By Rose Raymen
“My love affair with department stores began in 1956, at the age of nine, when I was mesmerised by Fred Asmussen’s Christmas window display at the Myer Bourke Street store in Melbourne. Since that day, department stores have been my ‘home away from home’ and in 2019, I wrote an article titled, ‘History of Melbourne’s Department Stores: Past and Present.” Rose Raymen
AHERN’S 1922 – 1999
Thomas Ahern was born in the village of Ballymacoda, County Cork, Ireland, on 23 December 1884, the son of farmers Patrick Ahern and Mary née McGrath. Thomas left school at an early age to be apprenticed to a draper in Midleton, a town in south-eastern County Cork.
In 1910 he successfully applied for an assisted passage to Australia, in place of a colleague who couldn’t make the journey and arrived in Fremantle, Western Australia, in 1911. Ahern found employment at Brennan Bros. drapery store in Boulder and became a departmental manager for clothing retailer Bon Marché in Hay Street, subsequently becoming manager of Brennan Bros. store in Perth. The first Archbishop of Perth, Patrick Clune, from County Clare, had a hand in advising the family of P. F. Quinlan to invite Thomas to manage their drapery and furniture store in Perth. Thomas insisted on a controlling partnership and Ahern’s opened on 15 May 1922 with 50 staff, over time buying out the remaining shares from his partners.
Ahern maintained active control of the firm and in his last years supported suburban expansion by his sons, employing over 500 staff in 1970. Thomas Ahern’s kindness to staff was well known and by the time of its sale to David Jones in 1999, Ahern’s was the last family-owned department store chain in Australia. Thomas Ahern, died in Perth, on 22 May 1970, aged 85.
Ahern’s department store, Hay Street, Perth. 1950. Source: State Library of Western Australia
BAIRDS 1896 – 1969
In 1896, William Hutchison Baird, born in Ballarat, Victoria, in 1869, moved to Coolgardie, Western Australia, after working for the Ballarat Hardware Store, and founded the first Bairds store. The following year, in 1897, William opened another store in Kalgoorlie, followed by one in Boulder, in 1898. Adam Baird joined the company in 1899, along with another brother, Robert, and their three sisters, Elizabeth, Jessie and Ann. Although established as a family company, the stores were managed by William Baird, as Managing Director and Adam Baird, as Chairman of Directors.
In 1903, the family opened a store in Hay Street, Perth, while retaining the three stores in the goldfields. The Hay Street store prospered and within a few years, the Baird family were able to increase their property holdings by leasing a block which ran from Hay to Murray Streets. Adam Baird designed an arcade between Hay and Murray Streets, which became known as the ‘Bairds Arcade’ and in 1917, the business was renamed ‘Bairds Company Ltd.’ In 1919, the family purchased an adjoining building which extended from Murray to Wellington Streets. By the 1960s, Bairds employed over 900 staff and in 1965 a new store was opened in Fremantle.
In 1946, William Baird became ill, but continued to take an active interest in the affairs of the firm from his home until his death on, 30 May 1947, aged 78. Adam Baird became Managing Director of the company, continuing until his death aged 80, on 9 February 1954.
Adam Baird’s son, Keith Hugh Baird (known as ‘Mr. Hugh’ to the staff), took on most of the company’s responsibility, until his death on 18 July 1965, aged 53. In 1969, Myer Emporium Ltd. bought out the firm.
A popular saying at the time was, “If you can’t find it anywhere else – try Bairds. You can be sure you’ll find it there.”
Source: Try Bairds by Rosanne Baird (1987). Copy held at the State Library of Western Australia.
Bairds department store, Murray Street, Perth, 20 November 1962. Source: The West Australian.
BOANS 1895 – 1986
Henry (aka Harry) Boan, the son of English-born immigrants, Thomas Boan and Elizabeth Rachel née Isaacs, was born on 4 November 1860, in Jones Creek, near the gold-mining town of Dunolly, Victoria. Thomas and Elizabeth had married in the Central Victorian village of Taradale, in 1856. In 1890, Harry and his younger brother Alfred (aka Ernest), opened a business called ‘Boan Bros.’ in the town of Broken Hill, New South Wales, which soon became the leading drapery store in the town. However, in 1895 Harry sold his share of the business to Ernest, moving to Perth with his older brother Benjamin. Harry and Benjamin purchased a site in Wellington Street, Perth, paying £42 for each foot of frontage, when Wellington Street was little more than a swamp and the store opened on 7 November 1895. Benjamin Boan died in Perth, on 9 January 1901 and Harry assumed sole ownership. In 1906, the property was extended along Wellington Street, subsequently stretching to Murray Street. In 1918 the store’s name changed to ‘Boans Ltd.’
