Celebrating our shopping heritageJoy McCann

NSW Heritage Office and NSW Ministry for the Arts Movable Heritage Project

Joy McCann

Celebrating our shopping heritage

This publication is the first thematicstudy produced for the NSW HeritageOffice and NSW Ministry for the Arts1998-2001 Movable Heritage Project.

A Lot in Store tells the story of NSWshopping and retailing and investigateswhy our shopping heritage is vulnerable.It investigates how to identify, conserveand interpret historic shops andcollections. It also explores opportunitiesto keep historic shops in business and tocelebrate this living aspect of ourcommunities.

It was researched and written byhistorian Joy McCann with advice fromshopkeepers and owners, the HeritageCouncil of NSW’s Movable HeritageReference Group, heritage advisors,regional museum officers, NSWmuseums and other people interested in historic shops. John Petersen,Sarah Buckle and Lianne Hall from the NSW Heritage Office providededitorial assistance.

NSW Heritage OfficeLocked Bag 5020 Parramatta NSW 2124

Telephone: (02) 9873 8500Facsimile: (02) 9873 8599Email: heritageoffice@heritage.nsw.gov.auWebsite: www.heritage.nsw.gov.au

DisclaimerAny representation, statement, opinion or advice, expressedor implied in this publication is made in good faith but on thebasis that the State of New South Wales, its agents andemployees are not liable (whether by reason of negligence,lack of care or otherwise) to any person for any damage orloss whatsoever which has occurred or may occur in relationto that person taking or not taking (as the case may be) actionin respect of any representation, statement or advice referred to above.

ISBN 1 876415 57 6HO 02/02November 2002

© This work is copyright of the NSW Heritage Office. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act1968, no part may be reproduced by any process withoutwritten permission from the NSW Heritage Office. Requestsand enquiries concerning reproduction and rights should beaddressed to the NSW Heritage Office, Locked Bag 5020,Parramatta, NSW 2124.

Designed by O’Kelly & Associates

Cover: Bill Morgan in the café his family have run since 1935The Golden Gate Café in Hillston was built in 1929 andBill started working there when he was twenty years old.This traditional corner shop and café now attracts localsand visitors as a rare surviving shop from an earlier era.Photograph by Marinco Kojdanovski, reproduced courtesyof the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney.

Inside covers: G.J. Coles Department Store,Canberra, c.1958Photograph courtesy of the National Library of Australia.

Backcover: The metal change tray in Bill Morgan’sGolden Gate Café in Hillston This tray has been in daily use for about sixty years.Original fittings and objects are still used in the caféwhich has been run by the same family since 1935.Photograph by Marinco Kojdanovski, reproduced courtesyof the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney.

1A Lot in Store

Shops from any era may be regarded as asignificant part of our heritage – even shopsestablished in recent years. However, the casestudies from A Lot in Store focus on shopssurviving from the late-nineteenth and early tomid-twentieth centuries, since these are nowincreasingly rare. One aim of this study is tohighlight these shops and to encourage others torecognise their significance, before these placessuccumb to changes that irreversibly alter ordestroy their heritage significance.

This study aims to give practical suggestions topeople who want to look after a particular aspectof our shopping heritage. It has a focus on interiorfixtures and movable collections and explains howto record information about the shop and itscontents. This will assist you in assessing thesignificance of the shop as a whole and not just as an empty building shell. The case studiesdemonstrate how the building, layout, movableitems, written and oral histories, as well as people, contribute to cultural heritage significanceand how this significance can be used to guidedecisions about future use and management ofour shopping heritage.

If you are concerned about the fate of a specialshop, or appreciate that authenticity can add tocustomer appeal, there are case studies of specialshops that are celebrated and lovingly cared for.Sadly, despite the best efforts of owners andcommunities, a number of shops featured in A Lot in Store have closed or changed sinceresearch was completed in 1999. Owners haveretired or died and businesses have closed or beensold to new owners; shops are constantlychanging hands and undergoing new leases andfit-outs. Our shopping heritage is vulnerable unlesswe can work together to slow the hands of timeand keep this aspect of our heritage alive.

Foreword

AcknowledgementsI would like to thank the NSW Heritage Office, the NSW Ministry for the Arts, the HeritageCouncil of NSW’s Movable Heritage ReferenceGroup and the Heritage Advisors Network forgiving me invaluable support and assistance while researching and writing A Lot in Store. The expertise and advice provided by Movable Heritage Reference Group membersKylie Winkworth, Meredith Walker and John Petersen are particularly appreciated.

Beverley Kingston’s Basket, Bag and Trolley;A History of Shopping in Australia provided a valuable guide to the historical development of shopping in Australia.

I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the following people, who generously sharedinformation, photographs and memories abouttheir shops: Bill Carberry, Patrick Carmody, Russell Chick, Jack Confoy and the late Harry Confoy, Paddy Donohoe, Leo Duff, Ernie Gawthorne, Christopher Hamilton, Grace Knuckey, R. Jones, Nick Loukissas, Alec McIntosh, Bill Morgan, Mr and Mrs Rose,Glenn Short, and Phil and Donna Walmsley. I also appreciate the efforts of other people who provided valuable information and insightsabout their favourite shops: Ken Brooks, Robyn Christie, Bronwyn Clark, Darren Clarke,Jenny Drenkhahn, John Ford, Sally Gray, Wendy Hucker, Andrea Humphreys, Mary Loder,Paddy and Ross, Philip Palmer, ParramattaHeritage Centre, Michael Pearson, Ken Phelan,Graham Quint, Norma Raisin, Margaret Royds,Fiona Schirmer, and the Newcastle RegionalMuseum.

Joy McCann

2 A Lot in Store

A Lot in Store 3

ContentsForeword 1

1. Introduction 4

2. Shops and shopping: a short history 6

3. NSW shopping history: at a glance 14

4. Living history: how shops show their age 16

The shop front 17Customer service and shop layout 19Behind the scenes 20Buying groceries 21The impact of government regulations 22Changing technology 24Tools of the trade 25Cash or credit? 27The corner shop 29Keeping traditions alive 31The migrant experience 34A family store 36

5. Looking after the shop: ways to document,care for and interpret our shopping heritage 38

Staying open for business 43Recording the contents 45Understanding significance 47Keeping collections in place 49Making a plan 50Making changes 52Caring for collections 55Putting shops on show 59

6. Selected references and further reading 62

A Lot in Store4

Introduction1

Above: Brennan andGeraghty’s GeneralStore Museum, QldPhotograph courtesy of National Trust ofQueensland.

5A Lot in Store

Shops are central to the life of almost every village,town and city in Australia. Wherever people havesettled, retailing has invariably followed, althoughthe vast distances of Australia have stretched theresourcefulness and patience of its far flungcommunities. In turn, those selling goods andservices have been endlessly enterprising. From hawkers touting their wares in caravans, to the ubiquitous general store, suburban cornershop and elegant department store, our retailinghistory is a proud and colourful one.

In NSW the evolution of shops and shopping ispart and parcel of the story of Europeansettlement. In the early days, ‘going shopping’ was still a relatively new concept, even in Britain.The new settlers brought their traditions withthem, buying their goods from home producers,street-sellers or at the market-place. The firstpurpose-built shops began to appear in Britain fromthe early nineteenth century, and colonial societiesat the outposts of Empire quickly followed suit.

Today, some shops survive that can still speak tous from another time. You may still be able to visita favourite shop from childhood, or discover astore where customers have their orders filledwhilst they wait. More often these days, you mayonly have the memory of smells and sounds of acorner shop long gone, with its vast array of boiledsweets or tins of biscuits. Or you might remembera trip to town, dressed in Sunday best to buyschool clothes or search for basement bargains or marvel at the spectacles in shop windows and Christmas pageants.

In city and country older shops are becoming rare.These shops and, in many cases, the families stillassociated with them, are living links with the past.Inside, you may still catch a glimpse of the history ofthe shop and its locality in the shelves and counters,tools of trade, signs, and perhaps even the stock.

It is the more portable items that are the mostvulnerable part of our shopping heritage. They areoften removed from the shop in the final throes of selling or closing down. Their meaning andsignificance are quickly lost in the fall of anauctioneer’s hammer.

Whilst objects such as signs and biscuit tins arehighly prized and avidly collected, it is the shopsretaining original contents and customs that are of special value in telling the history of a place. These shops have the power to show us ourhistory and to inspire us with their stories.

This publication tells the story of shops of different types, from different eras, and fromdifferent regions across NSW. All are shared bycommunities still fortunate enough to have a significant shop in their midst.

6 A Lot in Store

The earliest retailing activities in NSW began ina modest way. The government store, knownas the Commissariat, supplied the fledglingsettlement at Sydney Cove with essentialprovisions, and enterprising ships’ crewsconducted a flourishing trade exchanging non-perishable goods for food. In time, the colonistswere able to purchase local produce, perhapseven snapping up a bargain at auction whensomeone left the colony or died. Many alsoordered goods direct from Great Britain throughfamily or friends. Until a regular currency andbank was established by Governor Macquarie in1817, settlers relied largely on bartering or bankdrafts from London.

By the beginning of the nineteenth centurythere was a regular Saturday produce marketat what is now Circular Quay, and hawkersplied their wares in the streets. There were afew dining rooms, and a small group ofretailers sold essential supplies procured inbulk from visiting or chartered ships. Over thenext century Sydney established itself as themajor point of distribution of imported goodsto the rest of eastern Australia. As the numberof free settlers in the colony increased, morespecialised shops also began to appear. Theywere typically domestic in appearance, similarto British shops of the period. The shop frontwas usually established at the street level, andthe owner’s family lived in rooms above orbehind the shop.

In keeping with the domestic scale andcharacter, early shops usually featured timberwindows divided by sash bars into multiplepanes. Passers-by might peer into the dimgas-lit interior, or inspect goods on display atthe doorway. By the 1840s the streets ofSydney were dotted with canvas awnings, and signs advertised all manner of wares. In 1844 Louisa Meredith observed howSydney shopkeepers adopted ’a little code oftheir own, prescribing the proper distances tobe observed between drapers andhaberdashers, butchers and pastry cooks’.1

New technological innovations revolutionisedretailing in the mid-nineteenth century. Gaslighting began to illuminate Sydney streetsfrom 1841, providing opportunities for windowshopping and trading after dark. Mostshopkeepers already used gaslights insidetheir shops, although drapers in particularpreferred daylight in order to display the truecolours of their merchandise.

Many shopkeepers who displayed their waresat the doorway or outside the shop wouldemploy a child to ward off wayward dogs orthieves, and to rescue bolts of fabric and othermerchandise from wind and rain. The firstplate-glass windows in NSW were installed inthe Farmer’s department store in Sydney in1854. Bigger windows meant thatshopkeepers could now display theirmerchandise to passing vehicular traffic. This was particularly important in a city where

Shops and shoppingA short history

2Anthony Hordern & Sons’ New PalaceEmporium, 1905The Hordern retailingdynasty had its humblebeginnings in the 1820s,when Ann Horderndeveloped her stay-makingbusiness into a draperywarehouse. She firstopened a drapery andmillinery shop at the frontof her King Street cottage.Her husband Anthony,who operated a coach-building business at therear of their premises,joined her and thebusiness became a familyaffair. Anthony Hordern'sretail shop eventually grewinto a department storeand became a householdname in NSW. The NewPalace Emporium openedin 1905 and by the 1920s ithad 3,000 employees anda mail order departmentoccupying several floors. Advertisement courtesy ofMitchell Library, StateLibrary of NSW

A Lot in Store

the wives and daughters of wealthy familieswent on shopping expeditions by horse-drawncarriage, rather than negotiating on foot poorroads and the bustle of street life.

Arcades

Shopping arcades originated in Paris in about 1800. They were private streets or precincts, usually covered with a glass roof and linedwith artisans’ stalls. They often featured anelaborate arched entrance to lure customersfrom the street. Some had decorative entrancecanopies, and ornamental gates at eachentrance that could be closed after shop hours.

Arcades were immediately popular withEurope’s wealthy classes, who couldpromenade and shop far from the dust andgrime of public thoroughfares. By the end ofthe nineteenth century, there were arcades innearly every European city. They were usuallytenanted by retailers at the luxury end of themarket, selling fashion items such asjewellery, millinery, books and music.

Sydney Arcade (1881) and the Strand Arcade (1892) were amongst the first to appear inSydney. The Queen Victoria Building (1898)was built as a general market, although itsdesign emulated the grand arcades of Europe.

In the 1930s there was a spate of new arcades built in country towns across NSW.The arcades often featured a picture theatre aswell as a range of specialty shops.

By the early years of the twentieth century, the comfort of shop interiors had become animportant attribute. Given the fact that the largerstores were generally selling the same types ofgoods, their competitive edge came from price,range and the quality of service that they could offer.

