This is most likely not a complete listing. I apologise if I have overlooked anyone, and will happily add anyone brought to my attention.
AUSTRALIAN THREAD Pty. Ltd:
Subsidiary company of Tootal Group. Imported Tootal brand buttons made in the USA.
BURNS, PHILIP & Co. Ltd:
Burns Philip Building, Bridge St Sydney, Built 1901.
Two Scotsmen, James Burns and Robert Philip, founded this company in 1870 to establish a regular shipping line between Sydney and Townsville. They expanded along the Queensland coast and into the South Pacific, including Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Samoa and the New Hebrides. During WW2 the company was a major trader in this region. Perhaps this was why it was able to supply pearl shell and pearl buttons. It became a major food manufacturer before de-listing in 2006.
In 1933, with the Federal Government’s encouragement, they started a new company, the ‘Australian Pearlbutton Manufacturing Co. Ltd.’ This failed to be profitable, and was merged into ‘G.Herring (Aust.) Pty. Ltd.’ However, They maintained a 50% interest in G. Herring until 1963.
Commonweath Gazette 11th June 1942.
Burns Philip Building, 1901, Townsville.
COATS PATONS (Australia):
Formed from the combination of two British textile firms ( Coats and Patons & Baldwins) which later merged with Bonds Industries in 1969. They imported Tootal brand buttons made in the USA into Australia.
CORONET (see also Roger Berry below)
Dun’s Gazette for NSW, June 1936.
‘Coronet Button, Buckle and Novelty Co.’ registered as selling agents in 1939. Coronet buttons were marketed as ‘Buttons of the Moment’ and also ‘Artistic Accessories’. I have not found any information about who made these buttons but it may have been O. C. Rheuben & Co (predecessor to General Plastics). They distributed a large range of impressed casein buttons, including some with hand-painted detailing, as well as novelty shaped buttons and rarely glass and metal examples.
From Buttonmania’s web page.
Behind the 2 buttons on the left is an artist’s pallet and paint brushes.These are glass buttons with hand-painted details.
“RAAF” insignia fashion buttons.
Metal buttons.
Robyn G. (Button Broker) started my collection of these plastic and metal Disney buttons (below). She has seen a complete card of metal Disney’s with the Coronet logo. Presumably the plastic Disney’s are Coronet made as well; they are described as Australian buttons by American collectors.
In her book ‘ About Buttons. A Collector’s Guide, 150 AD to the Present’ Peggy Ann Osbourne reports the Coronet buttons ( Donald, Chip, Goofy and Bambi) as being made in the early 1940s. I think they were actually produced from 1948-1953 as that’s when they were advertised.
Notice that some metal buttons are further mounted in a plastic surround to make a more fancy button (the white Donald Ducks). The Donalds also show variation in the painted finish, as one has an orange bill whilst the others have orange. This kind of variation is due to the painting being done by hand. The variation in amount of detailing, as well and the changing type of plastic indicates that these buttons were made over a period of time. Hand painting was labour intensive, and therefore became too expensive.
I have previously guessed these buttons to date from the late 1950s. However, if the “12 cents each” penciled in price was written when the buttons were new, it may be the mid-late 1960s.
The buttons below are Carol’s.
Courier Mail, 26th October 1948.
Published in the Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate, 26th May 1950.
The Advertiser (SA), 5th March 1950.
Cairns Post, 24th March 1953
A hand painted plastic Cinderella button.
This has the same shank as the Disney buttons shared previously, so it may have also been made by Coronet. Unless we find some mounted, we can only guess. However, see the 1951 advert below does mention Cinderella buttons.
The only small card of Coronet I’ve seen. There seem to be perforations along 2 sides.
These cards have a different script for the word ‘Coronet’, with the name and crown printed all over the card (hard to see as it is faded pink). Do these date earlier or later than the other Coronet cards?
