Chapter Four
Business Career
The Innovator · Melbourne & Sydney · 1955–1987
After emigrating to Australia in 1955, Alec MacKelden built a career that helped shape the Australian food industry. He introduced non-fat milk powder as a consumer product, brought the tea bag to Australia, and transformed Cerebos from a small condiment company into one of the country's major food groups.
Inventing a New Product Category, 1956
As marketing and sales manager at Trufood Australia, MacKelden identified an opportunity in the powdered milk market. Working with advertising executive Ian Rose — whose son Murray Rose would go on to win three gold medals at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics — he developed and launched 'Bonlac', Australia's first domestically marketed non-fat milk powder. Launched in the face of considerable scepticism from the retail trade ("Australia is a full cream country — no one is going to pay good money for a product from which the real goodness has been extracted"), Bonlac quickly gained momentum. When the Managing Director of Nestlé burst into his office to berate him for "tarnishing the image of milk," MacKelden knew he had won.
How Alec Brought the Tea Bag to Australia, 1958–1962
In 1958, MacKelden was appointed General Manager of Thomas J. Lipton (Australia) Limited. He imported a German-made packing machine, developed a special blend with a small, rapidly-infusing leaf, and launched Australia's first commercially marketed tea bags with the first television advertising going to air on New Year's Eve 1958. Initial uptake was modest — retailers took the stock but it moved slowly. Then, facing returned stock nearing its use-by date, MacKelden and his sales manager conceived the idea of repacking the bags in bulk boxes for hotels and motels, attaching sample bags to a circular letter. Guests tried them overnight and began asking for them at home.
Desmond Zwar, UK Mail
As Reported in the Press
"I believed it wouldn't work unless other tea manufacturers got into it, so I brought in a German machine and offered to make tea-bags for my opposite number, a very large competitor, as well as ourselves. Lipton's went ahead with importing the £80,000 machine and launching the product on New Year's Eve, 1958, while the competitor hung out for thirteen years against the idea... The rest is history. Lipton's became No. 1 in the tea business."
— Desmond Zwar, UK Mail (date unknown). MacKelden quoted directly.
The introduction of the Lipton tea bag to Australia in 1959 is independently recorded by the Australian Food Timeline (australianfoodtimeline.com.au) and by a contemporaneous Lipton advertisement held in the National Library of Australia (Trove).
Managing Director, Cerebos Australia, 1962–1982
In 1962, MacKelden was appointed Managing Director of Cerebos Australia — a position he held for twenty years. He transformed it from a company with negligible profitability into one of Australia's most respected food manufacturing groups. Acquisitions included W.C. Douglas Limited (Fountain sauces, NSW), the Bingo Company, and Foster Clark. Joint ventures were established with Hormel & Co. (SPAM), Lea & Perrins (Worcestershire and HP sauces), and Reckitt & Coleman. The company also developed the world's largest commercial mango plantation at Bowen, Queensland, invested in Peter Lehmann wines in the Barossa Valley, and opened a major new manufacturing complex at Seven Hills, Sydney.
A 1977 Sydney Morning Herald profile described him as managing director of the Cerebos Seven Hills plant, noting the company's pioneering approach to worker participation — annual salaries for all staff, and a Works Committee giving employees a say in production, conditions and the future.
"Those were exciting years for all of us and still remembered with nostalgia by all who participated."— Alec MacKelden
After Cerebos: Board Roles, 1982–1989
David's Holdings
MacKelden joined the Board of David's Holdings — at the time Australia's largest food and liquor wholesaling company, founded by Joe David in 1927. The company later rebranded as Metcash Trading Limited in 2000, now the ASX-listed wholesale distributor behind the IGA network. He was invited onto the board by his close friend John David.
NSW Egg Corporation
MacKelden was appointed Chairman of the NSW Egg Corporation by the NSW Government in December 1984 (Egg Industry Act, 1983), replacing his friend John David in that role. He served as Chairman until September 1987. When required by the Government Act to retire at age 65, the entire egg-producing industry petitioned the Minister for an exception — but a parliamentary amendment would have been required, and was not pursued.
Steamships Trading Company, Papua New Guinea (1984–1989)
MacKelden served as a Director of Steamships Trading Company Limited — Papua New Guinea's largest diversified trading conglomerate, with operations spanning retail, wholesale, shipping, manufacturing and hospitality across the country. He joined the board on 29 September 1984 and served until November 1989.
The company's authorised centenary history, written by historian James Sinclair and published in 2008, describes him as "a particularly active Director" with deep expertise in manufacturing, retail marketing and wholesale distribution. It records two notable contributions: his recommendation that the board take immediate action in the Merchandise Division "to cut out the bleeding" during a difficult trading period, and his advice that "considerable caution" be exercised before concluding a joint venture agreement with Colgate-Palmolive over the Melanesian Soap Products business.
He retired from the Steamships board at the Annual General Meeting in November 1989, having served five years as a director.
When Alec retired from the Steamships Trading Company board in November 1989, he was 67 years old — and had been in continuous senior executive or board-level roles for over 25 years since joining Cerebos in 1962. He had already been required by law to retire from the NSW Egg Corporation at 65; Steamships kept him on for two years beyond that. His final board role ended the same year that Niki and Ian's families were settling back in Australia and the family was gathering again. It was, at last, time to rest.
What He Believed
"The first letter I received from my new employer after I fell seriously ill said: 'The worst thing for you now is to worry about your future. Your job will be waiting for you when you are ready to resume.' I have never forgotten the impression this kindness made on me."
"At your age, it is essential for you to decide whether you most want to be comfortable in life or successful. At my age, one can be both."— E.J. Scott, MacKelden's mentor at Bluemel Brothers
"When you are required to travel overseas, insist that your wife accompanies you at the company's expense. For as you grow older, you will be able to turn to your wife and say, 'Do you remember when we were there?' — instead of remaining silent."
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Public Service — A Life Given Back