Cool, light and airy shops were consideredattractive, and a far cry from the small, cramped,gas-lit shops of the early days of the colony.Awnings, colonnades or verandahs becameimportant features, protecting both windowdisplays and customers. Stores appealing towealthier clientele often emulated the style of a grand residence, complete with elegantsurroundings and discrete serving staff. Storeswith departments for different types of goods

increasingly segregated the merchandiseaccording to gender - women’s clothing in thevicinity of haberdashery, fashion accessories andhousehold necessities, and men’s clothinglocated near sporting goods and hardware items.This categorisation of merchandise along genderlines also occurred in smaller country stores, and even extended to separate entrances andwindow displays for men and women.

‘Ladies this way’ – separating

men and women shoppers

Retailers have gone to great lengths tocultivate the female shopper. From the earlytwentieth century many stores producedelaborate displays of fashion items. They lavished attention on their womencustomers and displayed goods to appeal tofeminine fantasies.

In dividing their stores into specialiseddepartments such as clothing, hardware andshoes, retailers began to designate men’s orwomen’s departments. David Jones had aMen’s Grill. Gowings installed a barber’s shop(one is still open for business). Women hadtheir own rest rooms complete with writingareas and telephones. Even the furnishingsreflected the differences: marble floors andtimber fittings for men, mirrors and soft fabricsfor women.

As a general rule, women were thought to bemore likely to linger in a shop and browse,while men were inclined to make quick forays.Shopkeepers were advised by trade journalsand popular opinion that men were particularlyaverse to women’s clothing departments, soshops were laid out accordingly.

Even the smaller stores followed this trend.The Draper of Australasia journal tested thewater in 1925 by running a competition on‘How to Attract Women to a Men’s WearStore’. One entrant suggested labellingseparate entrances and dividing the shopdown the middle! Men, he said, could shop‘without qualms of conscience or fear ofwomen’s interruption’.2

7

1 Mrs Charles Meredith, Notesand Sketches of New SouthWales, John Murray, London,1844, p52, cited in BeverleyKingston, Basket, Bag andTrolley: a History of Shopping in Australia, p19.

2 The Draper of Australasia, 20 October 1925, p467.

New services such as hydraulic lifts, electriclighting and escalators encouraged customers tomove freely around spacious new multi-storiedshops. Changes in the scale and methods ofselling introduced greater efficiencies and enabledgoods to be sold more cheaply. As stores becamelarger and busier, the knowledge that was oncedemanded of store assistants became increasinglyfragmented or irrelevant.

In the early years of the twentieth century thereseemed to be a thriving shopping street in everytown. In Sydney shopping went through a boomperiod lasting from the 1880s until the 1920s. Itfaltered only briefly during the 1890s economicdepression and a severe drought a few years later.The drapery trade fast became the largest singletrade in NSW, with a turnover equal to all theSydney and metropolitan food retailers combined.The larger drapers based in Sydney graduallydominated the clothing trade, extending their mailorder businesses to entice country customers.Some of the more successful drapers branchedout into other lines of goods and createddepartment stores.

Going to town; the rise of the

department store

The gold rushes in NSW during the 1850sbrought a sharp increase in population and anassociated boom in retailing. Some of the oldergeneral stores were expanded and rebuilt. InSydney and country towns a new era and scaleof shopping emerged with the departmentstore or palace emporium.

Many of the now legendary department storesbegan as drapers or ironmongers, laterexpanding to cater for general householdmerchandise. Reputedly based on AristideBoucicault’s ’Bon Marché’ Paris store, whichwas built in 1852, the urban department storeswere also following in the tradition of thehumble universal providers. They becamepurveyors of every household need.

Some of the larger Sydney-based departmentstores, such as David Jones’ George Streetstore (built in 1887) and E. Way and Companyin Pitt Street (1891), went on to become doyensof the early twentieth century retail trade. Withtheir elaborate facades, entertaining windowdisplays, vast ranges of merchandise,impeccable service and attention to comfort,the major department stores becamehousehold names for both city and countrycustomers. Many people still remember themwith great affection from childhood shoppingtrips. These city stores were mostly familybusinesses that associated themselves withstability and conservative, patriotic values.

The big department stores also occupiedextensive sites along Sydney’s mainthoroughfares, and by the 1920s their towersbecame city landmarks. They were highlycompetitive and enticed country customersthrough extensive mail order services.Department stores aspired to the style and glitzof Paris and New York.

Some stores established their own factories,finding it more profitable and competitive toproduce their own ‘house brand’ of drapery,beds, bicycles, ironworks, and food lines.Whether offering imported or locally-madeproducts, the Sydney department storessucceeded in fostering an image of glamourand quality, and this was supported byaggressive advertising, in-house attractionssuch as dining rooms and entertainment, creditservices and huge store resources.

8 A Lot in Store

Shops along George Street, Sydney 1847George Street from the Commissariat Guard. Drawingcourtesy of Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW.

The retail co-operative movement that started inlate-nineteenth century Britain also translated intoa similar movement in the colonies. In Sydney theCivil Service Store was established in 1871 as aresponse to the demands of an emerging middleclass requiring conservatively priced householdgoods. Elsewhere in NSW retail co-operativeswere formed to provide lower priced goods forfamilies in provincial towns and to supply goods to the more isolated agricultural settlements suchas those in the Riverina and the South Coast.

After the dreary years of World War I shops pickedup on the new and lively mood of the twenties.Stores began to change dramatically in appearance.This was the jazz age, and the department storesled the revolution in style. Many smaller shopsadopted the new look and added some glamour oftheir own.

In the 1920s and 1930s many shops wereremodelled or built in the art moderne style. Dark, small shop fronts were out. Large panoramicdisplay windows were in. There was shinystainless steel, chrome and black glass inabundance. Large display windows were oftendeeply recessed, with curving or angled glasswindows to lead the customer past extensivewindow displays into the store. This enabledshopkeepers to have their store interiorspermanently on view, even when the shop wasclosed. Prominent shop signs became popular andwere painted or fixed to a window or parapet andeven displayed inside the store.

Window dressing became an art form. Fashionabledisplays featured selected items carefullyarranged, rather than stockpiled with specialoffers. The new interwar style dictated that darkshops and heavy fittings were no longeracceptable. The new style incorporated glasscounters and shelves, with stock kept out of viewin storage areas. Clothes and accessories weredisplayed on free-standing frames or mannequins.

The interwar period also signalled a revolution inthe way people shopped, particularly in the citiesand suburbs. ’Cash-and-carry’ grocery shops beganto appear in the 1920s and signalled the beginningof the self-service style of shopping that we knowtoday. Many grocers still continued to providecredit and offer the personalised service that theircustomers expected. However, by World War IImore and more shops were converting to self-service and shopping habits began to change.Shops were refitted with self-service tables andrefrigerated display cabinets. Customers becamefamiliar with navigating chromium turnstiles,

selecting their purchases and queuing up at a rowof cash registers. Bright lighting inside andcoloured neon lighting displays outside, enticedcustomers to inspect and buy.

Chain stores were also taking off, and peopleflocked to them for bargains. This informal style ofshopping suited the new era of self-service. Lowcost household goods and minimum counterservice gave them the capacity to handle largenumbers of shoppers efficiently and anonymously.

Moran and Cato had pioneered grocery chainstores in Australia back in the 1880s. The firstWoolworths Stupendous Bargain Basementopened in Sydney’s Imperial Arcade in 1924.Within 15 years Woolworths had built 78 stores.Over the next two decades the company spawnedbranches throughout metropolitan Sydney andcountry NSW. Meanwhile, in spite of the growthof the chain store networks, country shopsremained relatively unchanged and people in ruralNSW generally shopped in the old ways until wellinto the 1960s.

9A Lot in Store

Winn and Company’s Drapery Emporium, Newcastle, 1907In an era when shops were judged by the quality of their personal service, theappearance and manner of shop assistants was all-important. They were subject torigid discipline, store rules, and low wages. Sales staff in the larger departmentstores were compensated with superior amenities, training and social opportunitiesthat the smaller retailers could not offer. In return, the stores demanded highstandards and absolute loyalty from their staff. Photograph courtesy of theNational Library of Australia.

The arrival of regional shopping centres heraldedperhaps the greatest shopping revolution of all.Top Ryde Shopping Centre in Sydney opened in1957, six months after Australia’s first complexwas completed in Brisbane. Top Ryde had parkingfor 400 cars and provided a covered pedestrianmall and an assortment of shops. It was describedat the time as recapturing ‘the carnival atmosphereof the old European marketplace’, while offeringthe housewife a place to shop in safety andconvenience.3 Based on the success ofneighbourhood shopping in the United States,these huge sites dedicated to retailing became thesymbol of the increasing prosperity, consumerismand our increasing dependence on the car afterWorld War II.

Over the next two decades the family-owned citydepartment stores that had set shopping stylesand standards for most of the century were indecline. The trend was clear: between the 1960sand 1990s retail shopping in Australia driftedinexorably towards the suburbs and away fromcity centres. Traditional shopping streetsattempted to draw back customers byemphasising the range of goods that the differentshops could offer, the convenience of nearbypublic transport, and the character offered by adiversity of building styles that modern shoppingcentres could not match. Many suburbs andcountry towns created pedestrian shopping malls,with entertainment and off-street parking.

However, while the smaller shopping streets andindividual stores continue to struggle for theirshare of the market, it is the privately-owned andstrictly regulated environment of the regionalshopping centre that dominates our shoppingexperiences in the early twenty-first century. In the end, large-scale shopping centres are yetanother chapter in the history of over 200 years of retailing in Australia.

10 A Lot in Store

3 Building: Lighting: Engineering,24 April 1958, pp42-44.

The Model Store, BoorowaDepartment stores or emporia also flourished in countrytowns, usually in elegant buildings that presided over thelocal shopping precinct. This two-story country emporiumat Boorowa was built in 1918 by John Learmont, who also built a store at Tumut. The old emporium is now anewsagency, and the building still features many of itsoriginal timber counters, shelving and display cabinets, as well as this elaborate central stairwell and plasterceiling. The current owner has also kept importantmovable items that he hopes to reinstate one day.Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

A Lot in Store 11

Dressing the window was the cheapest form of advertisingIn the interwar period window dressing and ticket writing became an art form. The Draper of Australasia journal ran aregular feature called ‘Window Dressing: the Art of Display’, and awarded prizes for the best design. This 1925 eveningdisplay for McCathies in Sydney was championship runner-up. The Draper of Australasia journal courtesy of StateReference Library, State Library of NSW.

MacKenzie’s Grocery Department, Manilla, NSW, c.1912This grocery department within a larger general store is typical of the period. The general store or universal provideremerged as the most common type of shop throughout NSW. They offered everything from food to crockery, clothing,fabric, shoes, hardware and stationery. Note the Bentwood chairs provided for customers waiting to have their ordersfilled. Photograph courtesy of Bicentennial Copying Project, State Library of NSW.

A Lot in Store12

Black and White Milk Bar, Martin Place, Sydney, 1932Mick Adams migrated from Greece at 16, and in 1932 opened Australia’s first milk bar in Martin Place. It was an instantsuccess. Within five years there were an estimated 4,000 milk bars across Australia. Armed with Mick Adams’ recipe forsuccess, a friend claims to have introduced the idea to London. Many shops have been established by newly arrivedmigrants seeking a means to earn a living. In turn, they have introduced new ideas, colour and vitality to our shoppingstreets. Photographs courtesy of Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW.

13A Lot in Store

Shop layouts,SydneySydney, 1903 , 1903 and 1937Two versions of arecommended layoutfor a clothing store,showing changingideas about store layoutand service. The 1903design emphasisedservice at the counter,while the 1937 floorplan encouragedimpulse buying frombargain tables andshow cases. The Draperof Australasia Diary,1903 and RydgesBusiness Journal, 1937.Drawings courtesy ofMitchell Library, StateLibrary of NSW.

A Lot in Store14

NSW shopping historyat a glance

3

European settlement at Sydney Cove

First commercial advertisements appear in NSW Government Gazette

Regular currency and bank established by Governor Macquarie

Anne Hordern’s millinery and drapery shop established

David Jones opens his first store in George Street

First plate glass windows installed

Sydney Arcade built

Shopping boom in Sydney

‘Art moderne’ style revolutionizes shop design

Woolworths opens its first chain stores

Australia’s first milk bar opened in Sydney

New council by-laws lead to widespread demolition of shop verandahs, in order tomodernise shopping streets and remove likely hazards to vehicular traffic.

First American-style drive-in shopping centre in NSW opens at Top Ryde, six monthsafter Australia’s first shopping centre in Brisbane.

Number of shops in central Sydney dramatically declines in favour of suburbs.

Many business owners replace awnings with shop verandahs modelled on original or‘heritage’ style.

Anthony Hordern’s department store closed

Changing economic conditions lead to widespread closure of bank branches andgovernment services in country areas, threatening the viability of many smallshopping centres.

Introduction of goods and services tax closes many small family run shops. E-commerce becomes more popular with the ever increasing number of homecomputers, but concerns about the security of credit card and other personalinformation slow growth.

Globalisation sees further expansion of American franchises in Australia.

