Old fashioned Advertising

Today shops pull us in with offers like ‘buy one get one free’ and ‘20% off ’. In the old days however some shops used quite different tactics to pull in customers. Below are the ads that made us smile or laugh when we found them. The ad from the local optometrist particularly surprised us. It seems strange, but if you consider it was published during the 1930s depression, perhaps it is not as out of place as we might think.

These ads were found in the South Sydney Sentinel newspaper and span the early 1930s. They were found during research for our upcoming exhibition on shopping.

4 Hatfield Street, Mascot

Do you recognize this house or the family in front of it? Believe it or not this picture was taken where Mascot Library stands today! It was the home of Harriet and Ralph Anderson who purchased the plot in 1933. After WW2 many relatives came to live at 4 Hatfield Street, including a few who lived in a converted garage in the back yard. In her later years, Harriet made an income by taking in male boarders. Most were refugees from Hungary and other European countries. House rules were very strict and Harriet kept a close eye on her renters.

Next door at 2 Hatfield Street – where the entrance to Mascot library is today - lived the Browns and their commercial quantity of chickens. According to Lois Sabine who generously provided all this information, “The Browns sold eggs daily and chickens at Christmas time. These Christmas chickens all had to be prepared quickly as they had no refrigeration. Using blocks of ice wrapped in sacking, Mr. Brown chased and chopped screaming chooks, some of them headless and still running while Mrs. Brown sat in the back doorway trying to stay cool in midsummer heat while plucking feathers which floated off in all directions. She used them for stuffing their mattresses and pillows”

Mrs Hat was another well known personality in the street. She was named so because of the unattractive beige cloche she constantly wore. She was apparently completely bald and always pulled her hat firmly down as close to her neck as possible.

Harriet Anderson in her backyard facing High Street c1966. Her location is approximately where the door to the library’s kitchen is today.

Lois Sabine and her mother, in the backyard of 4 Hatfield Street. The garage behind them was later used as a residence.

Women in Government

Can you recall when Botany Council elected its first female alderman?

The answer is 1952 and the Alderman was Mrs Cora Byrne. She served for 2 years, until 1954.

Since her historic appointment, a number of other women have followed in her path including Alderman Fyffe and Alderman Kelly.

If you want to know more about these women, short biographies of the later two appear in “The History of Botany 1788-1970”.

Kavanagh’s Pharmacy

Can you make out the bottles of Old Spice aftershave? Do you recognize any other products? Last month we had some lovely photos of Kavanagh’s Pharmacy on display at the Central Library. Since 1945, three generations of the Kavanagh family have run their Banksmeadow pharmacy.

These photos were taken in the early 1960’s when they moved to 1649 Botany Road, where they still operate today. As you can see many of the pharmacy’s products have changed, however if you visit now you will still see a number of wonderful old medicine bottles on some of the pharmacy’s shelves.

Photographs courtesy of Dorothy Kavanagh

Remember this?

Everyone knows Kellogg’s make cornflakes and All Bran, but did you know they once made a ‘peppy’ cereal called Pep? This picture of the product comes from a 1927 Kellogg’s letterhead. It is part of the company’s application to build a factory on Stephen’s Road, Botany.

In council’s archives, this letter is stored with technical architectural drawings of the company’s first factory building in the area. Drawn by engineers in Chicago, these plans must have seemed very glamorous to the council employee who opened the envelope they came in! They are also by far the biggest and most detailed architectural plans the council had then received.


If you are interested in learning more about Kellogg’s in Botany, look out for our future exhibition called Made in Botany: the History of Manufacturing in the City of Botany Bay. If you have any stories about the factory, please contact us.

This picture is part of an on-going mini exhibition we are having on the front wall of Pagewood Library. Each month we will be having a changing displaying of 5 to 6 photographs and objects. In doing so we hope to open your eyes, or jog your memories about the City of Botany Bay. If you miss a month, don’t worry. We will be blogging the best image of each month right here.