John Dyason established the Dyason & Co Cordial Factory at 44 Oxford St in 1888, with the remaining building extending through to 63 Cambridge Street completed in 1889. As part of the growing temperance social movement which sought to encourage people away from alcohol consumption, cordials and soft drinks expanded as a local industry during the 1880s and 1890s. Their lime juice cordial was their flagship product, and this factory was often referred to as the “lime juice works,” though the company later expanded into the production of preserves, chutneys and tomato sauce. John Dyason himself became a prominent figure in the Collingwood area, becoming a member of Collingwood City Council for Lock Ward. An 1896 profile of Dyason & Co described it as “one of the most successful [businesses] of its kind in the Australasian colonies,” and claimed that “as Cr. Dyason employs upwards of thirty well-paid hands, it goes without saying that he is a man of great importance in that city [of Collingwood].” Dyasons continued to operate on this site until the 1920s.
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