Brennan & Geraghtys Store facts for kids

Brennan & Geraghtys Store
Brennan & Geraghtys Store, 1992
Location	62–66 Lennox Street, Maryborough, Fraser Coast Region, Queensland, Australia
Design period	1840s–1860s (mid-19th century)
Built	c. 1864–1904
Queensland Heritage Register
Official name: Brennan & Geraghtys Store & two adjacent buildings and stables, Geraghty's Store
Type	state heritage (built)
Designated	21 October 1992
Reference no.	600704
Significant period	1860s–1900s (fabric) 1871–1971 (historical use as store)
Significant components	furniture/fittings, objects (movable) – retail/wholesale/services, pathway/walkway, residential accommodation – housing, fence/wall – perimeter, trees/plantings, shop/s, stables
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Brennan & Geraghtys Store is a special old shop in Maryborough, Australia. It's now a National Trust museum. This building is very old, built between 1864 and 1904. It's also known as Geraghty's Store. This historic site was added to the Queensland Heritage Register in 1992. It's a great place to see what shops were like long ago!

A Look Back: The Store's History

Brennan & Geraghty's Store was started by two partners, Patrick Brennan and Martin Geraghty. They built it in Lennox Street, which was a busy area in Maryborough back then. What's amazing is that the same family ran this store for about 100 years, until 1972! It still has many of its original items and old business records.

Maryborough's Early Days

Maryborough became a town in 1852. It was a port where goods like wool, timber, and pine were sent out. Ships also brought in supplies for the farms and towns. When gold was found nearby in Gympie in 1867, Maryborough grew even more. It became a very important trading and banking center. Many immigrants also arrived directly in Maryborough from other countries between 1862 and 1890.

How the Store Began

In 1863, Patrick Brennan and Martin Geraghty came to Maryborough from Ireland. Patrick worked as a storekeeper. Martin, who married Patrick's sister Catherine in 1864, bought land on Lennox Street. He first ran a business making wooden items and helping with funerals. Then, in 1869, he opened a small store.

In 1871, Patrick Brennan and Martin Geraghty became business partners. They changed Martin and Catherine's house into a bigger store. They also built another house nearby to store their goods. Brennan & Geraghty's sold groceries and ordered many items in large amounts. They were the only importers in Maryborough at that time. By the late 1870s, the families also started growing fruit, especially oranges. They sold the fruit and made marmalade and fruit wines in their factory.

The Store's Busy Years

The 1880s were the best years for the Brennan and Geraghty business. They tried many different things, from making bricks to running a ferry service across the river. In 1886, they decided to add a fancy new front to the store. Plans were drawn up, and the building work cost a good amount of money. Gas lighting was also put in at the same time. More additions were made to the back of the store in 1887.

Changes Over Time

Maryborough was booming during this period. However, in the 1890s, Brennan & Geraghty's business started to struggle. By 1896, they had to close the company. Over the next few years, they sold off their properties to pay their debts. Frank Geraghty, Martin's son, bought the store and rented it back to the family business.

In 1902, Michael Geraghty bought the butcher's shop next door. He tore it down and built a new house there for his mother, Catherine. This house was named "Uskerty," after her birthplace in Ireland.

From 1903, after the partnership officially ended, Catherine Geraghty ran the store. Her children, Agnes, Florence, and George, helped her. The business kept going until 1971. George Geraghty wanted to make sure the store completed 100 years of trading. He passed away in 1973.

Becoming a Museum

After George Geraghty's death, some items from the house and store were sold. The local council even planned to tear down the store. But in 1975, the National Trust of Australia bought the entire Geraghty property. By then, most grocery stores had changed a lot. What made Brennan & Geraghty's so special was that George had kept everything almost exactly as it was. Many items in the store were no longer made or sold anywhere else.

In the 1980s, people started raising money to save the store and its contents. There was a lot of support from the local community. Finally, in 1990, the store opened to the public as a museum. It's like stepping back in time!

What the Store Looks Like

Brennan & Geraghty's store museum is at 64 Lennox Street in Maryborough. It's next to "Uskerty," the house built for Catherine Geraghty in 1904, and another cottage owned by the family since 1934.

The Store Building

The store is a large building made of timber, sitting on stumps. It has a metal roof with a pointed shape. The front of the building is made of brick with a smooth finish. A roof-like cover, called an awning, sticks out over the footpath. It's held up by metal posts. There are two big glass display windows on either side of the entrance. These windows can be covered with removable shutters.

Inside the Store

The inside of the store has three main areas, separated by walls. The front part is the main shop area. The middle section has a small storage room. The back area is open and doesn't have a ceiling. All three rooms are connected by a trolley system that runs on wooden tracks. The building still has its original shelves, cabinets, counters, and furniture.

The shop holds more than 100,000 items, all from the store's history! Most of these items are from the 1920s and 1930s. You can see everything from tea from 1885 to soap from the 1920s and toilet paper from the 1950s. These items are displayed just like they would have been sold. They show how goods, household needs, and shopping have changed over the years. The store also has almost all its business records from 1871 onwards, plus a huge collection of old advertisements.

The store's structure is very well preserved. You can see how it changed as the business grew and then slowed down. The inside walls, except for the shop area, have never been painted. The original paint colors in the shop have been kept. The outside of the building has been painted to match its last color scheme, which is thought to be from the 1920s or 1930s.

Other Buildings on the Property

• The Stables: Behind the store, there's a stable building. It's made of timber boards and has a metal roof. The floors are dirt, except for two rooms with wooden floors.
• Uskerty House: This house is set back from the street. It's a medium-sized timber house on stumps with a metal roof. It has four main rooms, a hallway, and a kitchen area. There are verandahs (porches) on three sides with decorative metal railings. Part of one verandah has been closed in to make two more rooms. The house is very original and even has parts that might have come from the old butcher's shop. The garden is also mostly original, with pathways and old trees. A timber fence with a wavy top separates it from the street.
• The Cottage: This cottage faces Lennox Street and has a picket fence. It's a timber house on high stumps with a metal roof. The outside walls are made of different types of timber boards. There's a simple verandah at the front. The back verandah has been closed in to create a kitchen and bathroom. The inside of the cottage is also very original, with its old doors, windows, and hardware. The main rooms have never been painted.

Some parts of the old wooden fences that divided the properties are still there. The ones right behind the store have been rebuilt using old materials.

Why This Place is Important

Brennan & Geraghtys Store, along with the two houses and stables, was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register in 1992. This means it's a very important historical site.

Showing Queensland's History

This place helps us understand how Queensland's history has changed. It also shows the ups and downs of the Brennan & Geraghty business. This business was a big part of Maryborough's trading history, and Maryborough itself was an important trading town.

A Rare Find

Brennan & Geraghty's Store is special because it's a grocery store that is still almost completely original. It even has its old stock and business records. This makes it a very rare and important part of Queensland's history.

Learning from the Past

The store can teach us a lot about how groceries were sold and bought in Queensland over a hundred years. It's like a time capsule!

A Great Example

It's a wonderfully preserved example of a type of store that used to be very common in Queensland. Also, the Geraghty houses next to the store are good examples of timber houses from the late 1800s and early 1900s in Queensland.

Connected to Important People

The store also shows the story of the Brennan & Geraghty business. They were a very important trading company in Maryborough's history.