DEMETRE BUTTONS/ J. DEMETRE AND CO. P/L
This company was established in 1964 as Demetre Buttons, and still runs from Marrickville, NSW. It appears to be a firm of distributors.
I’ve photographed a Demetre branded card along side a Leda-Beauclaire card from the late 1950s/early 1960s. The cardboard is different, and the size slightly different, but there are enough similarities to suggest that the Demetre branded buttons were supplied by General Plastics, and that Demetre were distributors rather than manufacturers. Both cards state ‘Dry cleans perfectly’ with the same rounded-cornered rectangle in the right bottom corner for the price. They have an identical faint cream coloured grid printed in the middle of the card to guide the placement of the buttons.
The buttons on the Leda card are glass.
Demetre buttons from the 1960s.
Demetre buttons late 1960s.
Demetre buckles. (Mölnlycke was a well regarded Swedish thread).
Demetre buttons from Helen’s collection.
A label and lid from a tube of Demetre Buttons.
E.C.BIRCH Pty Ltd:
A family owned wholesale haberdashery distributing company started in 1926 by Edgar Charles Birch, in Melbourne. They were located at 210 Flinders Lane for many years.
Label on tube of buttons by German company Dill, imported by Birch.
E. WALKER & SON Pty Ltd:
See http://www.ausbuttonhistory.com/?page_id=517
FASHION BUTTONS: 1953- today
Thanks to Mark Neighbour, the 3rd generation managing director of this family owned company, for this short biography:
‘Fashion Buttons’ was established in 1940 by Mark’s grandfather, and taken over by his father in 1961. Mark worked for Beutron around 1976-1978. He joined the family business in 1988. As well as being wholesale suppliers they cover, dye and engrave buttons. Mark tells me that “In the old days, Sydney and Melbourne worked their own markets with little overlap”.
Dun’s Gazette for NSW, 1940.
Dun’s Gazette for NSW, 1953.
HABERDASHERY SALES Pty. Ltd:
A private company started in 1963. Has distributed “Dressmaker” brand buttons. Located in Richmond then Heidelberg West, Victoria, closed 2017.
Dressmaker buttons.
This card shows that the Dressmaker buttons were supplied by G. Herring, probably from the 1950s.
HOOPER & HARRISON Pty. Ltd., Sydney:
A cartoon of Mr Alfred Harrison, 1856-1933, published in the Truth(WA), 27th May 1911.
Hooper and Harrison were operating from Sydney from 1889. The original partners were Alfred Harrison and Thomas Hooper. Starting in Sydney, they would expand to have warehouses/outlets in Adelaide, Hobart, Melbourne and Brisbane, London and New Zealand. The company owned the Invicta trademark. They were primarily wholesale suppliers of woollen products and tailors’ trimmings, but did employee tailors and so probably produced clothing as well. They imported cases of buttons. At one stage the company seemed to have been a subsidiary of the Australian Woollen Mills Ltd.
ISHERWOOD & BARTLETT, Melbourne:
Commonwealth Gazette, 15th February 1940.
Charles Henry Isherwood (1883-1941) and Walter Charles Milward Bartlett were smallgoods traders and warehousemen, with outlets in Sydney, Newcastle, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide from at least 1900 until 1950.
On the back of these cards is printed:
David Kennedy, Merchant, lived in North Melbourne according to the 1931 electoral rolls. 
He must have traded with Grace Brothers, as a travelling salesman called Mr A. Camfield represented him at the funeral of Mr E.P. Norrie, manager and director of Grace Brothers in 1933.
The Sydney Morning Herald, 17th January 1933.
He donated prize money for the North Coast National Annual Agricultural and Industry Exhibition in 1934.
Northern Star (Lismore) 20th September 1934.
Also, he supplied vegetable ivory buttons for Ordnance Stores in 1940.
Commonwealth Gazette, 15th February 1940.
