When Gloucester Railway Station opened in February 1913, a refreshment room was sorely needed.1 North bound travellers had no opportunity to obtain food or drink once the train left Newcastle.
April 1913 heralded the opening of the Refreshment Room under the management of Mr S Moses, from Sydney. His tenure, however, was short-lived as he died in October 1914 aged 72.2 Why had a man of his age applied to run the refreshment room in the first place?
Life had been a bumpy ride for Simeon Solomon Moses. Born in 18423 he had managed the Albury Railway Refreshment Room back in the 1880s during which time he was fined for assaulting an officer of the Customs Department.4
He and his wife later managed various hotels and guesthouses in Bourke, Melbourne, Darlinghurst and Manly but they were often involved in legal skirmishes and haunted by bankruptcy.5
In 1909 Simeon invested in a new venture, the palatial “Vienna Café” in Pitt Street, Sydney. This was opened with much fanfare on 20 September by Mr ECV Broughton MLA who praised Mr Moses for his catering services during the 1908 visit of the American Fleet.6 Trading for only a few weeks, Simeon became bankrupt in November 1909.7
Following this disaster and the death of his wife Matilda in 1910,8 perhaps Simeon needed something to occupy his time (or more likely he just needed the money).
Author: Penny Teerman
References:
1 Gloucester Advocate, 16 April 1913, 4.
2 Gloucester Advocate, 14 October 1914, 2.
3 NSW Births Deaths and Marriages – Birth Ref: 227/1842.
4 Australian Town and Country Journal, 25 April 1885, 15.
5 Various newspaper reports of the time.
6 Sydney Morning Herald, 21 September 1909, 9.
7 Daily Telegraph, 3 November 1909, 4.
8 Rookwood Cemetery – on-line search results.
