The label claims that it: "sticks quickly," "cannot spill," and is "non toxic" (all admirable features for a glue). Nothing on there about taste. Even so, every class in every school had a kid (or kids) who scored big points by being able to eat significant quantities of the sticky white almondy substance. (It was actually made from boiled potato dextrin.)

Perkins Paste was owned and started by Maurice Bertram Jeffery, a commercial artist who found himself unemployed during the Great Depression. Production began in 1934 at Albion Street, Surry Hills and ceased during the late 1980s. It became a cultural icon, akin to Vegemite or the Tim Tam biscuit.

This design was initially manifest on a REMO T Shirt in collaboration with Perkin's Products as a promotion for our Stationery Department (where we dutifully sold the actual stuff). They actually used to send us a cheque from time to time to thank us for the promotion. We recall thinking that the first letter was going to be carrying some kind of "cease and desist" message, and how shocked we were to find a cheque for $200 enclosed. Great karma from the people at Perkins.

The image captured the imagination of CustOMERs, and soon took on a life all its own. At one point we even sold it on a pink T Shirt. Maybe one day again!

Sadly, Perkins Paste appears to have vanished from the marketplace. A recent search has proved fruitless. Extinction is a real possibility. But fear not; its pink and sticky spirt lives on via this homage.

Perkins Paste available at REMO on:

Browse all Perkins Paste Merchandise HERE

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6 comments

Yes, I remember the conical shaped glass jar with a wooden handled brush. Started school in 1959. The pink pot, had a kind of serrated plastic spatula if memory serves me well. I can still recall the smell.

Michael Knight … fabulous! Thanks so much for that history. I am going to send you a gift on behalf of everyone at REMO.

This was owned by my Grandfather, then split five ways between the five children. One of whom is my mum. Mum and dad started a plastic injection moulding business in 1971 with the first customer being Perkins, which they later bought from my aunties and uncles in full. I remember the day we recieved pink T-shirts in the mail from Remo. They were of obvious high-quality heavy cotton and I have the same two T-shirts packed away in a drawer today (Oct 2024). They used real glitter on the print which was a big deal back then. We thought they were amazing. The business was sold around 1990 to someone who didn’t have the operating cashflow to keep up with its growth and it was closed soon after. I look back all the time and think it was such a missed opportunity not to restart the brand. Good times.

And they say Australians has No or very young culture! Well if that isn’t a sticking point( pun intended)

Yes I believe that to be true and around 1950s