Queensland Shopfitting History 1990-onwads Part 1

This article is a two-part series which follows on from previous issues about the shopfitting industry in Queensland from 1860-1900. We now continue the journey as we take a look at some of the industry ‘players’ from 1900 onwards in Brisbane and provincial towns.

The first decade of the 20th century finds the beginning of some shopfitting companies that are still trading today and of others that are long gone. Brisbane and surrounds had a population of 122,210 and was made up of 20 municipalities and shires. The start of this century threw a lot at our industry, as Brisbane suffered an outbreak of the Bubonic Plague in 1901, a call to arms for the Boer War in 1902 and the outbreak of World War I in 1914. This was followed by the Spanish Flu in 1919, which saw 40% of the population at that time infected and in quarantine. The Queensland border was closed and food supplies and building materials were in short supply.

Still, at that time most of the shopfitting factories were based around the central city (‘The City’), Fortitude Valley (‘The Valley’) and Newstead areas, as the first small privately owned electricity generating supply companies were also in and around The City area. It was not until the 1920s, after the Brisbane City Council was established, that electricity was supplied to the suburbs.

As we move in to the 1900s in Brisbane and other provincial towns, we find that there was a flurry of building works that commenced state-wide just prior to the turn of the century. Large department stores were built, many of which are still standing today. There were cafés, clothing stores and arcades developed with a new sophistication being offered to the public, some even had electric lights and “cool air”.

The arcades were a version of the shopping centres that were yet to come. Some of the early ones were:
Royal Exhibition Arcade Brisbane
Grand Arcade Brisbane
Royal Arcade Charters Towers
Town Hall Arcade Townsville
Town Hall Arcade Brisbane
Rowes Arcade Brisbane
Grand Central Arcade Brisbane
Royal Red Arcade Ipswich
Mayfair Arcade Brisbane
Tattersalls Arcade Brisbane
Blocksidge & Ferguson Arcade Brisbane
Wallace Bishops Arcade Brisbane
MLC Arcade Brisbane
Brisbane Arcade
Piccadilly Arcade Brisbane
Comino’s Arcade Redcliffe.

In Brisbane, one of the department stores was Finney Isles, who built a store at 196 Queen St in 1909, which later became David Jones premises. Alan & Stark built various individual buildings from 1881-1899 and one at 110 Queen St, which in 1970 became Myer, prior to the building of the Myer Centre in 1988. Hardy Brothers Building at 116 Queen St was built in 1881 and occupied by Hardy Brothers Jewellers from 1894 until they relocated in 2016. They were only recently bought out by Wallace Bishops Jewellers.

Palings Company building, at 86 Queen St Brisbane was built as 4 individual, identical buildings from 1885 -1919. They were well known throughout Queensland for the supply of musical instruments, sheet music and later vinyl pop records from the swinging 60s until 1986.

At the start of the 20th century, the Brisbane Town Centre was expanding, and stores were opening at South Brisbane and Fortitude Valley. At South Brisbane in 1886 the early department store of Piggot and Bierne was built in Stanley St but burned down in 1891. The Valley was developing quickly as another shopping hub, with access now by train and trams from the northern and southern suburbs.

The Irish connection was heavily involved in the development of department stores in their early stages. With Piggots establishing a store in Brunswick St The Valley and in Toowoomba. T C Bierne opened opposite Piggots (his former business partner) in Brunswick St The Valley. (Piggot had been T C Biernes’ employer in Ireland).
James McWhirter (a Scotsman) had also opened a small store in Brunswick St, but he had grandiose plans. To start with, he bought out Piggots Brunswick St business then proceeded, as part of his plan, to purchase 4 blocks of land at the corner of Brunswick St/Wickham St and Warner Sts. Eventually, his 5-storey building took up an acre of land and was the leading store in The Valley. McWhirter, being an astute businessman, fitted out all levels of his department store in the latest fixtures and fittings, mainly in silky oak timber finishes and had the renowned beautiful large, glazed shopfront windows along Brunswick St.

McWhirters directly imported many lines and pioneered free carriage of mail orders servicing all parts of Queensland. In 1955, Myer Emporium took over the McWhirters company. In trying to not be outdone by McWhirters, in 1902 T C Bierne constructed a large building opposite, with further extensions over the years. In 1956 the building was sold to David Jones.
On the other corner of Brunswick St and Wickham St, Overells Drapery established in 1901, commenced the building of their department store to oppose McWhirters and T C Bierne. This also was a successful business and established stores throughout Queensland. In 1956, the large American Group Waltons purchased the building and the business. In these heady years, the local shopfitting companies in Brisbane City, Fortitude Valley and Newstead were all kept busy manufacturing and fitting out these department stores and the associated specialty stores. In 1905, shopfitters were earning 9 shillings a week for a 6-day, 48-hour week.

At this time, the other large department store to be built in The City was McDonnel & East, at 414 George St. The company commenced in 1901 in leased premises, also in George St but soon purchased adjacent land and finally in stages, built what is now on the Queensland Heritage Register, along with the other 3 buildings mentioned above. By 1988, with strong competition from suburban shopping centres such as Westfield and with the declining reputation and quality of the suburb, The Valley had become much less desirable as a shopping district and all 3 department stores had closed.

McDonnel and East traded successfully until 1990 and at that time had stores at Garden City Shopping Centre at Mt Gravatt (a suburb of Brisbane), Rockhampton Shopping Fair, Nerang St Mall Southport, Surfers Paradise Holiday City Centre, Toowoomba, Warwick and Ipswich. They also closed the well-known Pikes Menswear store at the top of Queen St, which they had acquired. Pikes had commenced trading prior to 1900.

Prior to 1907 our industry Apprentices in Brisbane attended The Brisbane Technical College at 2 George St, The City. Then in 1907, plans were announced for a much larger modern Technical College, which was constructed in stages from then until 1956. This became QIT and later changed to QUT in 1987, as a University. The area is now known as Gardens Point Campus. In the 1960s the trades were moved out to campuses in the Northern and Southern suburbs of Brisbane, as well as to some Provincial Towns.

There were 34 cabinetmakers and upholsterers (as they referred to themselves) and 17 carpenter and joiner companies. Advertisements from the time, and because they had premises in The City, advertised as providing shopfitting, shop and office fitting and cabinetmaking services. It is interesting to sight these advertisements and the addresses of their factories, e.g. F W Thompson Shop and Office Fittings, Gilbert Place Queen St, opposite the Treasury Building, B Cunningham Builder and Shop & Office Fitter, 191 Elizabeth St and F H Marshall & Co. Builders and Shopfitters, 153-154 Elizabeth St, to mention a few.

