The man who gave Australia the Cherry Ripe and Freddo Frog was one of Australia's richest and most successful entrepreneurs. Macpherson Robertson was a larger-than-life man who gave his name to an airline, a school, a massive tract of Antarctica, and most importantly, a confectionery company that for decades provided the standard against which all others of its kind were judged.
At the peak of his brilliant career in the 1920s, Macpherson Robertson paid more in taxes than any other Australian. An international traveller feted by the world's rich and powerful, Robertson was also a hero to his three thousand employees, who would line the streets of Fitzroy and cheer when he returned home. Yet, 40 years earlier, this man had endured sickness and brutal poverty, working punishing hours to make just a few pennies in wages.
Portrayed in the media as a traditional family patriarch, Robertson also maintained a 35-year relationship with a secret lover who bore him two children. Filled with hitherto private diary entries and confidential love notes, 'The Chocolate King' is lavishly illustrated with priceless never before published family photographs.
This is an extraordinary achievement in Australian biography and a fascinating insight into a complex but ultimately admirable personality.