15A Lot in Store

1788

1803

1817

1824

1835

1854

1881

1880s – 1920s

1920s

1924

1932

1940s – 1960s

1957

1960s – 1970s

1980s – 1990s

2000 – 2002

Above left: Leo Duff’s Barber Shop, Wellington Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

Niagara Café, Gundagai Shop fronts are animportant part of ourshopping heritage. Theycontribute to thedistinctive feel of a street,marking the ebb and flowof the town’s fortunes andfashions and providingshoppers with familiarlandmarks and a sense ofthe past. Remodelled inthe 1930s, the NiagaraCafé shows the distinctiveinfluence of the artmoderne style – curvedglass, terrazzo tiles and bold stylisedlettering. Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

Shops are part of the history of Europeansettlement in Australia. Many shops have specialimportance as part of our shared heritage.

Some shops have not changed a great dealsince they first opened their doors, and theirphysical features reveal a lot about the waypeople bought and sold goods and services in aparticular place and era.

Others hold a special place in the life of acommunity - somewhere to meet, or a familiartouchstone in times of change.

Some shops are associated with the history ofdifferent cultural groups, including the manythousands of migrants who arrived after WorldWar II. Many established a foothold in theirnew country by opening shops, and usheredinto their communities a whole new world ofsocial customs, foods and languages.

And some are traditional shops, where theskills or old ways of doing things have beenkept alive over several generations.

Many things contribute to our understanding ofthe history of retailing: the way a shop wasbuilt, location, layout, the way spaces wereused, movable items like chairs, counters,shelving, display cabinets, cash registers,weighing equipment, signs and store records,

and the stories and traditions associated withthe shop. All of these are a part of our culturalheritage.

Most shops in city and metropolitan areas have been altered and modernised, and it is the movable objects - items such as equipmentand furniture - that are usually discarded alongthe way.

Nevertheless, there are still some survivors, an increasingly rare and precious group that represents the very essence of ourshopping heritage. Most are likely to be foundin country areas, where they carry on amidstfluctuating economic conditions and changingshopping habits.

The owners have often been there since theshop began, or have continued to run theirfamily’s business. The future of these shops isoften uncertain. In some cases, new ownershave embraced an ageing shop’s history, andfound its authenticity to be an asset.Undoubtedly, many people delight in finding ashop that is more than just a place to select,pay and exit as quickly as possible.

This chapter explores some measures of ashop’s heritage.

16 A Lot in Store

Living historyHow shops show their age

4

The shop frontThe character of a particular street or locality setsit apart from any other place, and a town that hasa range of shop fronts, reflecting different eras andfashions, is an interesting place to visit and shop.These shop fronts become landmarks of changingfashions and fortunes. They are an important partof the history and streetscape of a place.

Many suburban streets and country towns stillretain shop fronts in styles that were popular inthe nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Inolder shopping streets, the verandahs or awnings,signs, entrances, tile finishes, scale and design ofthe windows, even the entry porch, all represent a time capsule of changing styles and fashions.

Shop fronts are also the public face of the shopsthat lie behind the facades. In many cases, thearchitectural detail of the shop front might be allthat is left intact after the shop itself has beengutted. Intact shop fronts are still an important partof retailing history. They add to the flavour of theirstreet, and are often part of our architecturalheritage as well.

Many shops have retained their original glossy tiles,sometimes with ornate motifs or colourful borders.Some have timber or brass window framing, a tiledentry porch, double timber doors. A shop that stillhas solid timber, or perhaps frosted glass panelsbehind the window display area, is also likely tohave an original or early shop front, and possiblyinterior fixtures and fittings.

By keeping this diversity of shop fronts as amarker of our history, communities are making astatement about the character of the locality, andwhat they value from their past.

17A Lot in Store

Main Street, BraidwoodHistoric shopping streets are undergoing a revival astraditional or innovative small businesses offer analternative to the one-stop shopping experience of largeregional shopping centres. Country towns such asBraidwood have successfully capitalised on the historicalarchitecture and character of their shop fronts.Photograph by Gillian Mottram.

Verandah, Up-To-Date Store, CoolamonPhotograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

Feature tiles, Short’s Butcher Shop, NarrominePhotograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

A Lot in Store18

Window display and glass panels, Coolac General StorePhotograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

Tiled entry porch, pharmacy, MudgeePhotograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

Signs on front window, The House of Quality,BoorowaPhotograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

Window blinds featuring advertising, Finn’s Old Store, CanowindraPhotograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

A Lot in Store 19

Coolac General StoreThis traditional country general store is still run along thelines of the original universal provider, supplyingeverything from food to hardware, farm equipment andstockfeed to the local farming community. It has a generalair of busyness and clutter, but everything has its place.Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

‘Are you being served?’Customer service and shop layout

We can learn a great deal about a shop’s history,and the way that the business has been conductedover time, by examining the layout of the interior.

The typical general store in the late-nineteenthcentury, for example, featured a deep narrow shopfloor, high ceiling and skylights or small windowsset high along each wall. There was usually a longtimber counter along one or both sides of the shopand timber shelves lining the wall behind thecounter. Stock was sometimes stacked behind thecounter, to be brought out when a customerrequired a particular item. In some shops, therewas a general atmosphere of clutter, with itemssuspended from the ceiling and displayed ontables or in boxes in the centre of the shop.

There are many shops that still look like this,revealing how business was conducted in anearlier era. Many general stores and drapers’shops, for example, can be found with a timbercounter and shelving extending along one or bothsides of the shop. There might also be timber ormetal and glass display cabinets, and tables orracks of merchandise placed strategically aroundthe shop floor.

General stores during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries were usually highly organised –everything had its place. Different types ofmerchandise were grouped together –haberdashery, fabric and clothing on one side, fooditems on the other and hardware at the rear of theshop. Some shops kept perishable foods like hamsin a cellar or cool room. Dry goods such as flourwere often dispensed from hopper bins under thecounter and kept secure from vermin.

In larger shops, shoppers may have been greetedby a store floorwalker, who ensured that hiscustomers were comfortably seated on aBentwood chair before ushering in a salesassistant and closely supervising her standard ofservice. Customers would be given personalisedservice and their particular needs discussed,negotiated, weighed, measured and paid for at thecounter. This might also have been the place forexchange of news or gossip. In some older shopsit still is!

When the practice of self-service and cash-and-carry shopping gained momentum between thetwo world wars, customers were encouraged toselect their purchases from island countersarranged across the shop floor, then move to acentral cash register to complete theirtransactions. This new style of retailing was spelt out in the physical layout of the store, and isthe layout that most shoppers will be familiar with today.

By looking closely at the layout of the shop floor,we can read tell-tale signs about where it fits intothe history of retailing. It provides a window to the history of shopping in our society, and is as important as the shop front in our shopping heritage.

A Lot in Store20

Behind the scenesThere is more to a historic shop than meets theeye! Behind the shop front, beyond the shop floor,there may be other rooms and spaces that can tellus more about the shop’s history and the way itfunctioned.

Behind the scenes there were often areasdedicated to aspects of retailing that customersmight never see. Most shops, for example, weregenerally fitted with a cashier’s or accounts office– this might have been anything from an elaborateroom with benches and stools, to a simple alcove.Here, stock records were maintained, docketsprepared, change dispensed and monthly accountstallied. The office may also have had clericalfurniture, accounting equipment and perhapsstored signs or other paraphernalia.

Country general stores usually had a produce storefor bulk dry goods such as stock feed. The producestore may have been a shed or a lean-to attachedto the shop. Sometimes it was a separate buildingaltogether. Goods would have been moved into thestore through a sliding door at the side or rear.Some stores used handcarts and others evenemployed a trolley system on tracks.

E. Bickmore, General Store, Kurri KurriIn this complex, the shop, produce store and residence(with its large garden) were separate elements althoughthey were built in the same period. The shop originallyhad a cellar for storing perishables, although this wassubsequently filled in. Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

Brennan and Geraghty’s General Store Museum, MaryboroughIntact general stores like this are significant because they show how the shopoperated as a complex made up of different buildings and workspaces. This store complex, dating from 1871, occupies two allotments and includes thestore building, mature figs and palms probably planted by the original family,split post and rail fences and a stable building. There is also a cottage that wasmoved to the site in 1896, and a residence built in 1904. The store layoutindicates how goods were moved about via a trolley system, and a raised officeenabled the store manager to keep an eye on the shop floor. Photograph courtesyof National Trust of Queensland.

Shopkeepers and their families traditionally livedon or near the premises, enabling them to worklong hours and provide some security for the shop.Most shops built in the nineteenth century, andwell into the twentieth, had a residence attachedat the rear or side of the building. Families fromsmaller shops might only have had a couple ofrooms to share, whilst others lived in detacheddwellings nearby.

Cafés required a kitchen or meals preparation area,and this might have been a special room at the rear or part of the residence. Morespecialised shops such as butchers, bakers,barbers and pharmacies required specialised workareas, ranging from bakehouses to dispensaries.These were all part of the shop but generallyremained out of sight to the general public.

A surprising number of shops still retain thesehidden workspaces. They add to the significanceof a shop by helping us to understand much moreabout the daily business of retailing. The cashier’soffice, for example, is commonly found tuckedaway in a rear corner of older shops; producestores and residences are sometimes intact, orhave been kept but adapted for other uses.

Just as importantly, the movable objectsassociated with these work areas also contributeto the history of the shop: platform scales in theproduce store, records in the office, storedfurniture and outmoded equipment. These itemscan have particular significance while they remainassociated with the store where they were used.

Buying groceriesGrocers’ shops, or grocery departments withinlarger general stores, were the precursors of today’ssupermarkets. For much of the nineteenth andtwentieth centuries, people relied on grocers forstaple foods such as sugar and tea. Shops andequipment from the heyday of the grocery trade still to be found in many places, and they are an important part of the story of retailing.

The name ‘grocer’ originally dates from the MiddleAges and described a wholesale trader of bulkfoods such as spices. By the late-nineteenthcentury, grocers were tradesmen skilled in selectingand blending teas, roasting coffee beans and sellingall manner of dry goods, although manufacturershad also begun to introduce pre-packaged productsto promote their own brand names.

An instruction book for the Australian grocerytrade, published in 1925, advised grocers how tolay out their stores and stock food. Walls were tobe lined with square shelves of different sizes toaccommodate the various packaged products. Bulk dry foods such as sugar and oatmeal shouldbe stored in hopper bins under the counter;linoleum was best for floors, preferably laid overfelt or newspaper, or dry sawdust to correct anuneven surface. The shop’s cat received specialmention for its role in deterring rodents.

Counters in older shops were generally of twosorts: French-polished mahogany for dry groceriesand white pine that could be scrubbed daily forprovisions such as cheese. By the 1940s grocerswere complying with new hygiene standards andsurfaces had to be easily scrubbed – linoleum,marble or tiles were recommended.

Self-service grocers’ shops were also justbeginning to emerge. In the 1950s many storeswere converted to the new style of ‘cash-and-carry’. Customers selected their goods fromrefrigerated display cases and racks of brand namefoods and paid for them at the turnstile. Servicetook on a new meaning, as the traditional skills ofthe grocer gave way to managing a store that waswell stocked and efficient.

21A Lot in Store

Finn’s Old Store, CanowindraKraft cheese boxes made ideal drawers in this formergeneral store at Canowindra. The shop, now an antiquebusiness, still has hopper bins beneath the counter anddrawers individually labelled with the names of spicesand other cooking ingredients. Photograph by JoyMcCann, 1999.

The art of packagingEvery grocer’s shop had an ample supply of brown paperand string for packaging goods. Before the advent of pre-packaged brand name goods, grocery items weresupplied to shops in bulk and the grocer weighed orcounted and packaged according to the customer’srequirements. Some stores still use the once ubiquitouspaper and string for certain goods. There are two paperdispensers, of different sizes, at Bickmore’s General Store,and the Coolac General Store still employs stringdispensers suspended from the ceiling. Photographs byJoy McCann, 1999.

The impact ofgovernment regulationsThe business of preparing and selling fresh foodhas perhaps been subject to closer scrutiny andregulation than any other type of shop.

In early butchers’ shops, for example, it wascommon to hang carcasses at the front of theshop to allow fresh air to circulate. With harshclimate and isolated settlements, necessity wasthe mother of invention for the Australian meatindustry. Ice boxes, cool rooms and marblesurfaces helped the situation, and many butchers’shops used these cooling techniques until wellinto the twentieth century. One of the earliest airrefrigeration units in NSW was installed in ThomasPlayfair’s Sydney meat business in 1895.

By about 1900 attitudes to food hygiene hadbegun to change. Butchers, along with other foodretailers, were under increasing pressure toconform to new hygiene regulations. The firstmeat inspector in the State was appointed in1908, and by 1913 he reported that only fivebutchers’ shops were left in Sydney that did nothave enclosed premises. Soon, all butchers shopswere required to be enclosed with mesh (glasscame later), walls were to be tiled, and floors to bemade of concrete. The use of sawdust to soak upspills and odours on the floor was deemed to be athing of the past, although the practice continuesin some butchers’ shops.

