Long Family: Nothing Without Labour

James Long’s Ballarat factory became known first as the ‘Victoria’, but later as the Sunshine Biscuit Co., when his son Thomas turned it into a public company. Other interests bought out William’s share, and the factory was operated for a time by Arnott Spilliers. It was rebuilt in the 1920s following a fire which gutted

A 1904 publication commented on “J. Long & Company Proprietary Limited, Factory, Ballarat East”. “The manufacture of confectionery has been brought to a fine art, and there are few establishments of the kind in the Commonwealth where a wider variety and greater excellence of candied lollies and dainty biscuits come into being than that of

By 1874 James Long was a well-known identity in Ballarat East, and through his interest in the community he was approached to stand for local government, to which he was elected. The following year he became Mayor, serving two more terms in 1877-78 and 1878-79. It is recorded that while officiating: “The business of the Council

James Long started making ginger bread in the shapes of animals, using confectionery pastes or currants for eyes. His diversification into other confectionery lines found a readysale. It grew to such an extent that in 1864, James Long purchased a delicensed hotel, the Golden Gate, situated on the eastern corner of East and Victoria Streets,

One of James Long’s brothers was William Long, born at Borris O’Kane, County Tipperary, Ireland, in 1827. He was the third son of James and Eliza Long. Shipping records state that a ‘William Long,, 26 years, single from Tipperary’, arrived in South Australia on the Lysander on November 20, 1851. It appears that James arrived in South

It was 1851. James Long, then 21, was working the family potato fields at Mountshannon in his native land Ireland. Friendly gypsies approached and offered to tell his fortune. The offer brought some comic relief, for times had been difficult for Ireland suffering the ravages of a potato failure over the past two years. Potatoes