Their only means of advertising their services were in the morning and afternoon newspapers, they also had to advertise for staff in the same newspapers. In the regional towns at this time there were generally 1 or 2 cabinetmakers or shopfitters, depending on the size of the town and evidence shows that if there were 2 cabinetmaker/shopfitters, then both advertised as the town undertakers. At that stage, Charters Towers, being a thriving Town, had 4 cabinetmaker/shopfitters, so it followed that 3 of the 4 companies were also listed as undertakers. In some advertisements of the time these companies advertised that they carried out the shop and office requirements of the town, as well as manufacturing coffins and carrying out burials, certainly an ‘upsell’ one could say.

One company name that keeps appearing in the research is R S Exton & Co. Robert Skerrett Exton was a prolific painter, decorator and glazier, who commenced business in Brisbane in 1882. The company also imported staff from the UK to assist with the production of stained glass works. They became famous for producing fine stained glass in the churches and cathedrals in Brisbane and throughout Queensland. They had purpose built their office/warehouse at 333 Ann St Brisbane City, the façade of which remains and is Heritage listed. They had a factory in Bowen St. The Valley and in 1919 they purchased another building in Wickham St. The Valley on the corner of Constance St and commenced their shopfitting and glazing department, which traded at that site until the 1970s.

They advertised that they manufactured all classes of modern shopfronts, showcases, banks, hotels and all general interior fittings, drawn sheath metal shopfront mouldings, nickel brackets, stripping for window fittings and all accessories pertaining to modern shopfittings and window displays. Their factory in Toowoomba also traded until the 1970s.
An R S Exton advertisement from the Brisbane Daily Mail in April 1922 reads, “Modernize Your Store, Success Depends Largely on Appearance. Shopfronts, Showcases and All Glass Counters Designed and Constructed for the Modern Businessman. Silent Salesmen that Work for You Day and Night.” Upon the closure of the business in the 1970s, several of the glaziers moved onto the likes of G James and the shopfitters to other shopfitting companies of the time.

Another company supporting the industry in The Central City area was the company S Cook & Sons, who had commenced in 1895 and remained in the area until 2001. They were electroplaters in nickel, chrome, tin, cadmium, zinc, silver, copper and brass. At one stage, they had 30 employees and the company, in the same family’s hands, still operates in a smaller way at the Northern Suburb of Arana Hills. A shopfitting company that was established in 1889 and still advertised until 1940, was E J Grigg & Son Pty Ltd. Their office and workshop was at Bowen St. The Valley, their advertising suggests they also completed many jobs in The City.

Another electroplating company in The City established in 1903 was A G Jackson Electroplaters. They carried out plating works for the industry but also had developed and patented shopfront window fittings. They also provided oxy and antique coppering and manufactured shopfitting’s to order.
In 1912, shopfitters were earning approx. 44 shillings for a 6-day 48-hour week. In the Brisbane 1912 Directory, there were 4 listed shopfitting companies, 38 cabinetmakers and upholsterers and 16 carpentry joinery companies and most offered shopfitting capabilities.
In 1912 the Brisbane business of T Early & Sons was established. Throughout the years they have been involved in producing freestanding commercial furniture, office fit-outs, and lift car interiors. The business still trades today and has been under the same family ownership all that time.

Also, in 1912 in Brisbane, a 7-week strike occurred and all factories, shops and hotels were closed down by 47 unions.
This has been reported as the world’s first strike. Around this time, a company by the name of D G Brims & Sons Joinery had started at Milton. They also had an adjacent sawmill and a business named Brisbane Aircraft & Automotive Engineering, where they made aeroplanes.

This business became prosperous during World War I, as they made products for aircraft and carried out repairs. They purchased land at Yeerongpilly in 1928 and installed a plywood mill as well as other manufacturing sections at that site. Later, in the 1960s they manufactured particle board products as they hit the scene and eventually rebadged as Brims Distributors, a business that lasted until the 2000s.
To be continued…

Queensland History 1860-1900 Part 2

A s mentioned in the our previous article, the development of Queensland was heavily influenced by distance and time. The regional towns and hence shopfitters reflected the peculiarities of the towns which were influenced by the conditions that had led to their establishment. Relatively small populations led to shopfitters filling more than one role, e.g. W. Reed in Ipswich combined the role of cabinetmaker and undertaker!

Charters Towers
Towns up the east coast of Queensland in most cases began to thrive in the late 1800s, with the finding of gold and the setting up of the infrastructure to service the population explosions this brought. Most towns were situated on rivers and became port towns, shipping the gold or other minerals to the coast for export. All these towns required shopfitters to assist with the growth of stores, hotels, government offices etc, to cater for the booming population growth and the building of beautiful heritage style buildings.

Many of these have been preserved and a fine example is the beautiful inland city of Charters Towers where the Venus Gold Battery was established in 1872. Many miners became millionaires and the town thrived and at one stage Charters Towers was the largest town in Queensland. The Royal Arcade, a shopping arcade of fine shops was built in 1887, but with such growth from the gold mines, the arcade became the Charters Towers Stock Exchange in 1889. The town was described as having streets of fine shops and residences, cold air stores, telephones, electric light, gas light and electric fans. At one stage, the town had 104 hotels. As well as shopfitters, many well-known characters came to the town, such as Breaker Morant, Andrew Dawson, the first Labour Premier in the world and a man named Benjamin Toll.

Benjamin Toll started out as a builder, merchant and undertaker/embalmer as well as serving for a while as Lord Mayor, he also started a business as the Phoenix Steam Joinery works prior to 1893. He advertised and provided architecture ‘own designs’ (at Southern Prices), joinery of all descriptions, sashes, doors, shopfittings, mouldings etc. He had a factory in Mary Street and a showroom in a building he called the Bazzar (at 189 Gill Street, the main street), where he offered designs and hardware to customers. He had over 200 staff at one stage and was ahead of his time with ideas and methods. He also carried out upholstery, silverware electroplating and supplied and laid carpet. He stocked ironmongery, hardware, locks, and handles etc. This business lasted for many years, until he unfortunately was declared bankrupt, approximately 30 years later.

Also at that thriving time for the town, were other cabinetmakers/ shopfitters, cashing in on the fitout works to all the new buildings, such as the following:
• Arthur Curry
• Max Hilder – Gill Street
• A Falsett (a former employee of Benjamin Toll)
• A.J. Andrews – Gill Street
• G.H. Smith – Gill Street
During this exuberant time and dynamic period, many solid Victorian buildings (which remain today) were built by the city fathers determined to flaunt their wealth and, in terms of public architecture, is unrivalled in Queensland.
A common theme in many of the regional towns in that era I have come across is that the shopfitter also offered his services not only to make coffins, but he was also an undertaker in the town.