David Kennedy was a distributor/wholesaler. He was listed as a button merchant at a warehouse at 118 Flinders Lane in the 1935 and 1940 phone directories. The prices indicated these buttons were sold from the late 1950s to mid 1960s. Some of the buttons look like those on Leda cards.
Can you spot the one card with a printing mistake?
KORBOND INDUSTRIES Pty. Ltd:
A private ‘piece goods and notions’ company started in 1956. The headquarters is in Ingleburn, New South Wales.
The buttons below were manufactured in Auckland, NZ, so were presumably made by Falcon Plastics (see the New Zealand page).
LINCRAFT AUSTRALIA Pty Ltd:
Sells buttons packed in Australia on Lincraft branded cards.
MODERNE ACCESSORIES (NSW) Pty. Ltd.
This company was first registered in 1949, adding (NSW) to the name later. The company was defunct before 1990, and delisted in 1992.
Dun’s Gazette, 1949.
1950 Sydney telephone directory.
Here’s a salesman sample card.
M. RECHT ACCESSORIES:
Started in 1950 by Michael Recht in Melbourne to supplied accessories and trims to the clothing industry.
Thanks to Deborah for the collection of sample cards.
MT SULLIVAN & CO /SULLIVANS INTERNATIONAL Pty Ltd:
An Australian manufacturer and distributor of trimmings, sewing and craft accessories, established in the 1980s.
PANKY’S Pty. Ltd:
This company started advertising button covering machines, dies and moulds in 1946. It later advertised as a button merchants and importers. They went into liquidation in 1974.
POLYFIELD Pty Ltd:
Established in Sydney in 1985. A supplier, distributor and wholesaler of fashion trims including buttons.
ROGER BERRY:
‘Roger Berry and Co.’ advertised in 1945 then ‘Roger Berry Pty. Ltd.’ was incorporated in New South Wales on 18/07/1946. From at least 1947 until 1956 they advertised in newspapers and magazines as a wholesaler and distributor of haberdashery, but not as a manufacturer. Roger Berry Pty. Ltd. wound up on 21/1/1975.
(See also the Coronet above.)
The Sydney Morning Herald, 11th October 1947.
Published in the Advocate (Burnie, Tasmania) 21 December 1951.
Sydney Telephone Directory 1953.
The Women’s Weekly, 19th December 1956.
Broughton House, c1900. Roger Berry had their head office located here. This National Trust listed building has been coverted into apartments.
Circa late 1940s – early 1950s there was a change of branding from ‘Coronet’ to ‘Roger Berry’. I do not know if it was the same company, or if Coronet was taken over.
A branded packing box. Note that the identical Coronet symbol.
From Buttonmania.
From Carol’s collection.
The cards of Roger Berry buttons below suggests that the buttons distributed by Coronet (and then Roger Berry) were made by General Plastics as these designs are found on Beauclaire cards as well. Perhaps General Plastics (and their predecessors O. C. Rheuben and Herrman Co.) did not distribute their own buttons until the 1940s when cards marked “A GP product” appeared. However, it is possible that they distributed their own buttons on otherwise branded cards.
TERRIES Pty Ltd:
Started in 1955, Terries Pty. Ltd. is a private firm in New South Wales. Terries distributed Korbond products in the 1950s. They had an office in Bentleigh, Melbourne.
Tubes of Terries buttons. These style of button tubes were developed by Jack Wilson of Maxart Button company. They have been adopted worldwide. Below are close-ups of the lids and buttons.
These chicks are also seen on card of a American brand.
Note the similarities between the cards. Beauclaire may have supplied buttons for Terries.
THOMAS BROWN AND SONS Ltd:
Started in 1898 from existing Brown’s family businesses as a Queensland company involved in drapery, grocery and general merchanise. See also http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/brown-david-laughland-3073
VINCONA Pty Ltd:
Based in Marrickvale, NSW, and started in 1985, this company were distributors of apparel and footwear (including buttons). They have changed name to All Gifts Online, and do not appear to sell buttons anymore!
