HISTORY OF MILO®
MILO® is named after Milo of Croton, a Greek wrestler who lived in the 6th Century BC and possessed legendary strength.
THE BEGINNING OF MILO®
MILO®, Australia's iconic crunchy milk drink, was first introduced in 1934—a time of great economic depression—by chemical engineer, Thomas Mayne from Smithtown, NSW.
Nestle wanted to develop a tonic drink that tasted good enough that children would eat it, whilst giving them the vitamins and minerals they needed, without costing families too much. The drink also had to be made from local ingredients such as malted barley, dried milk and cocoa.
The task fell to young trainee chemical engineer, Thomas Mayne who spent four years developing what we now know as MILO®. He wanted to create a mix with vitamins and minerals that would dissolve when stirred, not just fall to the bottom of the glass. He couldn’t quite get there.
One day, Mayne walked into his kitchen to discover his daughter, Margaret and her brother scooping the crunchy bits of MILO® powder off the top of their drinks. It was then he realised that the crunch was not a problem, but a feature! And so MILO® as we know it today was born—named after MILO® of Croton, a Greek wrestler who lived in the 6th Century BC and possessed legendary strength.
MILO® Tonic Food was introduced to the public at the 1934 Sydney Royal Easter Show.
Thomas Mayne, Founder of MILO
THE FAMOUS MILO® TIN
When Mayne’s MILO® was ready to sell, it needed to be easily distributed to families all over Australia, which saw the introduction of the iconic MILO® tin. This has lived on—like MILO®—to this day.
BRAND TIMELINE
1934
MILO® is an iconic Australian brand first developed in 1934 by Thomas Mayne to address malnutrition in Aussie kids.
MILO® production began
at the Smithtown factory
in NSW.
1992
The MILO® partnership with Cricket Australia commenced in 1992 as the grassroots development sponsor. Together, the 2 junior development programs saw at least half a million kids introduced to the game of cricket every year.
2014
In 2014, the cocoa used
in MILO® was 100% UTZ certified, allowing us to display the UTZ logo on our packaging and promote the good work we are doing to create shared value in the community.
2015
In 2015, we launched ready-to-drink MILO®, following research that showed primary school children were missing out on dairy at lunch and after school.
2018
In 2018, we announced our new partnership with the AFL, and an official support partner of the NAB AFL Auskick program, encouraging Aussie kids to get active on the field and learn important values such as teamwork, resilience and commitment.