Maryborough
Maryborough is another town that benefited from a gold rush in 1856. It is one of Queensland’s oldest towns and was also a port city. At one stage in the early days, it was second to Sydney as an eastern seaboard port for timber, wool, meat, sugar and coal. The town was planned with wide streets in the centre, fine Victorian architecture, and the latest shopfronts and shopfittings, establishing itself as the shopping hub of the Central goldfields and very beneficial to the local shopfitting industry.

Maryborough, being blessed with surrounding hoop pine and cedar forests, had many timber mills supplying cabinetmakers and shopfitters at the time. Hyne Timber began in Maryborough in 1882 and still trades today, with plants up the east coast of Qld and in NSW. In Qld, by-­products of the mill are used by Laminex Industries and by Visy in NSW.

One early cabinetmaker/shopfitter was Denson & Wallace who commenced in 1875 in a factory in the central town area. They advertised that they could make shopfittings, sashes etc and could make to order ‘on the shortest notice’ (nothing has changed). They also offered to make shopfittings, doors, sashes at prices ‘that will defy competition’.
One of their competitor companies in 1875 was another Shopfitting company known as Henry Parsons. They advertised that they could make ‘shopfronts and fittings made to order’ and ‘every description of joinery work done’ as well as ‘plans and estimates given at lowest machine prices’. One of the stores fitted out in 1896 was a general store known as Brennan & Geraghty’s. This store remains today but as a Museum with original counters, bottles and boxes dating back to the 1890s.

Another museum but still actually trading as a pharmacy, is the former Gaydon’s Pharmacy in the nearby Heritage listed town of Childers. The pharmacy has the original polished cedar timber/glass counters and timber wall units, including old glass bottles, gold leaf lettering to signs, and Wedgwood mortar and pestles from the 1894 fit-out.

Townsville
Townsville, the unofficial Capital City of North Queensland, has always been regarded as a working-class city. It was also a port city for the export of gold from Charters Towers and later bulk ore from Mt Isa. The town centre suffered many large fires in the early days. There have also been many cyclones and floods and it was bombed three times by the Japanese during World War 2. One could say the renewal of the Central Shopping District is forced by nature to occur regularly.

Ipswich
Ipswich is another town that was an early important port city, even though only 40km upstream from Brisbane.
Industry had to use the river to ship coal, wool, limestone and at one stage in 1858 it was considered as a possible capital for Queensland. Ipswich also benefited from having railway before Brisbane, so the town was a wealthy bustling area, well known for its fine architecture both used in city buildings and attractive shops. Also, because of the wealth at the time, there was a beautiful style of home known mainly only to Ipswich which was made from predominately low set local made brick with curved iron rooves and locally made cast iron lace features. Many of the old stores and houses are heritage listed.

Two companies carrying out shopfitting in 1885 have been found in advertising. E Meggitt in Bell St. Ipswich advertised that they had a workshop ‘for the manufacturing of shopfittings and joiners’ work’. They had also opened a showroom in Bell St. their advertising continued, ‘hopes by combining good workmanship with moderate charges the public will merit a share of their support’. W. Reed advertised as a ‘Cabinetmaker and Undertaker’ in Brisbane St. Ipswich, a friendly offer.
Ipswich had some large retailers and department stores, one such store that opened in1849 as Cribb and Foote, (becoming Reids in 1977) was a centre piece of the central shopping area, until the disastrous fire of 1985 decimated the whole central shopping district.

Attempts to rebuild a financially successful and inviting space for customers and the Central Shopping Plaza for retailers since the 1985 fire, have not worked to date and as recently as a few months ago it was announced by Ipswich Council that a total rebuild of the whole central shopping area will occur as an inducement to regrow the shopping experience in the city.
The early settlers in the above port cities located the central business areas close to the rivers as required for trading purposes. However, in 1893, 1974, and 2011 in conjunction with yearly cyclones and high tides, all the eastern seaboard cities have suffered severely from flooding. On top of the major events, traditionally one or two cyclones will cause damage at selected towns as the cyclone crosses the mainland in the monsoon season. In some towns, shopfitters in Queensland have for years been manufacturing the fitouts in waterproof ply/laminated, only to leave during times of flooding. Some towns with imminent flood warnings have local transport companies ready to totally empty the shops of fixtures and fittings on semi-trailers to higher covered storage for three or four days, till such time as the retail precincts are washed and cleaned after the flooding has receded, then the job of reinstalling the fixtures and fittings begins once more. This, apparently, is cheaper than the insurance premiums.
To be continued.

Queensland History 1860-1900 Part 1

A distinguishing feature of Queensland is distance.
Sydney to Bathurst is 200km, Melbourne to Ballarat a mere 115. By contrast, Brisbane to Townsville is 1,335km. The tyranny of distance meant that towns developed at a different pace and with different requirements. Because of that we have looked at separate history lines.

In about 2007, at an ASOFIA (now IFA) National Council Meeting, I suggested that we should attempt to collate some of the history regarding the shopfitting industry in Australia. At the time I made the comment, I was looking at my good friend Fred Ryder, of Ryder Shop & Office Fitting, who graciously put up his hand and offered to make a start on the project.
It soon dawned on us what a huge project this would be and that we may have to break the research down to a State-by-State collection of our industry’s history. I started the Queensland sector of the project in 2017 and soon realised the amount of research that would be necessary. Compounding the workload was my decision to begin in 1860.

It seemed fitting to begin the history of fitouts in the Capital city with a population at the time of 13,000. A desire to separate from New South Wales began to emerge, as Queensland’s economic significance increased, its productivity and population expanded and the people of Queensland began to realise the importance of Brisbane as a port and urban centre. Queen Victoria finally granted the new Colony of Queensland its independence from New South Wales on the 6th June 1859.

Although it may have been a good thing for the creation of employment/workloads of the operating shop and office fitters of the time, it was unfortunate for the shopkeepers as the early settlement of Brisbane Town suffered flooding in the town area in 1867, 1870, 1873, 1887, and then the Great Flood of 1893. This was all after the earlier Great Fire of Brisbane in 1864 when most of the earlier timber-constructed two-storey buildings with shops/offices were lost. So much for ‘nature’ creating healthy workloads for the shop and office fitters, as they were known even back in those early days.

The location of shopping has not changed since the early settlement days, with most of the nearby settlements’ population in those days having to carry out family grocery and other shopping/business requirements in and around Queen St. Brisbane Central, and nearby Fortitude Valley.