In more recent years community concerns aboutcontaminated meat has brought a fresh round ofgovernment regulation that will see the end ofolder equipment such as timber chopping blocks.By keeping these items in the shop, perhaps ondisplay, owners can contribute to preserving andinterpreting something of the heritage andcharacter of food retail shops, as they respond toever changing standards and technology.

22 A Lot in Store

James Leggatt’s Smithfield Butchery, GulgongCarcasses hang from the verandah of a butcher’s shop in Gulgong in the early 1870s. Photograph courtesy of the MitchellLibrary, State Library of New South Wales.

Short’s Butchers, Narromine

Glenn Short’s butcher’s shop in Narromine wasbuilt in about 1905. When his father, Kevin, beganworking there in 1948, the shop still relied on itsown abattoir for a regular supply of fresh meat.

A cool room at the rear of the shop was insulatedby thick timber walls packed with charcoal. Pipes circulated through the room and werecooled to keep temperatures down. A second coolroom, built inside the shop itself, had walls filledwith sawdust for insulation, and had a water trayon top with strips of flannel over the side thatdripped water.

The shop also once had hanging rails arranged in asemi-circle around the shop, and meat wasprepared and displayed on slabs of white marble.Refrigeration and changing government regulationshave brought many changes to butchers’ shopssuch as this.

Above right, and right: Substantial butchers’ shops wereonce common in suburbs and country towns, testifying as much to the important role that meat has played in the Australian diet as to changes in shopping habits. The unusual tiled façade and interior of this shop now regularly attracts visitors. Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

23A Lot in Store

A Canadian maple cutting block is proudly displayed inShort’s Butchers at Narromine. Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

Changing technologyThe twentieth century revolution in technology hasdirectly influenced many aspects of retailing, fromhandling money and recording sales, to preparinggoods for sale and displaying merchandise. Manyshopkeepers have embraced new technology witha passion. Others have never seen the need to domore than connect the electricity. Manualsystems, early equipment and traditional tools oftrade can still be found in daily use.

G.A. Zink & Sons, Oxford Street,Darlinghurst, Sydney

Zink’s clothing shop for men was built in about1911, but the display windows, terrazzo tiled porchand chromium-plated shop sign on the shop frontare tell-tale signs of a refurbishment in the artmoderne style in 1926.

The Zink family operated their business along thelines of a European tailor’s shop. The presentowner undertook his apprenticeship with the Zinkfamily in the 1960s, and continued to work withthem until acquiring the business himself. Whilstthe layout has been altered over the years, theowner has cared for much of the shop’s earlyequipment and furniture, and has reintroducedsome elements that were kept safely stored untila recent refurbishment.

The shop and equipment together provide atantalising reminder of the heritage of tailoring inAustralia. In the tailor’s room upstairs, wornwooden benches bear witness to many hundredsof hours of cutting and preparing garments.

24 A Lot in Store

G.A. Zink & Sons. Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

In the tailor’s workroom the sewing machines,overlockers, fans and radio are still going strong and aretangible reminders of the early technology of tailoring. Photographs by Joy McCann, 1999.

Tools of the tradeTools of trade are a significant part of our shoppingheritage, but they are often the very things thatare sold off or lost when shops change hands orare modernised.

Display stands, weighing and packagingequipment, furniture, storage containers,advertising signs and flyers, specialised tools, shoprecords, cash registers or overhead cash transfersystems – all of these are significant because theyillustrate how different types of shopkeepers wentabout selling their merchandise or service.

They also show how some types of shops had tobe purpose-built for the trade, while others couldeasily move into any kind of shop building.

Barber shops, for example, had to have specially-designed chairs fixed to the floor, but their maintools of trade were very portable indeed: scissors,razors, a leather strap for sharpening blades and asterilising cabinet. The shop itself was usuallyquite small, perhaps with two rooms and a solidpanel behind the window display to block curiousgazes and ensure privacy for the customer in thechair. How different from the open style of today’shairdressing shops.

A general store, on the other hand, needed plentyof shelving and counters and little specialisedequipment. Many general stores were long andnarrow, with high windows or skylights tomaximise wall space and allow sufficient daylightto penetrate. The introduction of cash-and-carryshopping and refrigeration after World War II sawthe introduction of additional display tables andstands, often acquired from other shops.

Meanwhile, drapers, mercers and millinersrequired specialised units and stands for displayingeverything from garments to gloves. Whilst displaycabinets are still relatively common in olderclothing shops, the specialised wire stands andmannequins from earlier eras are now more likelyto be found on display in museums.

All trades relied on advertising of some kind, from the cheapest window display to mail ordercatalogues and newspaper advertisements.However, it is the collectables, from shop signs to cash registers, that attract the most attention.Many original shop signs, cash registers andfurniture, for example, have been snapped up by keen collectors. Collections of equipment andfurniture that are still in place, and especially those items still in use, are particularly significantbecause they are now rarely found in situ. 25A Lot in Store

Gestetner machine and stencils once used for preparing sale notices at the ModelStore, Boorowa. Photographs by Joy McCann, 1999.

A Lot in Store26

Distinctive store catalogues were a major form of advertising for department and chain stores from the late-nineteenthcentury, and mail order catalogues brought the city stores to country lounge rooms. Advertisements and mail ordercatalogues remain one of the most important sources of information about the range and style of equipment andmerchandise to be found in shops in different eras and have themselves become part of the heritage of shopping. The Draper of Australasia Diary, 1903, courtesy of Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW.

Store records or archival material such as thesestocktaking books from Bickmore’s General Store dated1907 and 1944 are irreplaceable, providing a glimpse ofwhat people in rural NSW were buying during the waryears. Paper records are particularly susceptible to beingdiscarded or otherwise destroyed through neglect.Wherever possible, they should be kept with the shop andstored in a secure place free from insects and dampness. Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

A Lot in Store 27

Cash or credit?The way cash was handled and accountsprocessed often determined the layout of a shop.For example, most stores had a small office oralcove for maintaining accounts and keeping cashand records.

When people shopped in the early years ofsettlement in NSW, they generally expected topurchase on credit and settle their credit accountsat the month’s end, or whenever they could afford it.

Gradually, cash trading became more popularamongst smaller shopkeepers, as a way ofkeeping the costs of buying and selling undercontrol. Some small shops, particularly in thecountry, continued to extend credit to regularcustomers, while others advertised themselves as cash stores. According to the Rydges BusinessJournal in 1937, cash was much better suited tothe city and suburbs, where people tended to be’here today, gone tomorrow’.

With cash trading came a variety of methods tohandle cash and dockets in shops. Someshopkeepers simply used leather bags or a cashdrawer under the counter. Some still do! Othersembraced the latest technology for cash handling.Aerial cash systems, also called ‘flying foxes’,were once common in stores across Australia.With a system of aerial wires to transfer cash anddockets between counter and cashier, assistantscould devote themselves to serving customersand they no longer needed to waste preciousselling time leaving the counter to visit thecashier’s office. This system also gave the storeowner the advantage of having greater controlover the movement and security of cashtransactions.

When cash registers were introduced in the1920s, they became the ultimate symbol of thenew era of cash-and-carry style of shopping that is still the way we shop today. Cash registers atthe point of sale meant greater ease of handlingand storing cash for the shop assistant, and wenthand-in-hand with the self-selection of goods bythe customer. The cash register was the productof a new style of technology.

Rose’s General Store, BinalongMany country stores today still retain their enclosed orpartitioned office, which was usually located securely atthe rear of the shop. The bigger department stores alsoestablished special rooms where large numbers of officeassistants checked and sorted customers’ dockets and, in some cases, dispensed change. Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

A Lot in Store28

G.J. Coles Department Store, Canberra, c.1958Cash-and-carry made shopping easier and busier by speeding up sales, discouraging credit, and reducing the need for personalised service andshop assistants. Photograph courtesy of the National Library of Australia.

‘Up-To-Date Store’, CoolamonWhen the Up-To-Date Store was built in 1909, it was fitted with the latest Lamson Ball System to transportnotes and change from the shop assistants at thecounters to the cashier’s office at the rear. Cash handlingsystems have come full circle, and supermarkets in thelate-twentieth century have returned to an old idea usingnew technology. These days, pneumatic tubes transfercash from the point of sale, saving staff time andreducing the risk of carrying bullion bags to the cashier.Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

A Lot in Store 29

The corner shopThe corner shop has a very special place in ourhistory. Corner shops, strategically located withinthe heart of a community, have traditionallycatered for the necessities of life – a loaf of bread,the newspaper, perhaps a few purchases – as wellas being a place to gossip, exchange views or topass the time of day.

For regular customers, a corner shop is muchmore than bricks and mortar. Over many years,these shops have dispensed a sense of stabilityand belonging in a world of rapid change. Studieshave shown that they are particularly important forthe isolated and frail in our society. The cornershop, the owner and customers themselves fulfilan important social function in the life of acommunity. The corner shop may be a privatebusiness, but it is a public place.

For many migrants running a corner shop has been an important part of putting down roots inAustralia. Many corner shops, particularly afterWorld War II, were run by migrant families. Family members all helped out, keeping thebusiness open for long hours. In recent years,however, our insatiable demand for flexibleshopping hours and the lure of supermarkets and24-hour convenience stores has led to the demiseof the humble corner shop.

Knuckey’s Corner Store, WellingtonThe shady verandah at Knuckey’s Corner was always apopular spot for locals to meet and shelter and is part ofthe Swift Street heritage precinct. In the 1960s newcouncil by-laws required the verandahs of Wellington tobe removed because they posed a traffic hazard, andGrace Knuckey maintains that her business suffered as aresult. The current verandah is a recent addition,designed to replicate the original from early photographs.In 2001 the corner store closed when Grace Knuckeyretired and contents were sold. The corner store wasunder threat from a proposed car park but a communitycampaign, which saw thousands of signatures onpetitions, saved it from demolition - for the time being.Photograph by Joy McCann 1999.

Grace Knuckey (right), with her father and mother in the family store,Wellington, c.1960Grace Knuckey worked at the counter of her corner store since she was 15 yearsold. Her father established Knuckey’s Corner in 1915. For much of the century, the shop was open from eight in the morning until midnight every weekday.Photograph courtesy of Grace Knuckey.

The Golden Gate Café, Hillston

The Kidman Way stretches for 800 km, south tonorth, connecting the remote towns of this State’soutback country. When promoters produced atravellers’ guide for the new highway, Bill Morgan’sgeneral store and café at Hillston was givenspecial mention as a corner store, ‘a favourite ofboth young and old’.

The Golden Gate Café was built in 1929 and Bill Morgan’s parents bought it in about 1935. It was more of a café then. There were mealsserved at tables, and a marble soda fountaindispensing home-made fizzy drinks. Bill installedwooden cubicles for diners, and also sold lollies,ice-cream and fruit.

Bill once knew everyone that came in – people from town as well as the wheat and sheep farmers in the area. With improvements in road transport, the odd intrepid tourist oroutback truckie would stop by. New agriculturaland horticultural developments along the Lachlan River in the 1980s attracted new families and itinerant workers.

Then the new highway opened in the early 1990s.Bill’s Golden Gate Café is poised to tap into alucrative outback tourist market, one of anincreasingly rare group of shops in the tradition of the old corner store.

30 A Lot in Store

Many aspects of this shop in Hillston were introduced byBill Morgan in the 1940s, including new display cabinetsand dining cubicles. The original ice-chilled soda fountainwas replaced by refrigeration, but Bill still uses the sodataps. Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

Lollies are still counted or weighed at the counter, andsold in a paper bag. Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

A metal change tray still in daily use.Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

Keeping traditions alivePeople often take great pleasure and comfort fromthe well-worn floorboards, familiar faces andcustoms that they have come to associate withcertain shops over many years. Corner shopsoften have the feel of an old friend. So do placeslike hairdressers or barbers’ shops, the localbutchers or greengrocers shop, or perhaps thegeneral store. That air of familiarity, the habits of alifetime and the traditional ways of doing things,are part of a community’s less tangible heritage.The following examples show how a shop can playsuch an important part in keeping a community’straditions alive.

31A Lot in Store

Harry’s Café de Wheels, SydneyHarry’s mobile pie shop near the Woolloomooloo Wharf has become something of local legend, as well as populartourist destination for visitors to Sydney. The original shop is in the collection of the Powerhouse Museum but thetradition of eating at Harry’s continues. Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

Leo Duff ’s Barber Shop,Wellington

When Leo Duff conducted a survey of 50customers to see how they felt about thecobwebs in his shop, 35 voted that they shouldstay up there along the ceiling above the displaywindow. After all, the cobwebs did not interferewith cutting hair. In fact, they were simply a partof the shop – spun with hundreds of stories andjokes shared by Leo’s customers over many years.

In 1997, hundreds of Wellington residents, formerstaff and old and new customers turned out tohelp Leo Duff celebrate 50 years in business. The50th anniversary book was signed by 712 people,a testimony to the role that Leo and his shop haveplayed in the town. It was a day for speeches andentertainment, reviving old memories andrenewing old acquaintances.

