the Avery Scales business, AJ (Albert John) commenced the search for a new product line.
He found an advertisement in a trade magazine for Mauri Bros & Thompson Ltd, a NSW firm manufacturing the range of AMAT-ICE (Australian Made for Australian Trade) refrigerators.
In 1931 AJ Baker was appointed the sole WA distributor for AMAT-ICE.
Click here to view our modern range of commercial refrigerators.
Gallery
Click on the image/s below to view a larger version
100 Years Fresh - Airtemp
22 May 2020
While digitising our archives with the Museum of Perth we have
found an array of not just amazing photographs but also some advertising
brochures that were used in the 1950s. We found an entire design file of
perfectly filed flyers.
This is Chrysler Australia
Limited, Airtemp Division brochure was aimed at commercial businesses such as restaurants,
convenience stores and nightclubs.
We located this information on the Allparcom website:
“The Airtemp brand is the result of the air-conditioning system designed for
the Art Deco style Chrysler building in New York City. When completed in 1930,
the skyscraper was the world's tallest building. Four years later, with their
acquired climate conditioning expertise, Airtemp Corporation was born.”
Thank you to Allparcom for that fun fact.