With the centralised location of the town, the development took place with all the major roads leading into the town, a problem that has existed until recent times.
The Queen St. of 1859 consisted of a dirt road with some two-storey timber buildings, perhaps with family living above their stores and a lot of single weatherboard cottages. The first Brisbane City Council was elected in 1859 and the city began to grow at a fast pace, which continued for the next 20 years or so and then a boom in growth from 1890 to 1900 which saw the construction of brick and stone. Magnificent buildings, some of which still stand today, housing well known retailers, banks etc.

A bumpy horse and cart ride was the main mode of transport, with the Brisbane river a busy source of supplies and shipping of products to other regional areas from the wharves along it. Horse-drawn trams began about 1870 running on the ground, then in rails about 1875 and, finally, electric trams in 1897.

Queen St. Brisbane was the first recorded town in Australia to demonstrate the use of electricity for street and shop lighting in 1882. As Brisbane grew, so did the number of shopfitting companies, as more permanent, modern, above two-storey buildings filled Queen St. and they required the latest shopfronts and shopfittings. There was grocery, drapery, ironmonger/hardware stores, hotels, banks, as well as government offices (some of which still stand today).

Also constructed were such iconic buildings as All Hallows School in 1866, Brisbane Grammar School in 1868, Brisbane General Hospital in1875, Brisbane Girls Grammar School in 1875 and Tara House (The Irish Club). Stores such as Finney Isles Department Store (now Queens Plaza Shopping Centre) commenced in 1864, McWhirter’s in 1898, Allan & Stark (later Myer) in 1896, Trittons in 1889. All these stores – and many more – were fitted out in the latest fittings, providing work for many shop and office fitting companies and valuable training grounds for apprentices over the past 140 years.

Finney Isles had a few store relocations from 1864 onwards but, eventually in 1910, moved into a five-storey building between Adelaide and Queen Streets, which was custom-built. The building featured innovative display windows on Queen Street, silky oak staircases, lifts decorated in lattice ironwork and silky oak, pneumatic tubes for exchanging cash, a roof-top water tower and a large generator providing electricity to the lights, lifts and pneumatic system. The building also had workrooms where it had 400 sewing machines, making their own clothing, as well as a manufacturing section, making furniture and their own shopfittings. This business lasted until the 1960s when it was taken over and became David Jones.

Another popular, early department store was Allan & Stark at 110 Queen Street. The original owners were James Allan and Robert Stark. It opened in 1899 after commencing trading in 1881 as a drapery store. The buildings and business were sold to Myer in 1961, continuing to trade under the Allan & Stark name until 1970.

Myer operated in the Heritage listed buildings from 1970 until 1988 when they moved across Queen Street to the Myer Centre.
Allan & Stark had the foresight to realise that the motor car was already a common sight and people were using it for their weekly shopping trips. They saw the need for inner city retail firms to rethink their future planning. They designed the first drive-in shopping centre in Australia, at suburban Chermside, which was opened in 1957. It was air-conditioned and surrounded by space to park 700 cars. ‘An island of retailing in a lake of parking’.

Also at that time were a couple of large timber/hardware companies that provided all timber/hardware requirements in Brisbane to shopfitters of the day, one being Finlaysons, a company that still remains trading to this day, and Campbells Timber & Hardware that was absorbed by BBC Hardware in 1995. Campbells also traded in provincial towns for tradespeople to purchase supplies from.

The early Brisbane shopfitting companies were based mainly around inner Brisbane Town, Fortitude Valley and South Brisbane to service the nearby stores and because of the availability of electricity being supplied by small private generating companies. Another reason was the availability of train services and trams to the town area (buses came later), so tradespeople could easily access their workplaces. The tradespeople would generally be dressed in bib overalls, with a dress coat over the top, a hat and, of course, a Gladstone bag. Some of the department stores had in-house shopfitting workshop facilities in their basement, manufacturing the required shopfittings and to carry out maintenance works as necessary. This method of major stores using local shopfitters to service town businesses continued until the 1950s.

Advertisements in the 1860-1900 period in the daily newspapers of the time offered the services of shopfitters or shop and office fitters. Perhaps this was the British influence, as even to this day in the UK and Europe, the Trade is well identified as such. I have seen advertisements of the time, for the auction of shopfittings, showcases, counters and shop and window fittings.
Employers in the 1890s looking for staff in Brisbane would advertise in both the morning and evening newspapers, except in provincial towns where there would only be a morning newspaper. The ads for tradespeople would appear under Professions, Trades etc. or in another column headed Situations Wanted. In 1886, the wage for a shopfitter for an 8-hour day, 6 days a week, was 8 shillings.

I have seen many advertisements for cabinetmakers, cabinetmaker apprentices and joiners, all normally in the central business area factories at that stage. Also, tradespeople arriving from overseas would advertise in these columns seeking employment and advertising their availability. The provincial town shopfitters and cabinetmakers would advertise their company’s services in the local morning newspaper weekly.

There were sawmills adjacent to most railway stations on the north side of the town that would service the shopfitters and cabinetmakers, as the logged specialty timbers came down from Mt. Glorious, Mt. Nebo and Mt. Mee. Other specialty timbers would be brought down from the North Queensland rainforests, or the now Gold Coast hinterland rainforests and Noosa River forests. Also, hardwood/softwoods/pine and cedar were supplied from the Brookfield area, where logs were carted to Rafting Ground and floated down Moggill Creek to the Brisbane River to sawmills at North Quay. There were also plywood mills attached to some sawmills, providing plywood sheets as well as timber, used to construct cabinets and counters in methods adopted until the introduction of particleboard in the 1960s. As well as the shopfitting factories in the inner-city areas, there were hardware suppliers, glass and metal fabricators and finishers with their factories supplying the local industries.

From the early days, architectural firms traditionally would assist the storekeepers with the design and layout of their stores as well as control the fitouts on-site, be they restaurants, cafés, banks, medical rooms, museums, schools, hotels, theatres etc. The architects’ supply line and control continued until the advent of designers with design practices in the 1960s. Some would say the professionalism of the relationship was lost at that time.

Some original hotels built and lovingly refitted over the years show the skill level of our tradespeople in the past and up to the present day:
The Victory Hotel – 1855
The Waterloo – 1880
The Post Office – 1876
The Alliance – 1888
The Embassy – 1864
The Wickham – 1885
The Norman – 1889
The Regatta – 1886
The Treasury – 1887
The Transcontinental – 1883
The Normanby – 1890
Prince Consort – 1887
The Breakfast Creek – 1889
The Orient – 1875
The Stock Exchange – 1863
The Jubilee – 1887
The Story Bridge – 1886
The Mansions – 1889
The Fox – 1874
The Osborne – 1864
Royal Exchange – 1876
The Newmarket – 1879

In the early 1890s, Greek migrants introduced oyster saloons to Brisbane City and some regional towns, as oysters were plentiful in Moreton Bay. As well as oysters, the menu often included lobster, fish and crab. The oyster bars were close to hotels and frequented mainly by men. Apparently, they often turned into ‘Wild West Saloons’, with some fiery times, and even murders. After the turn of the century, the oyster saloons were the start of what became a flood of Greek cafés in the early 1900s

The Era of Self-Serve

In the early 1950’s there were many changes in the standard of living as society became more affluent and Australia developed as a nation with the economy on the move and almost full employment.

