William Charlick Ltd (Mile End South)
William Charlick (March 1858 - July 1926) was the seventh of nine children of Richard Charlick, wood turner, and his wife Janet nee Wilson who had arrived in South Australia aboard the Calphurnia in April 1849.
In early 1881 William and three of his brothers began Charlick Brothers, a grocery and fruit and vegetable business in the East End Market on East Terrace between North Terrace and Rundle Street.
In early 1902 the brothers amicably split the business, William taking control of the fruit and vegetable division. William was also at this time the driving force behind the creation of the Fruit and Produce Exchange, designed by Henry J. Cowell of Lockleys, which extended the East End Market further south along East Terrace to Grenfell Street.
In December 1913 Charlick and his fifth son, Havelock Malcolm Charlick (1891-1976) bought 1.26 acres/c.0.51 hectares at the northern corner of London Road and Railway Terrace, Mile End South for £410 10s.
The land was a part of an 86-allotment subdivision laid out in the same month by the South Australian Company.
The Charlicks selected the site mainly because it needed little preparation and was close to the city and the Mile End railway goods yards (eventually, like several other businesses in the vicinity, the Charlick site was serviced by a double railway line linked to the goods yards).
By November 1919 Charlick and his son had accumulated land at the site extending from the northern side of London Road to the northern side of Scotland Road, with the Holdfast Bay railway line (today built over by James Congdon Drive) and Railway Terrace as its western and eastern boundaries. The land totalled a little under fourteen acres/c. 5.67 hectares and cost the Charlicks approximately £3,646.
In January 1916 the Mile End Cold Stores Limited, with William Charlick as chairman of directors, had its first ordinary general meeting in the Gawler Chambers, North Terrace, with starting capital of £30,000.
By the end of March 1916 a factory was established on a 1.23 acre/c.0.49 hectare site at the corner of London Road and Railway Terrace. As well as dealing in fruit, the company also handled butter and eggs and made ice. In its early years the plant was capable of storing around 30,000 cases of fruit, forty tons of butter and making five tons of ice per day.
From the beginning SA Cold Stores Ltd was a separate business and not a part of William Charlick Limited. William Charlick remained as chairman of directors of SA Cold Stores, his eldest son Richard Harold Charlick (known as Harold) (1880-1937) was a director while Havelock Charlick became the company’s first secretary.
Fresh and canned meat was soon added to the range of products handled by the cold stores.
Anticipating strong post war export demand for South Australian flour, in 1917 William Charlick Limited resolved to move into flour milling.
In January 1918, builder Thomas Hickling of Glenelg began the construction of a four-storey brick mill at London Road. The machinery for the mill was bought from Henry Simon Ltd of Manchester, England.
In its early years the mill building was divided into halves separated by a fire proof wall, the mill machinery on the eastern side and storage facilities on the other. A small one-storey office and administration area adjoined the mill.
The mill was one of about forty then operating in South Australia; it was one of the tallest industrial buildings in Mile End South.
From early 1965 to the mid-1980s Charlicks also operated Southern Shipping Lines Pty Ltd in partnership with the Swedish Broström AB Group. The line ran vessels from Adelaide and east coast ports to Bangkok, Malaysia, Singapore and other Asian centres carrying cargoes including wheat and gypsum.
From 1969 to 1976 Charlicks owned and ran Central Australian Airways which operated regular scheduled passenger services to the West Coast and South East of South Australia and charter flights within Australia and to Papua New Guinea.