"I like Aeroplane Jelly"
Historic truck goes on display at Canberra Airport
A Model-T Ford truck used to promote the iconic Aeroplane Jelly brand has today gone on show at Canberra Airport, as part of a new push to take National Museum of Australia objects to a wider audience.
In an inaugural collaboration, the National Museum and the Canberra Airport are uniting to bring a piece of Australian history to the public.
From today, travellers in the Canberra Airport departure lounge will be able to see the historic blue and yellow 1924-1926 T-Model Ford ‘Aeroplane Jelly’ truck, which was used to promote the brand between 1978 and 1988.
Emblazoned with a logo, and loudly broadcasting the Aeroplane Jelly jingle, it was a common sight at food fairs and advertising stunts throughout the 1980s. It was placed into storage in 1988 and donated to the National Museum in 2002.
The Aeroplane Jelly jingle with the key phrase, “I like Aeroplane Jelly, Aeroplane Jelly for me”, has become part of Australian folklore – in one of the first examples of saturation advertising in the 1940s the song is said to have been played on radio more than 100 times a day.
National Museum director Dr Mathew Trinca said he was excited by the opportunity to bring the popular Aeroplane Jelly truck to a wider audience.
Historic truck goes on display at Canberra Airport
“In many ways, Aeroplane Jelly has become a national icon and the collaboration with the Canberra Airport is a wonderful opportunity to showcase the National Museum’s collection,” said Dr Trinca.
“Australians of all ages have a special connection to Aeroplane Jelly and the Aeroplane Jelly jingle is an instantly recognisable part of Australian culture,” said Dr Trinca.
Canberra Airport’s managing director Stephen Byron is looking forward to offering visitors something different.
“We love enhancing the Airport experience for visitors, we’re excited to partnering with the National Museum and to be showing this vehicle which is such a large part of Australian cultural history. It’s a great indication of some of the attractions visitors to Canberra can expect to see,” said Mr. Byron
“The name ‘Aeroplane Jelly’ sought to tap into the excitement and glamour of modern aviation – this makes it a particularly relevant object for display at the Canberra Airport,” said National Museum senior curator, Sophie Jensen.
Aeroplane Jelly began as a small backyard operation in 1927. From its modest start the company evolved into one of Australia’s largest family-operated food manufacturers. By the mid-1980s it was producing about 35 million packets of jelly crystals a year. It was sold to Baltimore based, McCormick Foods Australia in 1995.
The Aeroplane Jelly truck will be on display at the airport for the next year.
For more information please contact Ashley Grimmer, (02) 6208 5091 / 0409 461 619 or media@nma.gov.au