Leo opened for business on 25 August 1947 at theage of 19, fresh from a barber’s apprenticeship inPenrith. On the first day of business, he arrived atthe shop to find his first customers sitting on astep outside the shop. After opening the door, hefound the electricity had not yet been connected,so the two boys were sent on to another barber.Fifty years later, those two ‘boys’ were amongstthose who helped Leo to celebrate!

Leo still has all of his daybooks recording the shopincome and expenses from that very first day.Even today, he marvels at his first week’s takings–10 pounds 1 shilling and 9 pence represented afortune for a young lad in those first years afterWorld War II. Leo’s was one of seven barbers’shops in town. His own shop was one of a pair.The previous owner had operated a billiard roomnext door.

For many years Leo had three wooden barbers’chairs, two in the main shop and one in a backroom. There was linoleum on the floor, and lightbulbs hung from the high ceiling. Like mostbarbers of the period, Leo sold tobacco goods. His customers could also wager bets on the races,keep up with the boxing news, listen to the radioand smoke whilst they waited for their fortnightlytrim and shave. Even though haircuts were arelatively cheap item in the household budget, Leoalways had a large number of ‘book ups’ or creditcustomers in his record books. However, mostpaid up on payday or, in the case of boys, whenfather came in for his haircut.

32 A Lot in Store

Leo Duff in his shop in 1999. Some of Leo’s customerswere with him for more than 50 years, including onefamily that visited the shop for six generations. Leo’sadvice to barbers has always been: ‘there’s no fortune tobe made, but there’s a good living in it.’ Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

A Lot in Store 33

Leo Duff (centre) in his shop in the 1950s, with Reg Laws(left, standing), Reynold Toyer (left, sitting), an unidentifiedassistant (right, standing) and Archibald Davis (right,sitting). Before the rise of unisex hair salons, barbers’ and hairdressing shops tended to be exclusively men’s or women’s places. In Leo’s shop, for example, men camefor their fortnightly haircut and shave, and shared localnews and jokes, and perhaps the odd wager on thehorses. Photograph courtesy of Leo Duff.

Leo Duff’s window display testifies to the gendered natureof barbers’ shops and Leo’s life-long association with theboxing ring, both as a young professional fighter, andlater as a local boxing coach. A new window displayalways generated a lot of interest in the town. In 2001 Leo Duff’s shop closed and Leo has moved to anotherbarbers. Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

Some of the significantitems in Leo Duff’s shopinclude the originalcupboards, mirrors and acash drawer, as well asscissors, shavingequipment, ashtray standand a sterilizing cabinet.Photograph by Joy McCann,1999.

The migrant experienceMany different cultures have influenced shoppingheritage in Australia. Migrant shopkeeping familieshave enriched our history, as well as our shopsand shopping streets. Many shops maintain andpromote the traditions and foods of a particularculture. They have served many functions forpeople from migrant backgrounds – as a place towelcome new arrivals or meet old acquaintances,a place to buy traditional ingredients, play cards,get news or seek help or advice. The shopsthemselves have helped many newly arrivedfamilies to gain an economic foothold in their newcountry. Many shops have succeeded, oftenrelying on the family unit to put in the long hoursand hard work.

These shops have also been the setting for peopleencountering another culture for the first time, orat first hand. Many will recall their first experienceof new food and new languages in a shop setting– perhaps an Italian greengrocer, a Vietnamesegrocery store, a Lebanese clothing shop or aGreek café. In their own way, migrantshopkeepers have been the vanguard of ourmulticultural society.

In recent years, the shops established by migrantfamilies have become the stalwarts of manyshopping streets – staying put or setting up shopin the face of new shopping centre developmentsand economic downturn. In many places, migrantfamily shops have played an enduring andinfluential role in our retailing history and heritage.

Kwong Wa Chong, Haymarket, Sydney.This shop was established in 1910 and is now the oldestshop in Chinatown. As a successful merchant, Kwong WaChong was a community leader and provided assistanceto Chinese immigrants newly arrived in Australia. Chinesemigrants have a long history of shopkeeping in Australia,from fruit and vegetable retailing before World War II torunning cafés and restaurants. By the 1980s Chinese caféswere a familiar site in suburbs and country towns; therewere 7,000 of them in NSW alone. Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

34 A Lot in Store

Oscar Michelini behind the counter at his family’s Continental Deli in Harris Street, Fairfield, 1954. The customer is a friend, Mario Mariani.Greek, Italian and Lebanese shopkeepers were the face of Australia’semerging multiculturalism in the years of the postwar immigrationprogram. The Sydney suburb of Leichhardt, for example, was known as‘Little Italy’, and Italian shops sprang up to serve the needs of those newlyarrived. Photograph featured in exhibition titled ‘Forza e Coraggio’Strength and Courage; The Italians of South Western Sydney, at FairfieldRegional Heritage Centre and Liverpool Bicentennial Museum, courtesy ofthe Michelini Family.

The Niagara Café, Gundagai

Greek cafés and milk bars were once a familiarsight in suburbs and country towns throughoutAustralia. Greek cafés are still to be found,sometimes operated by the same family, and nowoften serving traditional Greek cuisine alongsidethe more familiar Aussie fare of steak, pies andhamburgers.

The Niagara Café is testimony to a shop that is stillliving and celebrating its migrant heritage. Built in1902, it is a rare example of a Greek café that haschanged little since its refurbishment by previousowners in 1933. It has also become something ofa legend in the process.

Behind the curved display windows, over theterrazzo entrance and through the glass doorsinscribed with the letters ’NC’, visitors can stilldine in timber cubicles, admire the wall mirrorsand lights, and enjoy the traditional Greekhospitality of this country café.

In one display window of the Niagara Café, visitorscan read about that famous visit of Australia’swartime Prime Minister, John Curtin. On a darkwinter’s evening in 1942, Curtin and his smallparty came to the café in search of a meal, andthe china and silver tea service are now on showas a memorial to the part that the café played inour wartime history.

35A Lot in Store

The Niagara Café has a striking art moderne style interior,with timber dining booths, black and chromium countersand a gleaming sign along the wall. The atmosphere andhistory have long made this café a favourite for travellersalong the Hume Highway. Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

The Niagara’s own piece of political history, on display inthe front window to commemorate John Curtin’s visit tothe café in 1942. Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

Greek and Australian flags proudly displayed from one ofthe 1930s wall lights. Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

A family storeThe history of many a shop is inextricably linkedwith the history of a particular family. Family shopshave often carried on through times of war andeconomic depression, loss of family members andthe rise of the shopping centre, and a shop cansometimes tell as much about a family’s history asit can about retailing history.

Bickmore’s General Store,Kurri Kurri

When Edwin Bickmore built his first store alongthe main street at Kurri Kurri in the Hunter Valley in about 1904, he established a family businessthat would span the fluctuating fortunes of thissmall mining town during the course of thetwentieth century.

Kurri Kurri was proclaimed a town in 1902 andserviced the crop of coal mining settlements atStanford Merthyr, Pelaw Main and Abermain. A Scottish immigrant Edwin Bickmore arrived inthe Hunter Valley to work in the new coalmines.By 1908 he was able to build his substantial newbrick store and a separate residence opposite his first shop. He became a pillar of the localcommunity and was a member of the Chamber of Commerce and involved in a wide range of local organisations.

This was a general store in the tradition of theuniversal providers that proliferated throughoutNSW in the nineteenth century. Bickmore’s soldboots and shoes, dress materials, manchester,clothing, ribbons, laces, hosiery, haberdasheryitems, as well as food, health remedies andhardware. Bulk dry foods were dispensed from thetimber produce store at the rear and a cellar wasused for storing bacons and hams.

Alec McIntosh married Mr Bickmore’s daughter in1934, and began working in the store with his newwife and father-in-law. Mr McIntosh had begunworking in shops at the age of 14, and learnt histrade on the job and through classes on everythingfrom ticket writing to selecting and using spices,cheeses and dried fruits.

Bickmore’s was a meeting place as well as a shop,and the relationship between shopkeeper andcustomer was always friendly but respectful.Mr McIntosh recalls how he always took great careto scan the local newspaper for school examinationresults or other information, so that he could greeta regular customer with some favourableobservation about their child or the family.

Eventually, Mr McIntosh took over the business,and his own family too became a part of the storyof this shop. From about the 1960s the businessbegan to feel the impact of widespread carownership, as customers began to shop furtherafield. However, the shop operated as a cornerstore till the end of the century, though the rangeof its stock was much reduced since its heydaybefore World War II.

36 A Lot in Store

A Lot in Store 37

Alec McIntosh has watched generations of local children grow up. He recalls how he would keep an interest in theirschool or sporting achievements, and make a point of mentioning them when next their mothers came in to shop.Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

The haberdashery boxes are still in use. Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

The changing nature and needs of smallbusinesses mean that many of our older shopsand their contents face an uncertain future.

There are different ways of caring for ourshopping heritage, depending on thecircumstances of the particular business andowner, and the local opportunities available tothose wanting to look after it.

Perhaps it is your own shop. Perhaps it is amuch loved or historically significant local shopthat is to be sold, and the precious shelves andcounters, equipment and furniture are likely tobe removed and sold off too.

The shop owner might be intending to ‘cleanup’, modernise or refurbish, or perhaps theowner is elderly and the future of the shop is uncertain.

How can we bring this rich and colourful historywith us into the twenty-first century?

The following sections explain how to go aboutdetermining what is significant about a shop, and what actions will help to look after it.

• Staying open for business

• Recording the contents

• Understanding significance

• Keeping collections in place

• Making a plan

• Making changes

• Caring for collections

• Putting shops on show

38 A Lot in Store

Looking after the shop5

Ways to document, care for andinterpret our shopping heritage

Above: Wong SatGeneral StoreCollectionPhotograph by Scott Donkin, reproducedcourtesy of PowerhouseMuseum.

A Lot in Store 39

Left: The Paragon Café, Katoomba The entry to the Paragon is set back and raisedfrom the street and features an original sign,brass window frames, a large door-mat anddouble timber doors, all of which suggest aclean and comfortable retreat from the outside world. Photograph courtesy of Natalie Broughton 1999.

Below: The Niagara Café has a striking art moderne style interior, with timber dining booths, black and chromium countersand a gleaming sign along the wall. The atmosphere and history have long made this café a favourite for travellers along the Hume Highway.

Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

A Lot in Store40

Above: Bickmores Store, Kurri KurriThe corner shop has long served as a meeting place forpeople to shop and catch up on news, although changingshopping habits are forcing many to close their doors.Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

Below: Original chinaware and biscuit tin, Niagara Café, GundagaiThe china’s quality and pattern and the Arnotts tin withthe famous parrot logo evoke memories of another eraand tell us about the experience of eating at the Niagara.Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

A Lot in Store 41

Left: Detail of tiles, Short’s Butchers,NarromineThe unusual tiled façade and interior of thisshop regularly attracts visitors. Photograph byJoy McCann, 1999.

Below: Timber drawers, Finn’s Store,CanowindraKitchen ingredients such as flour and spiceswere dispensed from wooden drawers andhopper bins below the counter which were dry and secure from vermin. Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

A Lot in Store42

Left: G.A. Zink & Sons Tailors, DarlinghurstThis 1920s terrazzo entry porch was in the lateststyle and was designed to catch the eye ofpassers by. Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

Left: The Golden Gate CaféThe Golden Gate Café in Hillston was built in1929. Operated by the Morgan Family for 67years, it remains the local café and traditionalcorner shop for the small country town ofHillston in the Riverina. Photograph by Marinco Kojdanovski, reproduced courtesy ofthe Powerhouse Museum, Sydney.

The Centre Arcade, CowraShopping arcades began to appear in country towns during the 1930s. They offered a convenient sheltered spacefeaturing a cluster of specialty shops, and sometimes even boasted a picture theatre. Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

43A Lot in Store

Staying open for businessKeeping a shop open for business is perhaps thebest way to look after the shop’s heritage. A shopwith an authentic historical character can add tothe vitality and interest of a local town or shoppingstreet. Many people like to shop in places with a‘bit of history’, and certainly keeping originalfittings and objects will add to their experience.

There are many shops that try to recreate the old world look and feel, but there is nothing likethe real thing! Having a genuine heritage shop inyour street or town can give you a marketingadvantage, as they are becoming increasingly rare.Many towns that have main street programs havealready discovered that heritage is an asset for thewhole community.

Shop owners, members of the local community orthe local council have many options for making themost of their shopping heritage. Here are somesuggestions and examples, and you may think ofother ideas along the way.

• Form a shopping heritage committee and work together to plan for activities thatcentre on recording and celebrating the historyof significant shops, their contents, and thepeople associated with them. The committeeshould include people with a range of relevant skills and knowledge. It may behelpful to include the local heritage advisor and representatives of the local museum,historical society and National Trust.

• Undertake some history research about theshop and individual objects. Use the StateLibrary of NSW or the local library, as well asold photographs, plans, local knowledge, mailorder catalogues, stocktaking records,museums, collectors, etc. Tape interviews with people associated with the shop –owners, lessees, and customers – to recordthe history from different perspectives. Record the interviews in the shop and with the collection, to prompt memories and better document the objects.

