Commerce - midcoaststories.com

Tinonee Broom Factories

Tinonee was once home to no less than four broom factories. Joseph Edward Chapman established the industry when he distributed free seeds to farmers to encourage them to grow millet crops. The experiment was so successful that he opened a broom factory in 1894 which employed 5 people and provided work to local sawmills making broom handles...

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Manning Steam Laundry

In the mid 1960s whilst undertaking work on the Chapman Place parking area, traces of brickwork were uncovered which were believed to be part of an underground well used by the Manning Steam Laundry. Henry W Alcorn was a local builder who, in 1915, saw the potential in developing a commercial laundry to service Taree…

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Sander’s Dairy

Christian Sander, his wife and three daughters, arrived in Brisbane aboard the Japanese steamer “Aki Maru” in December 1923. Sander, an Estonian national, told of colourful adventures in escaping from the Bolshevik regime in Russia. Circa 1926 Sander commenced the production and sale of ice-cream in a small premises in Victoria Street, Taree. The success…

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Australian Botanical Products Limited

In the early years of the 20th century, Eric McMaster arrived in the Nabiac area. In 1912 he married Catherine (Katie) McKinnon, the youngest daughter of the late Captain Donald McKinnon of Glen-Ora, Nabiac.

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The Australian Agricultural Company: Introduction

The Australian Agricultural Company (AACo) is Australia’s oldest continuous company. It was established in 1824 through an Act of British Parliament for the purpose of improving flocks of Merino sheep...

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Victory Cafe Taree

In 1943 George Cassimaty moved his business from Manning Street to set up the Victory Café in the Beehive Building. It was here that George changed the face of the Taree café scene...

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Baheeg 'Bill' Saad: Manning Cafe, Taree

Baheeg ‘Bill’ Saad was born in Douma, Lebanon in 1907. He was a well-known business man who established...

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Purfleet Butter Factory

Most days I drive past the site where a magnificent butter factory once stood tall. The Purfleet Butter Factory was opened on 14 December 1897 by the Australian Dairying Company...

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Saxbys Soft Drinks

“Ahh Saxbys, taste it to believe it”. Recognise this famous catch phrase? Who doesn’t love the best-selling Saxbys classic stone ginger beer trickling down your throat on a hot summer’s day? Saxbys was first established in 1864...

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North Coast Steam Navigation Co Ltd

In August 1891 the North Coast Steam Navigation Company was formed by the merger of the Clarence, Richmond and Macleay Rivers Steam Navigation Company and John See and Company...

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H. Nelson & Sons

Herman Nelson, a carpenter was born in Kempsey. The family left their general store in St. Ives and travelled by horse and cart to Taree in 1923...

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Food Fair

Bill Nelson purchased the Blue Flag grocery store in Manning Street, Taree in 1937. It put me in mind of Ronnie Barker’s ‘Open All Hours’...

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George De Saxe and Amy Mackay, Dentists

George De Saxe was born in 1856 and worked most of his life as a dentist in Sydney and Parramatta. He often visited smaller towns providing dental services and in September 1900 visited Wingham for this purpose…

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Prickly Pear Cough Syrup – a local speciality?

Until the mid nineteenth century cochineal was highly sought after as the pre-eminent agent to produce a rich, vibrant red dye. It was the substance used to colour the British army ‘Red Coat’ uniforms…

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