Bushman Fridges – A Family Passion

This is our first sales trip around Australia in 1987, with the family in tow.

We’ve got the trusty Ford Falcon station wagon with the fridges in the trailer. No internet, no website, just good old fashioned customer service. And to this day, that hasn’t changed. Our customers are still at the heart of everything we do.

The kid on the left is Paul, he’s now the managing director.  His dad Gary started the company more than 40 years ago, and still works here every day.

Welcome to Bushman.

History

Our business began in 1982 Melbourne Australia, when Gary Kottman began DP Refrigeration. With a background in engineering and a passion for genuine customer service, DP Refrigeration grew quickly. Within a couple of years, Gary had developed a national distribution network for LPG gas fridges in Australia.

Over the subsequent 17 years, DP Refrigeration became one of Australis largest importers of LPG gas fridges. We offered customer support to customers and distributed high quality gas fridges and freezers to some of the most remote parts of this great land.

In 1989, Bushman Portable Fridges was established as a division of DP Refrigeration. Bushman developed The Original SC 35 over 2 years from 1989 to 1991. During this time the Bushman was subjected to all manner of abuse in a wide variety of off road applications and any weaknesses assessed and modified until the final prototype was achieved. In essence, this is the same fridge we sell today.

In 2011 when Whirlpool stopped making LPG fridges. We launched the brand Arcticold to design and import off-grid fridges into Australia. But a few years later, decided it was easier for our customers if we had just one brand name, Bushman Fridges.

Since then, our product range has grown to a point where we now stock a range of mobile and off grid products, as well as accessories. We have a national independent dealer network for Bushman, which covers all major towns and cities in Australia.

Our goals going forward are simple; make the best quality 12V fridges and accessories possible and continue to support our independent retailers and customers. The last 40 years have been great; the next 40 might be even better.