• Collect old photographs of the shops anddisplay them with a caption or brief history.Several of the case studies featured in thisguide have early photographs on display toshow customers something about the shop’s history.

• Arrange for a local newspaper to feature a story about the shop and its history. For example, the Niagara Café in Gundagai has featured in articles in the Sydney MorningHerald, which helped travellers and potentialcustomers to find out about this historic café.

• Ensure that information about local shoppingheritage is included in tourist information.

• Put together a display for Heritage Week and hold a fair or party at the shop to celebrateits history and role in the local community. Leo Duff held a 50th anniversary celebrationfor his barber shop in Wellington, and hundreds of residents and customers turned out for the occasion.

• Promote the historic character and traditions of the shop, and show how it is part of thecommunity’s history.

• Record the memories of current and formerowners, staff and customers.

Hamilton’s Bakery, Abermain

It is rare to find wood-fired bakehouses thesedays, but at Hamilton’s Bakery in Abermain,located in the Hunter Valley region, the specialisedskills and equipment of an early twentieth centurybakery live on. Built in 1908, the bakehouse’scentenary was recently celebrated by the Hamiltonfamily and they proudly display a brief history inthe front retail shop.

During the 1950s the front shop was used as ageneral store, with merchandise stored in thebakehouse. A new owner restored the bakery.Through good fortune, the commitment of thecurrent owners, and special consideration by thelocal council, the bakery has continued to operatewith its wood-fired oven, traditional bakingequipment and methods. As a heritage bakery, the owners have special council approval to keeplinoleum-covered preparation benches and a bareconcrete floor.

Some principles to remember:

Approach the owner of a shop with goodwilland sensitivity to their individual circumstances

The owner may be elderly, concerned about theirprivacy or anxious about the future of theirbusiness. They may also be too busy to talk.Because time is money, owners may be morereceptive if you buy something!

Involve everyone

Everyone who might be interested in the shop andits history, or who may be able to offer information or assistance.

44 A Lot in Store

The shop in the Hunter Valley is advertised as a ‘heritage bakery’, and regulars are treated to pies cooked daily in thebrick-lined, wood-fired oven. Here, baker Chris Hamilton uses a wooden paddle to manoeuvre baking trays deep insidethe oven. Unlike the three-phase baking process possible with modern ovens, this bakery still operates on a traditionalsingle-phase. The oven is first fired up at 2 a.m. and baking starts at 5 a.m. when the correct temperature is reached. Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

45A Lot in Store

Recording the contentsRecording or documenting the movable heritage ofa shop is a crucial part of looking after our culturalheritage. By creating a list or inventory of the keyor significant items, you will have begun theprocess of conserving the shop’s history.

When objects are moved from the shop – eitherpermanently or temporarily – the recording willhelp to recover their history and return them to theshop at a later date, if circumstances permit.These are some of the things that you can do:

• Photograph the shop in detail, inside and out,before moving any of the contents.

• Draw a sketch plan of the whole site, includingthe shop itself, outbuildings and other featuressuch as delivery areas and walkways.

• Make a list of all objects and any fixed itemsthat seem to be part of the shop’s history e.g. signs painted on the building walls orwindows.

• Photograph the key items and label thephotographs with the object number, name and date of photograph.

• Record information in a standard way (see the Sample Recording Sheet as anexample). Write down as much information aspossible about each item in your list, such aswhat it is or what it was used for, where it islocated, where it was made, and who owned it(photographs and the sketch plan of the shopsite will help here). It is possible to reinstateremoved items if they are properly recordedbefore removal.

• Talk to people who used the object or whomight remember its history. If the shop owner,and even present and past customers, recordtheir memories about the shop on tape orvideo, or in writing, the information can play a valuable part in understanding the history of an item. Ask about the way it was used,whether it was unusual or common, who usedit and what role they played. Such oral orwritten history can enhance the meaning andsignificance of a shop and its contents.

• Research the history of the locality and theshop, to help you locate the objects in theirsocial context and understand why the shop is significant.

• Carefully examine each object to see how itwas used, and note any evidence of wear andtear, repairs or alterations.

• Decide whether the object is likely to besignificant (see Understanding Significance).

• Consider researching and recording informationabout all the historic shops and their movableheritage in your locality, and placing yourresearch material (including photographs,sketches and interviews) in your local library.

46 A Lot in Store

Sample Recording Sheet for Movable Objects

Object number:

Object name:

Address of shop:

Location within shop:

Description of object:

How was object used?

History of object:

History of shop:

Why is object significant?

What opportunities are there for conserving and interpreting the shop?

Name of recorder:

Date of recording:

Brief physical description of features, materials, sizeand signs of wear and tear, repair or alteration

(attaching a photograph will help show these details)

Attach site or floor plan to show location

Allocate a new number for each object

47A Lot in Store

UnderstandingsignificanceUnderstanding exactly what is significant, andtherefore worth keeping and looking after, is thefirst logical step in making decisions about what to do with a shop. While the focus here is on the movable objects or collections in a shop, we need to look at them as part of the shop as a whole.

Understanding significance is widely adopted byheritage professionals as a starting point in anywork involving looking after places that are part of our cultural heritage.

The Australia ICOMOS Burra Charter 4 uses theterms aesthetic, historic, social or scientific valueto describe what makes a place significant interms of our cultural heritage . The IllustratedGuide to the Burra Charter explains how theseterms are used and gives examples of differenttypes of places that have these heritage values.

As we have already seen, there are many differentways that shops and their contents can beregarded as significant. Here are some things to look for.

Aspects of a Shop’s Significance

The setting

• The location and setting of a shop can still saysomething about its role in the history of thecommunity. For example, it may have been atthe heart of the old main shopping street, orestablished along a now redundant publictransport route, or conveniently located near a cinema.

The building/s

• Few, if any, shops are frozen in time. Changesto the shop and its contents over time may bepart of the heritage significance. Evidence ofthese changes tells us about such things asfashion, technology, ownership, laws andeconomic ups or downs.

• Through its layout and the types of fixtures andfittings, a shop can also reveal how the shopowner stored, moved and displayed goods.

• A shop might show changes in the way peoplehave shopped in different eras. For example,how people were encouraged to buy goodsand complete their transactions through clever positioning of signs and display stands.It might also show changes in use or layout of particular rooms, or the introduction of newspaces and equipment to accommodateretailing trends such as cash-and-carry style shopping.

• A shop can illustrate how changing technology,such as the introduction of electricity, hasinfluenced such things as layout, lighting andthe type of equipment used.

• The significance of a shop may be evengreater if it has a long history of beingassociated with a particular family, group orcommunity and this association continues tothe present day.

The objects

• Authentic interiors and objects are significant.New shops, fitted out to imitate old-styleshops, are not.

• The movable contents of a shop are an integralpart of its history and significance. Equipment,tools of trade, signs and furniture from anearlier era, or different eras, often help toexplain how that particular type of businesswas conducted and how changes were madeover time.

4 ICOMOS stands for the International Council on Monuments and Sites. The Charter for the Conservation of Places of CulturalSignificance was developed by Australia ICOMOS and formallyadopted in Burra, South Australia, in 1979. It is generally referred to as the Burra Charter, and was revised in 1999.

48 A Lot in Store

• Evidence of wear and tear is important – the condition of an object is part of itsinterest, and reveals important informationabout how it was handled and used.

• Paper records, such as stocktaking and orderbooks, account records, dockets, advertisingmaterial and mail order catalogues provide afascinating and often intimate picture of dailylife in a town. They often contain informationnot found anywhere else: what, when andhow purchases were made, who shoppedthere and slumps or peaks in the localeconomy.

• Personal letters, photographs, andrecollections of owners, staff and customersare sometimes the only sources of informationabout events, stories, and traditions associatedwith the shop. They too are part of theheritage of shopping.

• Consider all aspects of the shop, includinglighting, atmosphere, smell, even whether theshop has a cluttered or open feel – these canalso be significant aspects.

These are just some of the many ways that a shopcan reflect aspects of our cultural heritage.Observing and writing down precisely what issignificant is a crucial step in determining what isworth looking after.

Some principles to remember:

Consider all aspects of the shop

Whilst this publication pays particular attention tothe movable objects in a shop, don’t forget thatthey are part of the whole shop and its setting –consider all aspects of the shop including thebuilding, shop front, offices, storerooms, kitchens,associated buildings, yards, trees, gardens,walkways, landscape setting, contents, oralhistory, as well as the wear and tear, smells,sounds and textures.

No one era is necessarily any more significantthan any other era

Most shops have accumulated different featuresand movable items that date from differentperiods. Evidence of these changes can besignificant too.

Don’t be deceived by appearances

A significant shop isn’t necessarily big, beautiful orin mint condition. It can be important regardless ofhow modest and unassuming it may appear. Infact, some of the more significant shops remainingin NSW are likely to be humble corner shops orgeneral stores, precisely because they areassociated with the history of their community andreveal important information through the wear andtear of the years.

Shops with intact interiors, contents andtraditions are rare, and therefore significant

Few shops established before about 1960 survivewith their original layout and contents. They areeven rarer if they are also still being run in atraditional way and are associated with the originalowner or an owner of long-standing.

Tools of trade are a crucial part of our shopping heritage,and are often the very things that tell us most about thehistory of the retailing trades. Because of their portabilityand attraction for collectors, they are also the things mostlikely to be removed from the shop. These barber’s chairsand shop signs in Confoy’s Barber Shop at Coolamon arepart of the shop’s significant collection of tools of tradeand ephemera. Much of the collection’s significance liesin the fact that it remains in situ and is associated withthe original place of use and family of barbers. Relocatedto a museum, the collection may technically be moreaccessible to the public but the historical importance ofboth the shop and the collection will inevitably bediminished. Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

49A Lot in Store

Keeping collections in placeKeeping original features and contents in situ(in their original location) is part of looking after ourshopping heritage.

Here are some ideas:

• Although it is tempting to sell a shop’scontents to collectors, the historic significanceof the shop will be greatly diminished by doingso. Make every effort to keep the contents ofa shop in situ.

• Don’t automatically assume that you have tomodernise and therefore dispense withparticular equipment or features of a significantshop because it contravenes health and safetyor other legislation. There may be specialprovision for places and objects of heritagesignificance. Ask your local council first.

• If items of furniture and equipment have beenin use in a shop for many years, and are still inuse, then they will have a strong link with thehistory of the shop and they can actively showhow they were used.

• If the items are in storage and can bereinstated or displayed to explain their historyand use, you are looking after their heritagesignificance, particularly if they form part of acollection of items related to the shop.

• If the items have been sold or donated, but areable to be easily identified and perhapsborrowed or returned at a later date, theseitems will still be a significant part of thehistory of the shop because their provenance(or origin) is known and their context can beaccurately restored or interpreted.

• If items have been acquired, particularly by acollector, and no record is made of their historyand use, we consider them to have no knownprovenance. Lack of provenance will make italmost impossible to trace the history andassociation of an object with the shop, and thiswill lessen the significance of the item.

• Where the original owner or family still run ashop, and still maintain traditional ways ofdoing things, they can be said to be a living linkwith the past. This aspect of a shop is asimportant as the physical features andcontents, because it takes us beyond physicalhistory and into the realm of people’s feelingsand experiences.

Some principles to remember:

Keep significant shops ‘alive’

The best way of looking after a significant shopand its contents is to keep it open and maintain aliving link with the past. Removing the movableheritage reduces the significance of both the shopand the objects themselves.

Record key objects

This should be done regardless of the future of the shop. Recording can only be done properlywhile the contents are in situ. Don’t wait until theshop has closed. See Recording the Contents onpage 45. When the provenance, or links between an object and its origins, are no longer known andrecorded, we have lost an important aspect of ourcultural heritage.

Record people’s memories

Do this as soon as you can. It is too late once thepeople associated with the shop have died ormoved away.

Remember that a lot of our shopping history isephemeral, and can easily be destroyed or lost

The key rules are: take your time, understand whatis significant, and carefully plan what needs to bedone before you begin cleaning up or handling anyobjects. Don’t make hasty decisions.

Older shops often attract collectors and dealers who areon the trail of collectables. For example, the owner of apharmacy in country NSW is frequently approached bycustomers wanting to buy this statue. Once bought, suchan object may gain in monetary value, but its heritagesignificance is greatly diminished. At the very least, anobject acquired from a shop should be accompanied by astatement about its provenance (origin) and history, and acopy kept with the object and the shop from which it wasacquired. Photograph by Joy McCann, 1999.

50 A Lot in Store

Making a planHaving a conservation management plan is thebest way to work out what to look after and howto care for it. A conservation plan means that youhave a formula for guiding future decisions aboutlooking after the heritage of both the shop itselfand the significant contents.

A conservation management plan should include:

• a brief history of the shop;

• a physical description of the shop and itscontents;

• a simple statement about why the shop and itscontents are significant;

• a conservation policy based on anunderstanding of what is significant, anddescribing general rules and principles aboutsuch things as how objects will be handled,used, stored or displayed;

• a plan of things to do, and in what order ofpriority (a strategy).

