Quote:
Originally Posted by ford71V8
Um, the history of Bunnings is in the video that DFB put up in Post #001 of this thread.
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Unfortunately I am insufficiently computer literate to in this case post a photograph of the actual building. Below is the information on the plaque attached to the building.
"Dating from 1888 this building made from local stone is one of many built in Roebourne by two brothers recently arrived from England, Robert and Arthur Bunning; the founders of the successful firm Bunning Brothers, which continues to trade today as Bunnings Warehouse.
The building was first occupied by another couple of entrepreneurs from England, Messrs Harry Watson and George Tee, who already operated a store in Cossack. The building was one large room divided into two separate departments. One these departments sold general merchandise and the other drapery and soft goods.
The Watson and Tee store operated for a decade before the partnership dissolved. HJ Watson & Co was later formed by Mr Watson and William Alexander Porter. Watson & Co operated from a number of sites in Roebourne.
The building has historic significance for the various uses it has served for the Roebourne community including as a general store, Masonic Hall, Baptist Church and now as a public library."
Roebourne is between Karratha and Wickham on the Pilbara coast. Cossack was the port for the region and is a now historic town site.
Incidentally early in the expansion of the Bunnings business as we know it today, the company built and operated a big green shed in the booming Pilbara town of Karratha. However within a few years the business failed and they left town. Today the pre-existing local hardware business' Mitre 10, Home Hardware and Atom Supply continue to serve the region.