Apart from several major projects in the form of the Snowy Mountain Scheme and Warragamba Dam, there was new local car manufacturing gaining momentum, and this encouraged subsidiary industries to progress. There was a high degree of optimism and a feeling of stability throughout the nation.

Domestically people were able to afford a car, telephone and most importantly a refrigerator, replacing the old ice chest for the storage of food and thus changing the way shopping was done. No longer were items like butter, flour, sugar, tea, biscuits and milk bought in bulk weighed up by your grocer. All these products were now available prepacked by the suppliers, thus reducing the need for the grocer to serve the customer physically.

This led us immediately to follow the American concept of self-service merchandising with many smaller stores introducing free standing floor units [to become known as gondolas] and putting stock on open display. One of the first to go full self-service was the G&G Store at Hurstville in Sydney, but the fixtures were still made of fixed timber shelving.
A significant jolt to the established retail order was the quite rapid introduction into supermarkets of the products of previously stand alone stores such as butchers and green grocers. This was made possible by, and in conjunction with, the burgeoning commercial refrigeration industry and the introduction of pre-packaged goods.

Also at this point in time, the stripping and bracket method began its rise and with it came the first designs of module wall and floor fixturing. These were of great advantage to the retailer as shelf configurations could readily be changed without cost to suit seasonal changes or varying promotions, a practice which still applies in today’s marketing.

At first, the product ranges were very basic. However as demand grew and more focus on store layouts took place, there were many companies prepared to invest and develop a more sophisticated system. There was a concentrated move away from timber shelving to steel and then later to wire, thus creating a change in the type of companies now engaged in the fitout industry. The need for wire hand baskets, shopping trolleys and wire display aids gave birth to another lucrative industry.

Woolworths experimented with the new island floor fixture at the rear of a couple of Sydney stores, namely Dee Why and Crows Nest. It was not long before they had their first full self-service variety store at Beverly Hills in Sydney in October 1955, with the second in Carnegie in Melbourne the following year.

Retailers as a whole realised the many advantages of this self-serve/self-selection type of merchandising and were quick to adapt their layouts to accommodate this open selling method. This resulted in improved sales and enabled the rationalisation of staff numbers.

Womens and menswear stores, shoe shops, hardware stores, newsagencies, liquor stores and finally pharmacies all moved to similar types of layouts utilising open displays and a centralised cash wrap area. Most also used the module concept. Even the large department stores gradually gravitated towards this form of merchandising with great success.

Myer Melbourne was one of the first to trial slotted stripping and brackets when they applied it to some existing fixtures and set the pattern for the future.
The introduction of self-service initiated the most transformative era in retail as we know it, requiring some dramatic and fundamental changes, with more emphasis placed on store layouts as they adapted to the emerging merchandising trends.

Increasing affluence led to newly expanded product categories, and these were also not immune to self-service. Television came to Australia in time for the 1956 Olympics.
Many major retailers expanded their design and store layout departments, while the smaller traders sought outside help. Many would see this as the start of a specialised store planning sector, although many shopfitters still had staff that could offer this service to their clients.

Initially, existing fixtures such as tables and garment racks were modified and used in the new store configuration as a stop gap solution, but as retailers gained confidence whole new suites of fixtures and fittings were designed. Most of these utilised slotted aluminium and steel sections based on modular systems. This new style of fixtures inevitably required the shopfitting companies to make significant changes in their methods of manufacturing to embrace the use of the metal componentry. This continues today with added refinements.

Changing Shopfronts

Following on from The History of Shopfitting in the July – September edition of Interior Fitout, in this issue we look at the period between the wars, starting with shopfronts. This was a time of great change in society, a time of boom and bust.

Australia had slowly recovered by the mid 1920’s from an earlier recession, up until the early 1930’s however change was not evident in retail. Shopfronts had looked much the same since at least the turn of the century. Hardwood sills, stalls and mullions were gradually replaced with timber cored metal mouldings and tiled brickwork, but the overall concept remained much the same. Standard size hinged entry doors with display windows and window backs. Often with lead light top hampers to facilitate natural lighting.

The good times however came to an end with the crash of Wall Street in 1929. Australia was hit hard and unemployment reached 30% by 1932. Retail and therefore shopfitting was also hit, although there were some quite large stores opened or refurbished in the Depression period, with activity picking up markedly as the Depression started to ease from 1932 on.
Because people did not have the mobility we have today, ‘corner’ stores were everywhere. Typically they were small in area with a dwelling behind or above.
Day-to-day necessities such as groceries and butchers needed to be within an easy walk for the population. The photo of Davidson’s grocery shown here would have been typical.
At the other end of the spectrum were the spectacular display windows of Georges in Collins Street Melbourne

By the mid 1930’s, the recovery was well under way and business was booming. There were two main discernible influences. As well as traditional retail activity, there was a boom in milk bars and cafes driven by the influx of post WWl migrants.

Movie theatres were also popping up everywhere with the advent of talkies and hotel bars were a huge source of shopfitting work. People had more money and they were spending it.
The other obvious influence was that of Art Deco. This was a worldwide fashion that came out of the Roaring Twenties and was characterised by the dominant materials of chrome and gloss coloured glass, usually but not always black. In Australia, there were two brands of this glass, Vitrolite and Carrara. As can be seen from the photos, it could be used on piers and stalls, replacing tiles and on top hampers replacing the traditional leadlight.

Because it could be supplied bent it lent itself to the growing trend of wider doorways integrating the shopfront with the interior and with piers, stall and hamper all on one plane and of one material as illustrated in the photo of Burts Milk bar.

Chrome was used everywhere; signage, framing, heavy door furniture.
Many of the photos used here came from advertisements placed in the Journal of the Retail Traders between 1925 and 1945 by the leading shopfitters of their day. They of course would have wanted to showcase their latest and greatest, so perhaps not all stores of the time looked that great.

And of course not all stores were Art Deco. Woolworths, Coles, Mclllrath’s grocers and many other chain retailers continued to expand over this period, each with their own individual style, the shopfront design starting to reflect the gradual shift to self-service.

With the advent of war in 1939, retail activity slowed considerably and by about 1942 many shopfitters, retailers and their customers were in the armed forces. Many of the shopfitters who were left were engaged in activities supporting the war effort such as making ammunition boxes. Advertising in the Retail Traders petered out with one last ad from a shopfitter who simply said they would be back after the war, bigger and better.