If the contents of the shop have already beenrecorded (see Sample Recording Sheet on page 46), this information should be used in compiling the conservation plan.

Wing Hing Long Store, TinghaThe Tingha community has embarked on a process of conserving the Wing Hing Long Store and has prepared aconservation and museum management plan to guide their decisions and conservation work. It is based on thesignificance of the whole shop site, together with the contents. This store, built in 1881 to supply general provisions tothe tin mining communities of the Tingha district, was acquired by the Guyra Shire Council in 1998 in order to keep it asa living museum. The acquisition was made with assistance from members of the local community, the NSW HeritageOffice and NSW Ministry for the Arts, the Golden Threads: Chinese in Regional NSW project and the Pratt family whoare descended from Jack Joe Lowe, the fifth Chinese owner of the property. The contents are integral to its significanceand include original counters, display units, cabinets, shelving, a cashier’s aerial pulley system in working order,merchandise, advertising signs and store records. The shop and contents also demonstrate the changes and adaptationsmade over the years. The collection will remain intact, with no new objects or collections added. This means that thestore will be conserved in the condition it was acquired in 1998. The remaining stock from all phases of the store’shistory including the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s will be retained, including the aging contents of tins and bottles!Photograph courtesy of Karl Zhao.

51A Lot in Store

Extract from Wing Hing LongConservation and MuseumManagement Plan

Use the Wing Hing Long store in a way that iscompatible with its cultural significance. Useas a place museum is compatible.

Use as a place museum is compatible with thecultural significance of the complex. A placemuseum is a museum where the structures andtheir contents are themselves the artefactdisplayed and other material is not introduced,except as required for interpretation.

Place museum use requires some adaptation forvisitor facilities. It should be possible to providebasic facilities without damaging the significanceof the complex.

The Wing Hing Long Store is not suitable for useas a general museum.

The purpose of the Wing Hing Long Museumshould be to conserve, manage and interpretthe site for present and future generations andmake its significance and unique storiesaccessible to visitors and the local community.

Wing Hing Long Store collection is significant as arare and intact assemblage of retail products,furnishing, records and ephemera surviving in situin a general store complex in Tingha in NorthernNew South Wales. The integrity of the collectionsand their relationship with the various spaces ofthe building is central to the significance of thestore. The store and its contents interpret thehistory, economic fortunes, social life and peopleof this small tin mining town. It is essential thatthe collection be managed and conserved to retainits integrity and significance, and interpret itssignificance and unique stories to the localcommunity and to visitors.

The acquisition and disposal of objects shouldbe guided by the collection policy.

New artefacts should not be introduced to thecollection except in accordance with the collectionpolicy. There should be no introduction of newmaterial or display systems, storage arrangementsand possibly environmental controls that woulddamage the historical significance of the place.

Objects not associated with the store should be deaccessioned. Where possible these objectsshould be passed on to other museums in the region.

The aim should be to display nothing in the store that is not associated with Wing HingLong except in the form of structuredtemporary exhibitions or interpretive materiallike albums and display panels.

52 A Lot in Store

Making changesPlanning for change is an important part of lookingafter our shopping heritage. Change might meananything from rearranging furniture toaccommodating a new business, equipment orlegislation.

Whether the shop is to be sold, leased or simplyleft vacant, the best practice is to plan for thefuture recording and care of significant items orcollections of objects well before the shop closes,or any changes occur.

When a shop is recognised as being significant, anychanges affecting the significance of the shop andits contents should be undertaken with great care,some forward planning and possibly some expertheritage advice. It is now that you will need to beclear about what aspects are important to keep aspart of any plans for the future of the business.

Here are some steps based on the suggestionscontained in previous sections:

Step 1:Try to keep the contentswith the shop

When you know what the fate of the shopbuilding is likely to be, decide whether thecontents can be kept together with the shop,or perhaps temporarily stored for laterreinstatement (see Keeping Collections inPlace on page 49). Many shop buildings canbe adapted to different types of retailing whilesignificant aspects are left intact.

Step 2: Record the contents

Whether or not the objects are to remain inthe shop, write down a description and drawthe precise location in case they are movedfor any reason. Remember to keep yourrecords in a safe place, preferably one copywith the objects, and one stored with the localcouncil library. If necessary, index them foreasy access.

Step 3: Decide what is significant

Whilst every item should be recorded in asystematic way, you may choose to retain orselect key items for keeping or for displays onthe history of the shop. There are no hard andfast rules about how to decide which objectsto keep, but you will need to gather all theinformation you can about an object’s history,use, ownership, materials and construction.This will help you to decide whether it is asignificant part of the shop and how to carefor it.

Step 4: Seek advice

The Museums and Galleries Foundation ofNSW, or a museum professional, will be ableto provide expert advice on dealing withsignificant objects and writing a conservationmanagement plan, as well as advice onapplying for a grant if needed. If the shopbuilding (or buildings) is significant, a heritageadviser (usually attached to the local council)or conservation architect can provide adviceon ways to look after it too.

Step 5:Write a conservationmanagement plan

Before you start making changes or cleaningup the shop, put together a plan to make sure everyone involved understands thesignificant aspects of the shop, and agrees onwhat is to happen. See Making a Plan on page50. The brochure, Objects in Their Place; An Introduction to Movable Heritage will alsogive you some guidance. It is available fromthe NSW Heritage Office or downloadablefrom www.heritage.nsw.gov.au

Step 6: Raise funds

If you need to raise funds for doing this work,part of your plan could be to apply to theMuseums and Galleries Foundation, the NSWHeritage Office or your local council for agrant, or launch an appeal. Remember that acondition of the grant will usually be that aconservation plan has been prepared.

53A Lot in Store

Step 7:Talk to others

Contact others with experience in managinghistoric shops (e.g. the National Trust) and askhow they went about looking after their shop.

Step 8: Store and care for the objects

Objects require storage and care that minimisestheir rate of physical deterioration. Whilst majormuseums might have sophisticated systemsand professional staff to do this, it is possible toachieve a basic level of care with some simplemeasures. Remember that deterioration ofobjects cannot be stopped, only delayed, socaring for objects is a continuous process.

These steps may seem like a lot of work when allyou want to do is get in and sort the shop out, butthey are the best way to make sure that nothingsignificant is lost in the process of changing handsor closing the shop, and that everyone involvedhas an agreed process to follow.

A local heritage adviser can provide owners of significant shops with help in planning for changes.

• Suggestions for shop owners

Private shop owners can ensure that vital information about theshop and its contents are recorded before any information is lostor the movable contents dispersed. As a minimum, this couldinclude photographing the shop and any individual itemsassociated with its history, and recording their memories aboutthe shop (or those of family and any staff). Where familymembers divide or sell items, it is a good idea to keep a recordof who holds what item, and also ensure that a copy of anyinformation about its provenance and history stays with the item.

New owners should be encouraged to keep significant objectsand store or display them as an important part of the shop’sheritage and character.

• Suggestions for local councils

The local council can play an important role in identifying andprotecting shops in the locality. For example, an original shopfront can be retained, even when a shop is being modernised.The council can also provide information about funding orspecialist conservation advice, and may be able to assist ownersor organisations to develop options for future use of closed orvacant shops. It may also be able to help them find suitable localstorage for significant objects, or record and celebrate the localshopping heritage. If the council employs a heritage adviser, theycan be a useful starting point to discuss the shop and its heritagesignificance.

• Suggestions for community museums, historicalsocieties and community organisations

Museums and historical societies are often in the position ofbeing asked to acquire items from shops as they close down.Sometimes they are approached because they seem to be themost suitable repository, and sometimes they actively acquireitems that fit with the themes of their local history collection.Community organisations therefore have an important role toplay as guardians and interpreters of their local community’sheritage, and they need to follow good conservation practice.

• Suggestions for collectors and dealers

People who collect movable objects for personal interest orcommercial trade are also key players in determining the fate ofour shopping heritage. They are often in the unique position ofseeing objects and collections come up for sale. If they makesure that the provenance and history of their acquisitions aredocumented, they are not only enhancing the objects’ value toprospective buyers, but also keeping track of our shoppingheritage for future generations to appreciate, long after the shop is gone.

54 A Lot in Store

The Model Store, BoorowaThis former country emporium has been successfullyadapted as a newsagency. The current owner has takencare to keep significant features and objects that wereonce used in the former emporium. This sign wasreputedly written by the original owner, and still hangs inthe produce store. It is a reminder that these types ofmovable items tell us about the way things were done inthe past, an aspect of the shop’s history that is not likelyto be found anywhere in the formal records! Photographby Joy McCann, 1999.

When local newspaper stories about Abikhair’sstore began to appear in the 1980s, there was asudden surge of interest in NSW heritage circles.The shop appeared to have changed little since itwas established in 1907. Abikhair’s became widelyknown as a significant part of not only ourshopping heritage, but also the history of Lebanesemigrants in Australia. When Wal Abikhair, son ofthe original Lebanese owner, closed the store at93 years of age, the closing down sale created aflurry of activity by those who sought to save it,

including the Albury Regional Museum. In the end,the shop building was afforded local governmentprotection but the intact interior, with its’extraordinary clutter of goods’, was not so lucky.Eventually, despite the best efforts of manypeople, most of the significant items of fixtures,furniture, equipment and stock were either soldoff or acquired by the Albury Regional Museum.The new owners were able to acquire a feworiginal features to keep, and the shop itself willcontinue to sell haberdashery and clothing.

The former Abikhair’s Haberdashery Store in Albury. Museums are not just collectors of objects, they also have a role to play in helping to keep our shopping heritage in situ, documenting it, holding events to celebrate it, andencouraging greater awareness of how to look after shopping heritage under threat. Museums should have soundpolicies about caring for objects in their possession, including provision for reinstating them (perhaps on loan or bysale) in their original location if the opportunity ever arises. Photographs by Joy McCann, 1999.

Abikhair’s Haberdashery Store, Albury

55A Lot in Store

Caring for collectionsCaring for movable heritage shop collections doesnot need to be onerous. Most significant objectswill survive in the shop for long periods, providingthere is some security from theft or vandalism andprotection from pests and weather. It may bepossible, or even necessary, to keep usingsignificant objects such as counters, furniture andequipment.

Here are some basic measures that are based on good conservation practice for movableshopping heritage:

• Be guided by a conservation plan (see Making a Plan on page 50).

• If changes have to be made (e.g. for healthand safety reasons, or to modernise thepremises), try to make the changes affectingsignificant movable objects reversible.Examples include:

• placing a panel over a painted wall sign,rather than painting over it;

• laying new linoleum over the old one, ratherthan ripping it up;

• storing light fittings no longer required, forlater display or reinstatement;

• placing interesting but redundant equipment,stock or furniture on display.

• Don’t clean, repaint or restore objects if youcan avoid it – keep all the signs of age and usebecause this is part of the heritagesignificance, although you may need torelocate or protect items that are particularlyvulnerable to damage.

• Minimise the possibility of damage or theft.

• Store paper records or other delicate objectssafely away from pests, dust and light –perhaps use a safe or strong room on site, orkeep books in manila folders wrapped in acidfree paper and stored in a filing cabinet.

• Support delicate objects to prevent them fromsagging or collapsing over time.

• If building work is planned, record and secureor store movable items for later return (seeRecording the Contents on page 45).

• Seek the help of a professional museumconservator for objects that are deterioratingrapidly or where an item is to be restored toworking or usable condition.

• Keep a record of any changes or repairs tosignificant objects – notes and before-and-afterphotographs are best.

• Keep a record of all maintenance work,including the date and conditions, and keep acopy of this record with the object.

• Regularly monitor and maintain objects,especially if they are being used or arerequired to be in working condition.

56 A Lot in Store

Brennan and Geraghty’s StoreMuseum, Maryborough,Queensland

The Brennan and Geraghty’s Store Museum,owned and managed by the National Trust ofQueensland, is a ’museum about itself’. Putsimply, the store traces its history within theMaryborough community from 1871 to 1972.

It is a rich and inspiring shop museum. Thebuilding and contents have been carefullyresearched, restored and presented, very much asthe store was when George Geraghty and hissister Agnes ran it in its later years. Much of thehard work has been done with the curator andmembers of the community working together.

As the museum has taken shape, those involvedhave learnt together about good methods ofrecording, storing and displaying the contents.They have sought advice from experts. They haveheld a workshop, inviting people from differentbackgrounds to share their knowledge about waysto care for a small regional museum collection.

One of the major problems that this museumshares with all small, privately-owned museums isthat of limited resources. The museum is fortunateto have a full-time curator who has managed theprocess of conservation and exhibition. In the end,however, it relies on good planning, opportunitiesfor assistance through the various governmentgrant schemes and private sponsorship, supportfrom many local people and promotional activitiesto raise funds.

The museum has a collections policy translatedinto a brochure explaining that items offered bydonors are only accepted if they are the types ofthings once available when the museum wasoperating as a grocery store.

