issues . please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article relies too much on references to primary sources . please improve this by adding secondary or tertiary sources . february 2011 learn how and when to remove this template message this article is an orphan as no other articles link to it . please introduce links to this page from related articles ; try the find link tool for suggestions . june 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message ernest hillier chocolates type privately held company industry confectionery founded 1914 headquarters 9 11 hocking street coburg north victoria 3058 australia area served australia international exports products chocolates website ernesthillier.com.au ernest hillier chocolates is an australian chocolatier . founded in 1914 it is australia s first chocolate manufacturer and the oldest privately owned chocolatier still in operation . citation needed the company s product range includes over six hundred chocolate products . the company is headquartered in melbourne victoria . contents 1 history 2 references 3 see also 4 sources 5 external links history edit 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 new south wales australia in 1906 where ernest began a sequence of australian firsts . in 1911 he opened the first soda fountain citation needed 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 gauts 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 . prior to this all chocolate in australia had to be imported from the u.s. and europe . because of the distance and climatic conditions together with transport restrictions the chocolate always arrived in poor condition . in the wake of the great depression chocolate sales dramatically declined in sydney ; in response hillier moved his business to melbourne victoria . hillier eventually sold the business later in life . in october 2000 hillier purchased australian confectionery company newman s. suffering financial distress hillier was sold to re capital in 2014 who were subsequently unable to turn the business around and placed it in to voluntary administration in january 2015 . 1 references edit melbourne chocolate company ernest hillier goes into administration after more than 100 years of business . abc online . 15 january 2015 . retrieved 15 january 2015 . see also edit australia portal food portal list of companies of australia sources edit staff writer undated . our history earnesthillier.com . retrieved 7 february 2011 . external links edit ernesthillier.com.au company s official website coordinates 37 43 40.7 s 144 57 21.72 e 37.727972 s 144.9560333 e 37.727972 ; 144.9560333 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title ernest hillier chocolates & oldid 742148247 categories 20th century establishments in australia21st century in australiaaustralian confectionerybrand name chocolatechocolate companiescompanies established in 1914companies based in melbournefood and drink companies of australiaprivately held companies of australiafood and drink companies established in 1914hidden categories articles lacking reliable references from february 2011all articles lacking reliable referencesorphaned articles from june 2010all orphaned articlesall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from february 2011coordinates not on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 2 october 2016 at 00 14 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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