Ipswich in Summer 2020/2021

The last McMahon’s Drinks sign has been restored to its former glory by Ipswich artist Michelle Mancy. The iconic brand used to be splashed all over town on large signs in the businesses hay day, but in recent years, they have slowly disappeared, all except one. Peter McMahon, son of founder of McMahon’s Soft Drinks Frank McMahon, had noticed the sign at Willowbank fading over the years and earlier this year decided it was time to take action. “It’s a very emotional thing,” Mr McMahon said. “I used to visit the store that the sign was attached to, The White Stumps Fruit Shop, to collect our drink orders.” “Jim Rock from Rock Signs did the original sign and one of his assistants was d’Arcy Doyle for a time.” Artist Michelle Mancy took up the task of restoring the large sign, which took 37 hours to complete. HISTORIC SIGN RESTORED TO FORMER GLORY

“I have done some restorations work with large signage before as I work restoring railway carriages,” Ms Mancy said. “There were a lot of gentlemen who had remembered the sign writers and gave me some advice and some of the brushes.” Preparing the old sign to be painted required various techniques including tracing the old sign, then picking the trace with pins and using chalk to see the lettering. “The drink was before my time and I have never tried it which is disappointing,” Ms Mancy said. “Meeting Peter was great, he has such a sense for his city, I found that a bit inspiring.” Subscribe free to Ipswich First news alerts at Ipswichfirst.com.au/subscribe/

9