Melba’s Chocolates has a long history with the Australian Chocolate Bilby, and we’re always thrilled to share our part of the Chocolate Bilby’s inception…
The Bilby is a shy, nocturnal marsupial, previously found across large areas of Australia. However, over the past 100 years, due to competition for food with farm livestock and the introduction of feral rabbits, their numbers have considerably dropped. Today, they’re classified as extinct in South Australia, and endangered nationally.
In 1993, our team received a petition from an eight-year old school girl, Rebecca and her classmates asking Melba’s to produce a Chocolate Bilby. Joy & Graeme Foristal couldn’t resist the offer, describing the letter as one of the “cutest pieces of correspondence ever received”.
Rebecca sought to create awareness of the plight of the Bilby through their production at Easter. It’s thanks to Rebecca’s request that we have the Chocolate Bilby throughout South Australia.
From this inception, the Bilby has become an iconic Australian Easter treat, with hundreds sold every year, in various sizes and flavours. Our Melba’s Team love sharing the story of our Chocolate Bilby and are proud to call our Woodside factory the birth place of the iconic Easter chocolate.
Today, over 26 years later, our Production Team continue to manufacture these iconic chocolates at Easter. Every year we produce close to 1,000 of these Chocolate Bilbies; making them one of our best sellers year in and year out.
Visit our Woodside factory or online store, and discover the Melba’s Chocolate Bilby. Available in milk, dark or white chocolate, there’s a delicious option for everyone.
