Ernest Hillier Chocolates is an Australian chocolatier. Founded in 1914, it is Australia's first chocolate manufacturer, and its oldest privately owned chocolatier is still in operation.[1]
The company is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, and produces over six hundred chocolate products.
History
Ernest Hillier moved from England to San Francisco, California, United States, in the early 1900s to learn the confectionery and soda trade. There, he and his Australian-born wife, Magdalen May, opened several restaurants; however, the majority of their establishments were destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
The Hilliers subsequently moved to Sydney, Australia, in 1906, where Hillier began a sequence of Australian firsts. In 1911, he opened the first soda fountain in Australia, "Hillier Refreshment Services", at the Imperial Skating Rink.
Because of the success of the soda fountain, Hillier was put in charge of catering at the amusement park at Rushcutters Bay, New South Wales. That same year he also looked after Gaut's refreshment service and a fountain shop in George Street, opposite the Central Railway Station.
In 1914, Hillier opened his chocolatier business, providing locally made chocolate.