Australia’s favourite chocolate beetle has turned 60.
Bertie Beetle came to be in 1963 when sweets manufacturer Hoadley’s wanted to rival Cadbury’s Freddo Frog.
The snack was inspired by a 1930s children’s character and was forged from chocolate and leftover honeycomb shards that didn’t make it into Violet Crumbles.
The snack appeared in both showbags and stores from its creation until the late Tommy Carter, aka the Showbag King, made an exclusive Bertie Beetle bag in 1972.
“His [Tommy Carter’s] goal was just to create something that was affordable for everyone. To create happiness,” Keira Souter, Carter’s granddaughter, told 9News.
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“It started from a small tiny beetle to being an Australia-wide phenomenon.”
Back then, the bags sold for 40 cents each. The cheapest ones now sell for $5 per bag.
After Bertie made his show debut he disappeared from shop shelves, making him an exclusive rite of passage for show-goers.
“At the Melbourne show we’ll sell probably a semitrailer’s worth every day or so,” Chicane Showbags spokesperson Brendan Williams said.
“He’s become an icon.”
