This tumultuous decade, both in economic and political outcomes, was one of the most trying times for the Queensland Shopfitting Industry. It included the great 1974 Brisbane/Southeast Queensland flood that decimated retail and manufacturing business properties as well as domestic homes. There was the election in December 1972 of the Whitlam Government into Federal Parliament, […]

In 1960, Queen St Brisbane City was still the centre of Brisbane shopping, however following the opening of Chermside Drive-In Shopping Centre in 1957, the floodgates opened, with news of suburban Brisbane Shopping Centre openings and planning of others throughout the State. This was the beginning of the end for the much-loved ‘corner store’. With […]

As a new decade came around, society was trying to reduce its memories of WWII and, with the post war economic boom having an impact on daily lives, thoughts of a bright future were everywhere. Petrol and food rationing, which started during the War, finally ended. The basic wage was 8 pounds 6 shillings for […]

In 1938, as Queensland remained in the grip of world-wide depression, the Queensland government had to continue to generate employment by creating projects for the community. At that time, it was large projects like the new Story Bridge and the Somerset Dam, with the Brisbane City Council soaking up 50% of relief work. The drums […]

Perry Brothers was a large wholesaling hardware/ironmongery business, well established at 201-205 Queen St Brisbane (on the site of the current Wintergarden Centre), supplying materials and tools to all the local tradespeople of the time. Eventually their premises stretched from Queen St to Elizabeth St. However, even this store was to be outgrown in time, […]

In 1914, World War I was declared and 57,705 Queenslanders enlisted as part of the Australian Imperial Forces. Because of the war, local wages were forced to drop by 10% to assist with the war effort. During the 1910s, changes in café design occurred which produced the layout commonly seen between the 20s and 60s. […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]