Getting it Together

As we saw in the last article on early machine shops, standard practice today is also very different for the joinery shop. In both cases, this was mainly due to the introduction of materials like particle board. With their introduction many of the tools and practices that were the backbone of the joinery shop quickly became redundant.
The drawing below is of a cross-section of a standard Woolworths service counter of the 1950’s. Constructed entirely of solid timber it required the machining of the component parts before assembly and the lacquering and polishing after. These counters were often made in continuous lengths of up to15 metres. It can be seen how the labour intensity of the design would lead to the development of new, more efficient retail solutions, as labour costs started to rise.

Again, the newly available materials were to play a significant part. Before this, however, standard practice in the joinery shop would have been something like this.
Using the Woolworths counter as an example, the first thing to be done was to prepare a full-sized setout. It was usually done by personnel well versed in the manufacture and fabrication of joinery, as well as being able to visualise the completed works. The importance of this is obvious, as any mistake made here would result in the proposed item being made incorrectly, which could lead to even more unforeseen complications with expensive rectification. Setouts would be prepared, preferably on wide solid timber and plywood, but rolls of brown paper or butchers paper were also often used.

In the case of a shopfront, the setout would involve a series of timber rods indicating the width, height and depth. It was essential the rods indicate every exact detail so there could be no confusion as to what was required and ensuring all the components would be machined correctly. The proven 3–4–5 method was adopted when setting out large work requiring a right angle.

Once the setout was completed, the standard practice was to prepare a cutting list of all the component parts as a further guide to firstly the machine shop and then to the joiners. The accounts department would also use this for job costing. The success of all projects depended on the accuracy of the setout rods, for they would be the basis from start to finish, going from the machine and joinery shops to finally be the onsite instruction. By their nature, the rods minimised mistakes or errors as everyone was singing off the same song sheet.

The joiner would receive materials usually cut to size as well as the setout rod from the machine shop for the assembly and fabrication of the chosen works. As an example, we take a look here at a shopfront window back door where a timber subframe would be assembled then each sidelined with plywood using hot melt glue. Rails on the frame would either have holes bored in them, or they would have a series of trenches to allow air circulation to stop the door from bowing. The long edges would have a solid timber edging then the door would be sanded by hand ready for paint or polish finishing. By the late 1950 ’s belt and orbital power hand sanders became available. This process was of course much more expensive than a sheet of melamine board.

In the case of shopfront framing and doors, materials would come machined to required shape and joints would be partially cut in the machine shop and then the joiner would complete the joints and assemble the items before setting about to clean up with the use of hand tools such as planes, cabinet scrapers and sandpaper usually held with the assistance of a cork block.
In the early 1950’s, before PVA, many joinery shops had glue crystals, made from rendered down animal carcass in an inner pot which then sat in an outer pot containing hot water to melt the glue. In the mid 50’s came the electric thermostatically controlled glue pots. The late 1950’s saw the introduction of PVA glues. Also during this period came the first pre-glued timber veneer edging which was applied by hand and was the forerunner of today’s edge banders.

Apart from the very expensive coreboard, which was constructed from solid timber batten substrate, cross band veneer and a timber veneer face on both sides, there were no sheet boards like particleboard on the market so most items constructed would have a timber base frame lined with plywood or Masonite. Even centre divisions in counters were timber framed all having to be fabricated by the joiner. Although a lot of the materials came to the joiner cut to size for fabrication, there still was a considerable amount of work involved in the finishing of the products. This required the need for a comprehensive kit of hand tools. Tools that were in every joiners kit like various planes, chisel sets and pump action screwdrivers, were to fall into disuse, when, during the 1960s the emergence of electric power hand tools changed the way things were done and many tasks became simpler.

With the arrival of the sheet boards, including the melamine prefinished type, the design and methods of construction of joinery items changed dramatically significantly reducing the activities of the machine shop. Larger beam and sliding panel saws entered the market. These did not require a specialist wood machinist resulting in joiners cutting their own projects ready for assembly. Hardware suppliers were quick to react, and soon the market was awash with every conceivable component for the fixing of joints to cope with the new methods of construction and the market is still responding to meet today’s changing requirements.

Perhaps the most remarkable industry occurrence has been the game-changing point-to-point computerised machinery which has altered so many aspects of how items are now manufactured. Many tradespeople have progressed to become technicians who are able to programme these computer-generated machines, and the basics are also being taught in current TAFE courses. Components being produced using these machines are precise and make for easy assembly for the joiners.

How The Times Impacted the Designs of Shopfitting

As we saw in the first section on shopping centres in the previous edition of Interior Fitout, they heralded in a dramatic change not only to the way we shopped, but also to the entire model of shopfitting. At the time Chermside, Chadstone and Top Ryde opened in the late 1950’s, they were regarded almost as tourist attractions, but they were just the start of a very rapid expansion.
When Chermside opened in Brisbane in 1957, it had one department store, one supermarket and 24 specialty stores; it now has a lettable area of around 150,000 square metres, six department stores and some 400 specialty stores. Chadstone in Victoria was originally a single level open air mall with two rows of stores linking Myer at one end and a supermarket at the other. Today it has around 221,000 square metres of lettable area and around 530 stores, making it the largest shopping centre in Australia.
In 1965, Roselands shopping centre opened in Sydney and it embodied many firsts that were to set a pattern for the centres that followed. Unlike the earlier centres, it drew large crowds not just for the retail stores but for its novelty and ambience. It was at the time it opened in 1965, the largest shopping centre in the southern hemisphere. It had Australia’s first ‘food court’ as well as a cinema. Crowds came long distances to marvel at the Raindrop Fountain. Theatre had come to retailing.
From the mid 1960’s we saw the start of the explosion of shopping centre development in every state. Whilst it is impossible to be exact, and the figures depend on a definition of what constitutes a shopping centre, the following table of openings in the metro area of each state provides an indication of the pace of development.
1960-70
QL~ 0
VIC~ 6
SA~ 2
NSW~ 8
1970-80
QLD~ 6
VIC~ 13
SA~ 4
NSW~16
1980-90
QLD~ 10
VIC~ 5
SA~5
NSW~ 1
Totals
1960-70
16
1970-80
39
1980-90
21
Figures for WA, NT and Tasmania are not available, but presumably they followed the same pattern.
The most recent figures available show the current number and distribution of shopping centres in Australia.
CBD
VIC~ 14
NSW~ 15
QLD~9
SA~6
TAS~0
ACT~1
WA~7
Suburban
VIC~ 42
NSW~ 44
QLD~19
SA~12
TAS~5
ACT~7
WA~33
Regional
VIC ~ 16
NSW~ 24
QLD~ 29
SA~ 8
TAS~ 1
ACT~ 0
WA~ 8
Totals
CBD
52
Suburban
162
Regional
86
By the time Miranda Fair opened in 1969, the concept of shopping centres being more than just a conglomeration of shops was well entrenched, and retailers were expected to play their part in the theatre. Not all retail activity was in shopping centres. Most country towns had at least one major retailer who were general merchants selling everything from clothing, homewares, furniture, jewellery, grocery, hardware and rural requirements. These stores were usually owned and controlled by local identities, but many were taken over by larger companies and sadly ceased to operate with the advent of shopping malls in their district. This was the case with the very strong Newcastle and District Cooperative, with their group known as THE STORE throughout the Hunter region of NSW.
The next major impact to retailing came in April 1969 when Coles, in conjunction with the USA Kresage Corp., opened the first Kmart Discount Store in Melbourne’s Burwood East, with the second store at Blacktown in Western Sydney opening shortly after. This was a completely new style of retailing to which customers had to become familiar before being comfortable in this environment. The full checkout payment system in the early stages was foreign to the normal way of shopping. Following a study tour of the USA, Geelong based Lindsay McKenzie undertook a revamp of their stores to this new discount concept, rebadging them as Lindsay Target which later became Target when acquired by Myer. Other chains such as Best and Less, Venture and Fosseys, to name a few, were drawn to this type of approach.
In 1992 one of the most dramatic changes in retailing came in the area of hardware stores. Two major companies, Westfarmers with Bunnings, and Burns Philp with Hardware House, embarked on the “big box” concept stores along with the USA Home Depot store format, which they adapted to suit local conditions. These stores were an immediate success and have continued to grow in size and also in the number of sites throughout Australia. All Hardware House outlets were ultimately taken over by Westfarmers and merged in to Bunnings.
Ikea, the Swedish house and homewares stores, have had the “big box” concept for some time and today we now see electrical, stationary & office supplies and liquor stores all adopting the same philosophies to selling.

