PART FOUR - Detmolds & the Toy FactoryI would like to spend a little bit of time discussing the
west-side of
Young Street,
that is, Scott Bonnar's side. I said that Bonnar's premises were next to Detmold's.
The building was the last premises on the west side of Young street. Its number today
is 25-29, but back than it was No.17 Young Street.
DETMOLDS LIMITEDDetmolds [Building "A"] were wholesale and manufacturing stationers. Their factory did everything:
paper printing, book binding, envelope making - they were the 'Office Works' of their day, but
with knowledge & service. A subsidiary of the British firm,
William Detmold, the company would
have offices in many Australian states. Clearly a successful business, they were frequent
newspaper advertisers for business and staff recruitment. Detmolds would later be known as
Spicer & Detmold, and then Spicers Australia Limited.
Detmolds was, by far, the largest business (with the largest building) in the street.
The building itself has frontages in Young Street and
Eliza Street. The building, costing
£10,000, was just months old when
Scott Bonnar moved in next door. It survives and is
heritage listed with the National Trust of South Australia. Here is a quaint
1960s photo.
It is
Photo 4 on my
Mud Map:-
Photo 4 Mud MapTOY WAREHOUSE - War RepatriationThe first business on this west side of Young Street was situated just behind the Coach Painting Works
at No 97 Waymouth. It was a
toy factory run by the Australian Soldiers Repatriation Fund, established
to employ about half a dozen returned soldiers who, because of the nature of their injuries, could not
pursue their former occupations.
I mention this because
Scott Bonnar would have seen, on a day-to-day basis, these less-abled soldiers
turn up for work, a poignant reminder to him of the horrible effects of that Great War. Two or three
of Scott's brothers were at this time overseas fighting in the AIF. Scott, who joined the
AIF in 1915,
was discharged at the request of the
State Munitions Committee because of his engineering qualifications.
He was needed at home. I hope to tell that story at some future point.
I have not been able to locate a photograph of the toy factory, but this 2015
Google Maps image will
suffice. This scene looks up Young Street towards Franklin Street. First building on the right was about
where the toy factory was located; then there were residential tenements, housing about four small
households (mostly labourers); then there was Bonnar's and a blacksmith (where the white facade is);
and then Detmold's.
Google Images, 2015But what did Scott Bonnar's premises actually look like?
What did he do there?
TO BE CONTINUED ...