An
Australian brand of
matches
The first
redheads factory opened in
richmond Victoria in
1909. This was the first introduction of the
safety match to
Australia and they were
well received since they really were much safer than
previous versions
The
earlier "
Strike Anywhere matches" were made with
poisonous white phosphorous and were very
sensitive to
friction, as the name
suggests, with almost any
surface.
By
contrast Redheads needed to be
struck against a
special pad in order to
light. They were named Redheads after the
red colouring of the
chemicals used in their
striking head.
The famous
logo of a
sexy redheaded
woman was created in
1946. Since then there have been
4 major
updates to the logo - mostly to
keep up with changing
hairstyle fashions. The logo has become affectionately known as "Miss Redhead" and is
instantly recognised by the
majority of Australians.
The original company
Bryant & May was bought out in
1998 by
Swedish Match who continue to
manufacture Redheads.