The Rise of Modular Systems

The rise in self-service merchandising in the early 1950’s gave birth to modular shopfitting, and this changed the way that retail stores were to be designed and fitted out.
The requirement for a more flexible store layout led to the rapid development of slotted adjustable shelving systems. While this significant development coincided with the widespread introduction of self-selection, stripping and brackets had existed since at least the 1920s. Known as a keyhole for obvious reasons, this system was used in showcases and on back fixtures to carry glass shelving. It carried on mostly unchanged until the arrival of slotted metal systems.

In the early years, the three main promoters of this concept stuck rigidly to the specifications of their overseas manufacturers and associations. TS Gill in Melbourne were associated with the American Grand Rapids, RMS (also from Melbourne) were associated with the Weber Corporation and DH Gibson in Sydney based their product on the catalogue of Reflector Hardware. The result of this was that none of the different systems could be interchanged with each other; thus when a supplier obtained an initial order from a retailer, they were almost assured of getting any future business as to gain full advantage of interchange throughout their store, it was necessary to maintain the same product.

The retail industry readily accepted this new style of fixturing and as demand accelerated, more companies realised the potential and entered the field such as Kingfisher and Lincoln in Melbourne, Kanweld and ROR in Sydney, Bevlyn Wire (now BDS) in Brisbane and Repbrax in WA. One of the first major take ups occurred when David Jones used DH Gibson’s system in the fashion department of their Elizabeth Street, Sydney store. Woolworths also saw the advantages of the new system and trialled it in behind the counter back fixtures of their new Variety store at Eastwood NSW in 1953. As Gibsons’ business grew rapidly, the range was extended and to encourage the idea of ease of installation it was marketed under the name of U-Rect-lt (URl).

Later, other companies who enjoyed success included Shopfittings of Australia, who were major suppliers to Target and Daneline, who as well as supplying Myer also supplied a large number of shopfitters and was one of the first to provide the domestic market.
HM Cowdroy also added a range to their suite of products servicing all areas of the market, predominantly through hardware stores.
Growth in self-service food outlets attracted Steelbilt and Brownbuilt, both manufacturers of steel storage shelving, into the field. They were relatively successful, but after a few years, both companies ceased operating in this area.

Initially, wall stripping was manufactured from extruded aluminium sections, or rolled form and press-formed mild steel U-channel and welded back to back to form a box section, to make double-sided floor displays that became known as gondolas.
Through ingenious engineering techniques, several manufacturers were able to perfect the slotting of mild tube box sections, which improved the fabrication of gondolas and to broaden the scope and usage of the equipment into other applications such as wall and freestanding fixturing.
In the mid-1950’s Kanweld through its association with Grace Bros. who had various systems throughout their many stores, produced a universal bracket able to interchange with most other systems but again it had a limited life and applications.

The four leading suppliers had different pitch/gauge product:
• RMS range 25mm (1”) pitch on 12 gauge wall stripping,
• Gilflex range 25mm (1”) pitch on 15 gauge wall stripping,
• URI range 36mm (40mm) pitch on 15 gauge wall stripping
• Kingfisher range 36mm (1.5”) pitch on 14 gauge wall stripping.

During the period of the late 1950s and 1960s various companies started to manufacture floor units using slotted metal construction. At first, these tended to be static units of a fixed length, typically 1200, 1500, or 1800 with centres of 600, 750 or 900. As we can see from the drawings of units of the time, they were what we know as gondolas and dump or promotional tables. Some also incorporated storage areas either at the top or in the bottom and were sometimes grouped in ‘nests.’ Although this type of unit did provide an element of display flexibility and was a significant step towards self-service, they were not ‘truly modular.’

The success of the floor units was soon apparent, and this led to the rapid development of ‘truly modular’ systems for both floor and wall. Gondolas could be extended to any length using a suite of Meccano-like components. However, it was wall systems that were the greatest boon to retailers and shopfitters alike. Retailers could swiftly and cost effectively alter or add components to the system to suit the stock requirements, and shopfitters had an answer to out of plumb walls, un-level floors and increasingly, non-load bearing walls. In the sketches shown here, taken from a manufactures catalogue of the mid-1960’s, it can be seen that modular systems were here to stay.
Over time, systems evolved to suit a variety of purposes, the use of high gondolas with backup stock at the top in supermarkets being a good example. This made use of non- productive retail space and reduced the required area of storerooms.

The face of retailing in all areas be it department stores, pharmacy, fashion, newsagency, hardware, electrical, service stations and of course food is forever changing and with it comes some dramatic changes to the fixturing requirements and solutions to meet the new merchandising trends but incredibly most of the new systems still maintain the proven modular approach.
Modular fixturing continues to give the end user “flexibility” with the ability to change their merchandise displays at will to achieve the best possible result for seasonal or specials promotions at no cost.

