B&D Roll-A-Door - an Aussie icon

A B&D Roll-A-Door will soon join the National Museum of Australia collection to sit alongside other notable Australian icons such as the Hills Hoist and the Victa lawn mower.

Prime Minister John Howard led the October 4 celebrations in Brisbane recognising the B&D Roll-A-Door as a long-established and integral feature of Australian suburbia.

Mr Howard and local member Teresa Gambaro, the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Defence, were invited by B&D Doors to tour the company's Clontarf head office and manufacturing facility to see how a B&D Roll-A-Door is made.

B&D Doors sold the first Roll-A-Door rolling overhead garage door in Australia in 1956.

Today B&D is Australia's leading garage door manufacturer, producing over five and a half million garage doors. Homeowners are more likely to have a B&D garage door than any other brand.

B&D Australia's products are now exported to or manufactured under license in 12 countries worldwide and sold in 35 countries.

The National Museum celebrates Australian social history and its Canberra premises are charged with preserving and showcasing this past for future generations.

B&D's Group General Manager Steve Dixon said the National Museum of Australia recognition of the Roll-A-Door ensured its place in Australia's social history.

"A generation of Australians has grown up with the Roll-A-Door and it continues to be as popular today as ever," Mr Dixon said.

"B&D is excited about the appreciation of an item that has become one of the most recognisable features of any Australian streetscape."

Over 40 years of development by B&D has made today's Roll-A-Door safe, secure, smooth and quiet.

A B&D Roll-A-Door, along with B&D television commercials and print advertisements from eras past, will be added to the National Museum collection.