These sweets were created in the shape of animals and were a hit with children.

He may have recalled this early success when he later developed the idea for a simple, cheap chocolate animal, later to become Freddo Frog. As the factory grew, so did the repertoire of sweets and chocolates. These included Columbines, Snack, Max-mints, Milk Kisses, Sherbet Fizzers, Tip-Top Toffee and Kiltie Butter-Scotch.

Some of the most successful chocolates produced by MacRobertson’s were Cherry Ripe, Freddo Frog and Old Gold chocolate. Originally, Freddo Frog was supposed to be a chocolate mouse, but an employee called Harry Melbourne convinced Mac that women and children were afraid of mice, and that the public would be more receptive to a frog. The character of Freddo was used to decorate many of the MacRobertson delivery vans so that when the doors where open during deliveries, Freddo appeared to be waving. In 1924 MacRobertsons launched Cherry Ripe, a chocolate bar consisting of a mixture of coconut and cherries coated in Old Gold chocolate. In the grounds of the original MacRobertson factory buildings, now converted into apartments, a cherry tree and palm tree still grow in commemoration of this popular product. Today Freddo Frog, Cherry Ripe and Old Gold Chocolate blocks are manufactured and distributed by Cadbury.

During his American tour, Mac was the guest of Wrigley’s Chewing Gum, giving him the idea to begin producing gum in Australia. Prior to the product developed by MacRobertson, chewing gum available in Australia was made from ingredients such as paraffin wax. It left a horrible aftertaste and was also highly flammable. The new Pepsin variety produced by MacRobertson came in a range of flavours including Celery, Cafe Clove, Kola, Tutte Frutte, Trilby and Koj Kure. Early advertising of the chewing gum was similar to other products of the time in that the product was supposed to have various health benefits, including claims that it ‘relieves, often cures, indigestion’, ‘tones up the system’, ‘checks the habit of smoking’ and ‘corrects odours of the breath.’ An early advertisement shows a school student doing a class presentation on ‘the best chewing gum made on earth’ with a picture of the MacRobertson Steamworks Factory on the blackboard.

Cherry Ripe was one of MacRobertson's most popular and enduring creations.

One of the more unusual items in the Royal Historical Society of Victoria collection is this draw full of MacRobertson sample sweets.