The Change in Product Displays and Merchandising

Like the shopfronts discussed in the last edition, interiors were slow to change. At the beginning of the period every area of retail from the corner store to the large department stores were laid out in the same way. The customer was served by sales staff and they were separated by counters.

The genesis of change came in 1924 when five Sydney businessmen came up with the idea and the capital to emulate the concept of an open display chain store which they witnessed in operation in America. The idea was an instant success and by 1928 they had opened four Woolworths stores in Sydney. By 1933 they had 31 and by 1940 there were 86 around Australia and New Zealand. The effect of this success was to drive many other retailers to also steadily move in the direction of self-selection, it being apparent that increased exposure of stock increased sales and reduced the need for sales staff. Gradually, as the floor area occupied by counters gave way to bins and island displays, service steadily became concentrated at a central cash and carry point and retail as we know it today was underway.

From a shopfitting point of view, the change in the merchandising method saw a change in the design of how products were displayed. Whether island counters with serving staff or standalone displays, they all had merchandise on open display at the top with back up storage below. Units were generally made of timber with the merchandise on the top divided by wire mesh binning and later by glass and metal clips. By World War 2 the principle of open display was well entrenched across the broad spectrum of retailers.

There were of course a few places where self-selection was not applicable. The growing popularity of milk bars, cafes, movie theatres and hotels to name a few. The expanding retailing of prepared food raised hygiene considerations and the need for refrigeration and ducted commercial range hoods. A new industry of stainless steel fabrication emerged with a number of shopfitters carrying out both traditional joinery and metalwork in-house. Gradually health regulations were tightened and these in turn led to very specific designs.

Milk bars and cafes were inclined to be owned by migrants, often Greek or Italian, and given the long opening hours, were an ideal family operation. The design often reflected the taste of the owner with a mural of the Acropolis on the wall considered ‘not out of place’. Many of these milk bars and cafes could be considered as the precursor of today’s restaurants; with the larger ones seating up to one hundred people in booths panelled, typically, with book matched Australian Walnut veneer.

Hotel bars also proliferated and were a very male orientated domain, designed and built to purpose. A typical bar would have a brick front, faced with some impervious material dependant on the class of the bar. There would often be a continuous trough running at floor level serving as an ash tray with a foot rail above the trough. The bar top was usually made of large sheets of plywood covered with waxed linoleum, which was a popular floor covering of the time, the idea being to have few or no joints for the inevitable spilt beer to penetrate.
The edges of the bar top were generally heavy timber cored stainless steel moulds, for the resting of elbows, similar to the image of a wine bar shown above right.
The influence of Art Deco made itself felt from the 1930’s, as shown in the image of this Department store [bottom image].

The image of Burts Milk Bar [previous page] shows how curves were very much in vogue and while these could be achieved with curved Carrara glass on shopfronts; interiors used plywood, french polish and lacquer as laminates were not available until the 1950’s.

How Machinery Changed Shopfitting

Anyone working in the industry today will have an intimate knowledge of the machinery, materials and methods in common use. However, the world of today is very different from the one our fathers and grandfathers grew up in.

From point-to-point routers, down to things like the humble battery drill, whilst ‘every day’ to us, would have been incomprehensible to shopfitters back in the day. Some of these items, like drills and other personal power tools, started to become available in the late 1920’s but they were very expensive and slow in uptake.

The nature of shopfitting practice had remained largely unchanged from the early 1900’s until the early 1960’s. This was the time when solid timber, plywood, masonite and coreboard were the basic materials used in the manufacture of shopfitting cabinetry, which was built to last indefinitely.

Most shopfitting companies would have had a comprehensive machine shop for preparing the material for fabrication. This would typically include a bench table rip saw, a thicknesser, a jointer (or a combination machine with both functions) a band saw, cross cut docking saw and spindle moulder. Other machines found in the larger factories would have included a mortiser, dovetailer and later on, an overhead router.

The job process would usually start with the machinist being given a sized cutting list of all the timber component parts of each item in the job. For example; counters, wall units and shopfronts. The machinist would then cut the required stock from the selected flitch of timber, always oversized to allow for additional machining to follow. The planks would then be put through the thicknesser to the required size and next to the jointer to straighten one long edge.
The next step was to cut the piece to width on a rip saw and then joint to the final size required. It was at this point that the material would go to the docking saw to be cut to an accurate length and to the spindle moulder, if further machining was required.

The spindle moulder (example pictured opposite top right), due to its design and function, was probably the most dangerous to use. The operator needed to be extremely proficient and aware, for their own safety. Unfortunately, many a machinist lost fingers using this machine, but in time the risk was reduced when the power feed became available. Safety has not always been a priority as the circa 1925 photo at the top of a combination jointer and spindle moulder illustrates.

A good example of the way a machine shop functioned would be to take the steps in producing a pair of timber shopfront doors. The machinist would first be given a full size set out rod showing all the details, and would then finish size all the timber components, constantly checking them against the rod. The next step was to rebate the stiles and rails for the glazing beads, an operation usually done on the jointer. The stiles would then go the mortice machine, whilst the rails would go to the spindle for the cutting of the tenons. All the components would then go the joinery shop for assembly and once that was done, the door was hand-planed smooth before being returned to the machine shop to have the pairing rebates run for each set of doors.
In later years, more and more timber that had previously been supplied rough sawn by timber merchants, started to become available already mill finished. This led to a lessoning of the need for many to have a composite machine shop.

This trend accelerated with the introduction of manufactured board products and suites of aluminium extrusions.
Today only a small number of specialised firms run a full machine shop. Coming in tandem with the introduction of new materials was a fundamental change in design. A shopfront which traditionally would have been glazed in drawn metal covered timber mouldings was now aluminium. The timber window floor was gone and the window back doors also.
By the late 1950’s aluminium extrusions, particle board and MDF were being introduced into the Australian market, dramatically changing the way cabinetry was made. The influence of the new products was expanded with the arrival of melamine faced board.

Another very significant contributor to the demise of the machine shop was the reversal of what had always been the case. Now, labour was getting more expensive and materials were getting cheaper.

The illustration (left) of the construction methodology for a popular panel style door is a very good example of not only the full range of the machinists skills, but it also explains why rising cost pressures and the increasing availability of ‘off the shelf’ alternatives led to the demise of the traditional machine shop.
Retail fitouts increasingly had a shorter and shorter required life span and this, combined with the flow of new materials, led to the end of an era.

A shopfitters life…
From time to time, we are going to print anecdotes that might make us laugh and that at least illustrate the uniqueness of the shopfitting industry.