A LENGTHY FOLLOW-ON FROM MY PREVIOUS POST!

 

Gympie Town Hall/Post Office at the Five-Ways

Gympie Post Office in Channon Street...Top End of Town

Patterson's Drapers & Outfitters, Mary St. Gympie

Hanlon's once know as "Pattersons'"

Gympie Civic Centre

Gympie Gas Works (No longer exists)

 

Glandore Private Hospital, Gympie

Mellor Street, Gympie Circa 2020...the street headed downhill is Fern Street, the street in which I spent my childhood and teenage years.  The house on the corner was alos there during those years, so long ago..

To further fill in the gaps in Mary Street, Gympie...more memories made their appearance, therefore filling in the gaps in my mind.   

My reflections in my previous post jolted further recollections of businesses that served the town’s populace, and those in its surrounding areas, during my childhood and teenage years.

Since writing my below musing, I’ve remembered Cameron’s, a fine old shop, lined with polished timber and stained glass owned and operated by a brother and sister. Miss Cameron had a large goiter, which she did her utmost to disguise by wearing high-necked outfits.  Both she and her brother seemed elderly to me...but then, to young children, anyone over the age of 30 years is “old”!

White’s Cash Store was a privately owned and run little grocery shop in Mary Street, a few shops along from the stand-alone, self-service BCC grocery store (Brisbane Cash and Carry), which was situated on the corner of Mary and Smithfield Streets...opposite the Bank of New South Wales building which, in those years, also housed Radio Station 4GY.

In those years, Gympie boasted two post offices.  The Town Hall was situated at the Five-Ways intersection of Calton Hill, Caledonian Hill, Lawrence Street, Mellor Street and Mary Street. Upon completion of construction, the original building was opened in 1891.

At top end of town...on the corner of Channon Street and Duke Street...opposite the Freemasons’ Hotel...the now heritage-listed “old” Gympie Post Office sat.  It was built between the years 1978 to 1889.    

Heilbronn’s Grocery Store was opposite the Post Office in Duke Street.

Hanlon’s, home improvements/curtains etcs., is housed in a building constructed in 1867 by the Patterson brothers, which was then known as “Patterson’s Drapers & Outfitters”. The building/arcade is a few doors down from the Jeffery, Cuddihy & Joyce building (known as “Tozer & Jeffery”  as described in my previous post.

Down the street a little on the corner of Mary and Monkland Streets was Goldsbrough Mort & Co., agricultural, stock agents, brokers and auctioneers.

Moving along, heading towards the Five-Ways, in the centre of Mary Street, was the Liberty Theatre (a “picture” theatre...that during the early to mid-Sixties also hosted very popular record hops).   

During one of those record hops I won a Limbo competition.  Ahhh!  The joys and flexibility of one’s teenage years!

On the corner of Lawrence Street and Mary Street, at the Five-Ways, opposite Webster’s Corner Store was a walled-up building.  It originally had been an open-air picture theatre (not a “drive-in” picture theatre), but it never operated during my childhood.  When we were kids we tried our hardest to find a hole or crack in one of the outer walls so we could see what hidden mysteries lay within.  We failed.

Next door to the “mysterious” intriguing building was a small, narrow milk bar, which was next door to the Olympia Theatre...the theatre we frequently frequented.  In particular...never did we miss a Saturday afternoon matinee.  The only times we failed to turn up for a Saturday matinee, were when we were  at Tin Can Bay with our mother and grandmother, fishing, crabbing and collecting oysters.

Turning left after exiting the Olympia Theatre, in Mellor Street, next door to the theatre was another milk bar.  Theatre patrons were never short of a choice of milkshakes, Maltesers, Jaffas, or other preferred sweet treats. 

(The Olympia Theatre no longer exists.  The Gympie Civic Centre, with a capacity of over 600 now graces the site.  The official opening of the Centre was in 1977).

A little further along from the theatre and milk bar, Jack Cornes, Funeral Director, offered comfort and understanding to those who suffered loss of a loved one. 

A couple of doors up the street from Mr. Cornes (who was a lovely gentleman) was Joe Daly, the town tailor who suited the locals. His business premises, and his home, stood side by side.  

“Uncle” Joe was married to “Auntie"Annie, who was our Nana’s cousin.  Uncle Joe had the largest private aviary I have ever seen.  His well-maintained back garden, the home of the aviary, was a mini-maze. Well-manicured hedges wandered throughout the grounds.  The garden and aviary fascinated my brother and me.  Around the garden, peacocks leisurely strolled.

A few lengthy strides past the Daly’s property was the seed merchants, Jackson’s store. Next to Jackson’s was a fish and chip shop. From memory, both at one stage went up in flames.  Crisp chips and battered fish were on the menu that night!

And then, one came upon a mass of land that was the home of the Gympie Gas Works. 

We lived in Fern Street, which was close by.  We often walked through the grounds of the gas works as our short-cut into Mellor Street when we were headed to the Olympia Theatre, or into Mary Street...if we didn’t want to go via Lawrence Street, at one end of Fern Street.  The Central State School...the primary school both my brother and I attended is in Lawrence Street.  We had a very short stroll to school.  

Oft times, when going to the matinees, we went via another short-cut...along McLeod Street, and across the gully beside the tar works.  (The tar works was one of our favourite places to play, too). 

Such adventures we had when going “down town”!  

Mellor Street is a long street that leads up to, and culminates at Tozer Street where the then Gympie Railway Station was.  The original Gympie railway station is now heritage-listed.  The first rail link between Brisbane and Gympie commenced in 1891, and the now heritage-listed old station began operation in 1913.  It was replaced by the new Gympie North Station in 1989.

The Butter Factory and the Farmers’ Co-Operative Store were both in Tozer Street.

There were many businesses along Mellor Street...automobile workshops/fuel stops, car yards, two grocery stores, Lane & Ward’s butcher shop, a café etc.  

My brother and I returned newspapers and empty soft drink bottles to the butcher shop and to the general stores, and received payment, which topped up our piggy banks!

During my childhood years, Gympie had three hospitals.  The Lister and Glandore Hospitals were private hospitals; and then the public hospital...the Gympie Hospital. There are now two hospitals in Gympie.

And, that, I imagine, is enough history of Gympie to last my readers a lifetime.  If I've bored you, I apologise; it was not my intention.

However,....for my own interest, and peace of mind, I wanted to record the recollections I have.

The above is what happens when my memory bank is opened.  Not sticking to usual trading hours, my mind decides to spring into life when I’ve shut down for the night, and am trying to go to sleep!!