The secret ingredient to Blue Heaven milkshakes is one that
Mervyn Roberts has kept all his life.
‘And it will die with me’, he chuckles.
Blue Heaven is the flavour that ‘Losties’ on the Lost
Newcastle Facebook page mention often – ‘do you remember Blue Heaven?’ ‘what was
in it?’
Jim’s Dairy Delite Bar, Hamilton opened in May, 1957 on the
corner of Tudor and Webster Streets. Merv, now 87 and fiercely independent
despite some recent health scares, is the only survivor of three business
partners.
Mervyn Roberts, 2014
Jim Jamison, 1968
(The Newcastle Sun, 11/06/1968)
Jim’s Dairy Delite Bar on the corner of Tudor and Webster
Street, Hamilton stands out in this 1986 photograph by the late Percy
Sternbeck, reproduced courtesy of the Coalfields Heritage Group, Sir Edgeworth
David Memorial Museum, Kurri Kurri, NSW.
Whenever Jim’s is mentioned on the ‘Lost Newcastle’ Facebook
page, it attracts a fresh wave of comments. Noel Santleben wrote – ‘They made the best milkshakes in town –
almost impossible to suck it up through a straw – you really had to work for
it’.
While favourites were spearmint malt, choc malt, doube choc
malt (with a dash of vanilla), lime, banana, passionfruit, even pineapple, the
stand out winner was Blue Heaven.
Cherie Hinde wrote – ‘Blue
Heaven definitely! Still duck into Jim’s Hamilton when I do road trips’.
Susan Watt–Dunne loved Blue Heaven with nutmeg. Marion
Kracke exclaimed – ‘it was like you were
in heaven when you drank it!’
When Gail Jason told how her mother used to get her warm
lime milkshakes – ‘the best ever!’ - Brian Agland responded:
‘Gail, I’m so glad you
mentioned warm milkshakes. No one else remembers them and I was beginning to
doubt myself. Mum would send us to Jim’s Hamilton after school on a wet day for
a warm milkshake. They would make a milkshake and steam it.’
Chris Blatchford, who grew up in the Blatchford family of
bakers and is now an executive chef in Sydney, remembers riding his skateboard from
the bakehouse on nearby Denison Street. He would have orders for staff like
‘surf thick shakes’ – double everything – ice cream, malt, and flavouring.
As well as milkshakes, thick shakes and bottled drinks,
Jim’s at Hamilton sold boxes of chocolates, Easter eggs, and snacks such as
hamburgers, salmon patties and hot chips. The side door opening onto Webster
Street became the entrance way to the snack bar.
In 1968 the tiny snack bar was expanded into a 60 year old
house at 4 Webster Street – the one baker Sydney Pearce had built for his
family as he’d become more prosperous. The opening warranted a two page feature
in The Newcastle Sun (Tuesday June 11, 1968), with congratulatory
advertisements from builders, plumbers, gasfitters, floor sanders and tilers,
as well as suppliers of kitchen equipment, signs and lighting, greengroceries,
smallgoods and bread.
Feature article on the opening of Jim’s Snack Bar at Hamilton, a model for similar establishments in Newcastle
(The Newcastle Sun, 11/06/1968)
The new premises had tiled walls and floor, with stainless steel fittings including a fully refrigerated sandwich bar. Tallents deep fryers, griller, hamburger plate and high speed burners were installed.
The façade of the old house was transformed with large aluminium windows and ceramic tiles. The Newcastle Sun describes the layout:
The former snack bar has reverted to a private residence.
Merv Roberts retired in 1992, just before he turned 65. He’d done everything in the shops, from mixing syrups to helping cook on Sundays.
Mementos of Merv’s days at Jim’s, 2014
It was the people he enjoyed most about his work. ‘Johnny Farnham came once,’ he tells me. ‘And then in 1962, when NBN opened, the Dairy Farmers marketing people approached me to appear on the Norman Brown Three Cheers show. At the end, when the credits rolled, all the kids lined up for ice cream. I served.’ Daughter Annette remembers standing beside her dad, handing out ice creams.
I can reveal here that the syrup for Blue Heaven milkshakes is flavoured with cola. Of course, there is blue colouring – and a third ingredient. Jim’s used to purchase essences from a wholesaler Alfred Lawrence. When one of the travelling salesmen phoned Merv and asked for the recipe for Blue Heaven, Merv was canny. He told the salesman about the cola and the colouring, but stopped there.
Merv hedged, but never told.
.
Advertisement for Jim’s drink and snack bars
(The Newcastle Sun, 11/06/1968)
‘The ground floor contains the snack bar, complete with tables and stools. Behind this is a cool room, toilets and shower room, and a kitchen and storage area. Upstairs there is a workshop, staff room, office and more store rooms’.
I learned from the article that when it first opened, a choice of more than 80 sandwich fillings were offered! As well as pies, donuts, sausages, rissoles and hamburgers, soft drinks and coffee.
How was it that the snack bar, clearly an impressive venture with leading edge equipment for its time, no longer operates – but the ice cream and milkshakes sold at Jim’s continue to attract customers?
The former snack bar has reverted to a private residence.
Merv Roberts retired in 1992, just before he turned 65. He’d done everything in the shops, from mixing syrups to helping cook on Sundays.
Mementos of Merv’s days at Jim’s, 2014
It was the people he enjoyed most about his work. ‘Johnny Farnham came once,’ he tells me. ‘And then in 1962, when NBN opened, the Dairy Farmers marketing people approached me to appear on the Norman Brown Three Cheers show. At the end, when the credits rolled, all the kids lined up for ice cream. I served.’ Daughter Annette remembers standing beside her dad, handing out ice creams.
Mervyn Roberts and daughter Annette Roberts, 2014
Because the bar was ‘Jim’s’, Merv often got called Jim. A couple of times, I had to catch myself, about to do the same. It is obvious that this easy going farm boy from Manilla would have been a friendly presence in any retail setting.
Brian Agland remembers Mervyn very well: ‘A distinguished looking man with the patience of Job. We kids were always undecided because having a Jim’s milkshake wasn’t a common occurrence, and we certainly made the most of the experience’.
I can reveal here that the syrup for Blue Heaven milkshakes is flavoured with cola. Of course, there is blue colouring – and a third ingredient. Jim’s used to purchase essences from a wholesaler Alfred Lawrence. When one of the travelling salesmen phoned Merv and asked for the recipe for Blue Heaven, Merv was canny. He told the salesman about the cola and the colouring, but stopped there.
‘Wasn’t there something else?’ the salesman wondered.
Merv hedged, but never told.

Another building in need of someone to love it –
but the customers still come
Jim’s Dairy Delite Bar, 2014
(Photograph by Craig Smith)
Acknowledgements
My thanks to Mervyn Roberts and Annette Roberts for sharing this story, and to contributors to the ‘Lost Newcastle’ Facebook page for their memories of Jim’s Dairy Delite Bar.
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