Rookwood Cemetery Discoveries

  With Father's Day approaching I thought of a store in the Sydney CBD my father and many others used to frequent. In my case my dad could always find a suitably priced and well fitting pair of "strides" and get a great haircut at the same time! The founder has not totally been forgotten but as time elapses his name and Department Store that was once synonymous with all a man could want, will be. J OHN ELLIS SYMONDS GOWING John was born in 1835 in Eye, Suffolk, England, the eldest son and one of ten children to Ellis Symonds Gowing, 'gentleman' farmer and his wife, Charlotte. With the repeal of the Corn Laws at the time, which would cause great loss to the family business, John sailed for Sydney in 1857 intending to purchase farming land. Due to the discovery of gold, increasing agriculture and sheep farming, the Australian economy was booming and his parents and siblings followed him out to these shores the following year. Farming was not what the family ...

  In the age of the changing face of "retail" it's nice to know that some things remain the same albeit slightly different in execution.   Many retail stores over the past 150+ years have been taken over by others or even disappeared. Names such as Hordern's, Farmers, Marcus Clark, Nock & Kirby, Ways, Gowings, Grace Bros., Buckinghams, Mark Foys, Beard Watson etc spring to mind.   The retail empire that I'm showcasing today, had a name now lost to history but the area where it once stood is still a retail hub and shortly to undergo a bit of a "spruce up".   Photo from City of Sydney collection  Let me introduce Bebarfalds and it's founder.... BARNET BEBARFALD Barnet was born in Prussia in 1831, one of seven children to Myer and Sophia. The family left the country and moved to England residing in Middlesex during the time of the 1851 census. Myer was listed as a cap maker and Barnet, now twenty years of age, a cigar maker.   It...