Ernest Boan, Harry’s younger brother, died on, 18 June 1939, in Richmond, Melbourne, aged 73. Harry Boan died two years later, in Caulfield, Melbourne, on 18 March 1941, aged 80, and was buried at Karrakatta Cemetery in Perth. Harry’s son, Frank Thomas Boan, joined the company during the 1930s and was appointed managing director of the firm in 1934, a role he maintained until his premature death in Perth, on 29 December 1967, aged 61. There were no third-generation sons and neither of his two daughters desired to enter the business, nor were encouraged to do so.
In 1985 Boans Ltd., was taken over by the Melbourne-based Myer Emporium Ltd., with the name ‘Boans’ retained, however, the store name later changed to ‘Myer’ and the Boans name was consigned to oblivion. On 12 April 1986, the iconic Boans city store closed, and the building was demolished, but not without a public outcry. The new Myer Emporium was built on the same site, as part of the Forrest Chase redevelopment.
In 1988, the Horseshoe Bridge, constructed in 1904, which connects the Perth CBD to Northbridge, was named the ‘Harry Boan Footbridge.’ Boans city department store was a Perth institution from its opening in 1895 until 1986 when the doors closed for the last time.
The Boans building, Wellington Street, Perth, before it was demolished in 1986. Source: State Library of Western Australia
FOY & GIBSON 1883 – 1955
Foy & Gibson, also known as Foy’s and later Cox-Foys, was one of Australia’s largest and earliest department stores, founded by Irishman, Mark Foy. The first store was established as a drapery in Smith Street, Collingwood, Melbourne. The business prospered, and in 1882 Mark transferred ownership to his son Francis who was subsequently joined by William Gibson, a recent arrival from Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland. The partnership between Gibson and Foy was dissolved in mid-1884, after a disagreement, resulting in Francis selling his share of the business to Gibson, who became the sole owner, retaining the name Foy & Gibson.
When the business expanded in the late 1880s, William Gibson was joined by Glaswegian William Dougall, who became a partner in the firm, and by his nephews Samuel Gibson and John Maclellan. Gibson set about improving his international trade and regularly sent his departmental buyers abroad. In 1889, Gibson himself went overseas and visited the Bon Marché department store in Paris, which was doing a phenomenal trade at the time. His experiences helped him shape the firm into a department store and develop in-house manufacturing.
In 1895, Gibson established a branch of the business in Murray Street, Perth, but within months, relocated to larger premises in Hay Street. The Hay Street store was later expanded through to St Georges Terrace, and ultimately became the last major store on the Terrace.
Shortly before the beginning of World War I, William Gibson left for England, with the intention of staying for six months, but was prevented from returning to Melbourne during the war. In 1917, his son James was killed in action, and in 1918 he also lost his son William and nephew Samuel Gibson. William Gibson, died suddenly of heart failure, at Berners Hotel, Soho, London, on 5 November 1918, aged 76, and his nephew John Maclellan continued running the business. Francis Foy died on the Melbourne-Sydney Express train, near Goulburn, NSW, on 12 November 1918, while returning to Sydney from the Melbourne Cup. In 1955, Foy & Gibson was taken over by Cox Brothers and in 1964 Foy & Gibson (WA) Ltd., was sold to David Jones, including ten stores in Western Australia.
David Jones is the largest department store chain in Western Australia; and is said to be the oldest continuously operating department store in the world still trading under its original name. In 2014, the sale of David Jones to Woolworths South Africa was approved by the Federal Court of Australia. Source: Wikipedia article ‘David Jones’ (retailer)
Foy & Gibson department store, Hay Street, Perth, 1938. Source: State Library of Western Australia
Acknowledgements
National Library of Australia
State Library of Victoria
State Library of Western Australia
The West Australian
David John Hough
Australian Dictionary of Biography
eMelbourne – The University of Melbourne’s Online Encyclopedia
Ballymacoda History Project
Wikipedia