It also has a conservation policy that givesguidance on the best ways to look after the shop’s contents. Old photographs have helped to determine that crepe paper was used in thefront window displays. (In the early years of thetwentieth century, crepe paper was a popular andinexpensive way to decorate the windows andprovide a background for the merchandise ondisplay.) Every item, together with its originallocation when the shop was acquired, has beensystematically recorded.

The conservation policy determined that fragilepaper items such as store records needed carefulremoval, minimal treatment and storage. In somecases, copies have been made for display andresearch purposes, while the originals are keptsafely archived. Shelves are lined with brown acid-free paper, a simple and cheap way to protectobjects, as well as keeping the feel of the shopshelves.

A conservation specialist has advised that nospecial environmental controls are required toprotect the shop contents - just regular monitoringand some calico over two of the windows toprevent sun damage.

The shop building was restored using aconservation plan and some fundraising efforts. It has been painted on the outside, but the insidepaintwork has been left as it was in the 1930s to keep the feel of the original shop. Naturally, if anything starts to deteriorate, decisions have to made about what to do next. In the meantime,the idea is to do the minimum necessary, basedon a lot of thought and planning.

All in all, Brennan and Geraghty’s Store is leftremarkably as it was when George and Agnesclosed the doors for the last time in 1972. The work was done slowly. Those involved have gained new insights into the history andsignificance of different objects, as they havecarefully recorded and monitored them. This is anauthentic shop, not a reproduction, and its historyand significance shines because of it.

57A Lot in Store

The Brennan and Geraghty Store now operates as a grocery store museum of itself, with original stock. The fittings andstock accumulated over 100 years of trading were kept intact after the shop closed for business. Very little was thrownaway over the years and there are more than 100,000 objects in the collection. Even items lost between the floorboardswere recovered during an archaeological investigation before the building conservation began. There is a collectionpolicy not to collect shopping objects removed or sold through the store over the years because the store is already arecord of Maryborough’s history and the staff and volunteers don’t need even more objects to care for. Sometimeshighly significant objects relating to the store’s history are collected and kept as part of a separate collection and storedaway from the store. The heritage significance of the archival records, including stock books, is appreciated by the storeand has assisted research into the store’s history and its relationship to people and places in the region. Photographcourtesy of National Trust of Queensland.

58 A Lot in Store

Brennan & Geraghty’s StoreMuseum Collection Policy

The Brennan & Geraghty collection comprises over 100,000 items, which are all original to theproperty from when the store was an operatingcommercial business. The collection makes themuseum unique. Brennan & Geraghty’s store isone of only two grocery store museums inAustralia that are intact with their own collections.

Do we collect items for Brennan & Geraghty’sStore Museum?

Yes, we do collect items for the Brennan &Geraghty collection. We must be able to identifypotentially acceptable items as being the types ofthings that were once available from when themuseum was an operating grocery store.

Because Brennan & Geraghty’s Store is soimportant for its unusually intact collection, care istaken to ensure that we don’t collect items thatare not relevant to the museum.

In selecting material we:

• look for items that date from between 1871and 1972 (the years that the store operated)

• look for items relating to commerce andcommercial history

• look for items in good condition

• do not accept paper based material that hasnot been laminated

• do not accept metal or paper-based materialthat has not been coated with lacquers

• do not guarantee to display material.

What sort of material do we collect?

The manager of Brennan & Geraghty’s StoreMuseum can advise you on the acceptability of an item.

We generally accept:

• items relating to the Brennan & Geraghty families

• items that came from Brennan & Geraghty’s Store

• items that came from the Brennan & Geraghty family houses

• items that are identified as being the types ofstock sold from Brennan & Geraghty’s Store(identification takes place by matching materialto the original store records)

• items of advertising material – provided thatthe products being advertised were soldthrough Brennan & Geraghty’s Store

• in certain circumstances items not suitable for the Brennan & Geraghty collection may be accepted for research purposes.

Do we display all donated items?

Items that are collected are not necessarily put on display.

Items donated, if displayed, may only be displayed for short periods.

In order to distinguish between donated items and the original store items, full documentation of the item has to take place. Cataloguing ofdonated items is a time consuming task;cataloguing of the donated items must beundertaken prior to them being displayed.

Will your item last forever?

The National Trust of Queensland endeavours to maximize the life span of items donated bystoring or displaying the item in the best possiblemanner dependent on funding and storage space.

Conservation and preventative conservation of an item is a very time consuming and at times expensive process. The National Trustcannot guarantee that any donated item will last forever. Items of low-grade quality material will deteriorate in time.

Do we purchase or borrow items?

Purchase The National Trust does notpurchase material for the Brennan & Geraghty collection.

Loan We do not borrow items for display purposes.

How can you lodge material?

Assessment Items can be lodged for assessment and can be received bythe staff and volunteers at Brennan& Geraghty’s Store Museum.

Donation Items will be assessed foracceptability prior to being received as a donation, thisassessment will be undertaken by the Curator/Manager at Brennan& Geraghty’s Store Museum.

The National Trust of Queensland is approved toreceive gifts under the Federal Government’sTaxation Incentives for the Arts Scheme, wherebydonors may receive substantial benefits for gifts to public collections.

59A Lot in Store

Putting Shops on ShowMuseums and exhibitions, both big and small, playa crucial role in looking after and popularising thehistory of shops and shopping.

As we have seen, keeping a shop and its contentstogether and functioning as part of a viablebusiness, is undoubtedly the very best way to lookafter our shopping heritage. It also ensures thatwe can maintain some continuity with, andunderstanding of, our past.

However, when a shop is historically significant,and it simply has to be closed and its contentsremoved, one option is to consider creating amuseum. A good museum is a caretaker of ourhistory, and it is one way of making the shop’shistory accessible to everyone.

Shop museums

A shop turned into a museum can be a powerfulmedium for educating and entertaining visitors.Shop museums are generally those that aresignificant because they have kept much of theirhistorical character and an intact collection ofmovable objects.

A shop museum, although perhaps no longer avibrant living shop, can still speak volumes aboutthe history of a place and its people. Objects andpictures on display, even the setting, all have theirown fascination.

A shop museum doesn’t need a lot of additionalsigns or showcases to work. Add simply writtenlabels and historical fact sheets or stories next tokey items, and perhaps have a knowledgeableguide to show people around, and the museumwill not only inform and entertain, but also putpeople in touch with the cultural history of thelocal community.

Shop museums do require careful management,and a conservation management plan is crucial(see Making a Plan on page 52). Because theyalready have a significant collection, shopmuseums are generally closed collections – that is,nothing new is added to the collection at a laterdate unless it can definitely be attributed to theshop’s history.

Anything else introduced to the museum later(such as items donated from other shops) is notpart of this shop’s collection, although they couldstill be displayed separately and labelledappropriately.

60 A Lot in Store

Shop displays and exhibitions

Of course, not every significant shop that closescan be turned into a museum. When the contentsof a shop are earmarked for safeguarding anddisplay, they most often end up as individual itemsor a collection within a general historical museum.

With a reliable method of recording, storing andhandling the objects safely, it might be possible tomount an exciting exhibition about the shop, orabout the locality and its local characters as awhole. Exhibitions about shopping can also be aclever way of introducing people to the history of shops and shopping, as well as telling the world something about the place where theexhibition originated.

Sometimes, a new owner, a change of fashion, ora change of use, can mean a shop is ripe for thereturn of its original contents that may have beenin the care of a museum or private collector.

Establishing a shop museum or an exhibition usingthe objects, photographs and stories aboutshopping, involves a commitment of time andresources. But there are many rewards forcommunities who succeed in opening a windowto their past.

Some principles to remember:

Do as little as necessary

This includes keeping the way a shop is laid out.The meaning and interest lies in the mixture ofimpressions for the visitor – the smells, soundsand perhaps even the clutter.

Copy old documents and photographs

Place in a folder for visitors to enjoy withoutdamaging the originals.

Label copies or examples in exhibitions

Make it clear to visitors that they are not original to the shop.

Monitor objects

Keep track of objects carefully once they are ondisplay or in storage.

Don’t invent information or recreate objects

Keep the shop and its contents authentic. If youdon’t know what an object is or how it was used,ask the owner, older shopkeepers or visitors.

Make your display a ‘closed’ collection

People appreciate authentic history, so make it apolicy not to introduce any new objects to acollection or display that have nothing to do withthe shop’s history. Think carefully before acceptingold stock or other shop objects – you could fill yourstore several times over and make it difficult toremember which are the original objects andwhich ones were added recently. Think aboutputting old furniture and tools of trade back inpractical use if it is safe to do so and will notcause too much wear and tear.

Get permission to display any sensitivematerial

Any objects or material that might be regarded as sensitive or private by the families of shopowners, customers or others should be displayedwith care. For example, old pharmacy prescriptionsmight contain personal information aboutsomeone’s health or stock books might containinformation on the credit worthiness of familiesthat live in the area.

Use simple display methods

Ask shop museums for simple, cheap methods oflooking after and displaying objects that they haveused successfully. There is no need to use yourprecious funds on elaborate museum-standardequipment unless you have sought advice fromdifferent experts and there is no alternative.

Aim for a high standard of maintenance and labelling

This will enhance the importance of the shop andits contents.

61A Lot in Store

Wong Sat General Store CollectionPowerhouse Museum

Museums can play a crucial role in looking after the movable heritage of shopping. The Powerhouse Museum acquired a collection of rural Chinese shopping heritage from thedescendants of Wong Sat, who established hisstore on the goldfields route in Bolong in the1870s. The museum is preparing the collection asa permanent exhibit, and these items now providerare insights into a nineteenth century Chinesegeneral store. The museum has also collectedassociated historical information that helps tointerpret the items.

Wong Sat General Store CollectionPhotograph by Scott Donkin, reproduced courtesy ofPowerhouse Museum, Sydney.

Objects from Wong Sat General Store CollectionPhotograph by Penelope Clay, reproduced courtesy ofPowerhouse Museum, Sydney

62 A Lot in Store

Australian Museums On Line:http://www.amol.org.auThis internet guide provides informationon more than 1,000 Australianmuseums and other collectinginstitutions, plus a database of over400,000 items from around Australia.

Australia ICOMOS, The Burra Charter;the Australia ICOMOS Charter forPlaces of Cultural Significance,Australia ICOMOS, Melbourne, 2000.

Clegg, G., Graham, T., Petersen, J. & Winkworth, K., Safe in the Shed:Caring For Historic Farm Machinery,NSW Heritage Office and Ministry forthe Arts Movable Heritage Project,Sydney, 2001.

Collins, J., Gibson, K., Alcorso, C.,Castles, S. & Tait, D., Shop Full ofDreams: Ethnic Small Business inAustralia, Pluto Press Australia,Leichhardt, 1995.

Kingston, B., Basket, Bag and Trolley: A History of Shopping in Australia,OUP, Melbourne, 1994.

Marquis-Kyle, P. & Walker, M., The Illustrated Burra Charter: MakingGood Decisions About the Care ofImportant Places, Australia ICOMOS,Canberra, 1992.

Miles, J., Brooks, K. & Wilton, J.,Conservation and MuseumManagement Plan for Wing Hing LongStore, Tingha, National Trust of Australia(QLD) for NSW Heritage Office andMinistry for the Arts Movable HeritageProject, Sydney, 2000.

NSW Heritage Office, NSW HeritageManual, NSW Heritage Office &Department of Planning, Sydney, 1996.

NSW Heritage Office, RegionalHistories, NSW Heritage Office &Department of Planning, Sydney, 1996.

NSW Heritage Office and Ministry forthe Arts Movable Heritage Project,Objects in their Place: An Introductionto Movable Heritage, NSW HeritageOffice, Sydney, 1999.

NSW Heritage Office and Ministry forthe Arts Movable Heritage Project,Movable Heritage Principles, NSWHeritage Office, Sydney, 2000.

Pearson, M. & Sullivan, S., Lookingafter Heritage Places: The Basics ofHeritage Planning for Managers,Landowners and Administrators,Melbourne University Press,Melbourne, 1995.

Pollon, F., Shopkeepers and Shoppers:A Social History of Retailing in NSWfrom 1788, Retail Traders Associationof NSW, Sydney, 1989.

Pollon, F. & Greeves, P., A Romance withRetailing: An Early History Before 1900and Progress to 1913, Retail TradersAssociation of NSW, Sydney, 1983.

Robertson, B., Oral History Handbook,Oral History Association of Australia(SA Branch), Adelaide, 1996.

Russell, R. & Winkworth, K.,Significance: A Guide to Assessing theSignificance of Cultural HeritageObjects and Collections, HeritageCollections Council, Canberra, 2001.

Vines, E., Streetwise: A Practical Guidefor the Revitalisation of CommercialHeritage Precincts and Traditional MainStreets in Australian Cities and Towns,Peacock Publications for National Trustof Australia (NSW), Norwood SA, 1996.

Walker, M., Heritage Interiors: An Illustrated Guide, unpublished,National Trust of Australia (NSW) 2000.

Walker, M., Protecting the Social Valueof Public Places: An Illustrated Guide,Australian Council of National Trusts,Canberra, 1998.

Selected Referencesand suggestions for further reading

6