Perth Glass Works

Perth Glass Works bottles are a distinctive part of Western Australian bottle collecting. Unusually crude for their age and uniquely colourful by their manufacture, they are known throughout Australia for their popularity with collectors. Except for a couple of very rare varieties, they are generally quite easy to find due to their extensive use throughout the state.

The Perth Glass Works was established by Don Curtis in 1910 in Leederville. The site now sits under the Mitchell Freeway between the Leederville and Glendalough Railway Stations. Possibly due to the lack of the correct high silica sand required for glass making close to site, the glass works used recycled glass for much of its manufacturing processes which it was known to have been railed in from as far away as the goldfields. It was this process that was responsible for the vast array of colour shades in these bottles and along with their crude manufacture gave them the appearance they were much older than they were. The peak period for Perth Glass was the 1920s where they were producing bottles for various aerated water manufacturers, bottle exchanges, dairies etc along with their own bottles, marked with the familiar horseshoe trade mark for locally made beers, pickles, chutneys, stouts, vinegars, turpentine and phenyl. In the late 1920’s Perth Glass Works was taken over by the Australian Glass Manufacturers (AGM) now ACI and the factory revamped with new manufacturing machinery and so came the end of the unique Perth Glass Works bottle, to be replaced by a modern looking machine made brown glass version.

For more collecting context, explore our guides to antique beer bottles, milk and cream bottles and Western Australian aerated water manufacturers. These related pages cover other bottle types and local makers. You can also contact BACWA to ask about the club and share your interest in Western Australian bottles.