Quality control on the ‘Freddo frog’ production line at Macrobertson’s, Fitzroy, Wolfgang Sievers, gelatin silver photograph, c 1959, State Library Victoria Pictures Collection.

In 1930, perhaps inspired by the popularity of Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse, Macpherson Robertson toyed with the idea of introducing a moulded chocolate mouse. Harry Melbourne, an 18-year-old employee in the chocolate moulding department, convinced Robertson to make chocolate frogs instead because, he claimed, women and children were afraid of mice. Robertson liked Melbourne’s idea and he named the new product after Fred McLean, the packing department foreman. The Freddo Frog became one of MacRobertson’s most popular lines and is still in production today.