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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The Brennan & Geraghtys Store is a very old shop in Maryborough, Australia. It's so special that it's now a National Trust museum! Built around 1864, it's also known as Geraghty's Store. This historic building was officially added to the Queensland Heritage Register in 1992, meaning it's protected for future generations to enjoy.

A Look Back: The Store's History

The Brennan & Geraghty's Store was started by two friends, Patrick Brennan and Martin Geraghty. They built it in Lennox Street, Maryborough, which was a busy shopping area back then. What makes this store amazing is that the same family ran it for over 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 key place for trading goods from the Wide Bay and Burnett areas. Things like wool, wood (cedar and kauri pine), and animal fat were sent out from here. In return, supplies for farms and homes came in. When gold was found nearby in Gympie in 1867, Maryborough grew even faster, becoming a rich trading and banking hub.

Maryborough was also a major port where many people arrived. Between 1862 and 1890, about 22,000 immigrants came directly from overseas to Maryborough.

How the Store Began

In 1863, Patrick Brennan and Martin Geraghty arrived in Maryborough from Ireland. Patrick worked as a storekeeper for a while. 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 shop. This part of the street was quite lively, with other shops and even a hotel.

In 1871, Patrick and Martin decided to work together. They turned Martin and Catherine's house into a bigger store by taking down some inside walls. They also built another house next door to use for receiving goods. Brennan & Geraghty's sold groceries and ordered large amounts of supplies. They were the only importers in Maryborough at the time. By the late 1870s, the families also started orchards, growing fruit like oranges. They sold the fruit and even made marmalade and fruit wines in their factory.

Growing and Changing

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 make the front of the store look fancier. They hired people to draw up plans and build a new, decorative front. This work cost about £211. Gas lighting was also put in at the same time. A back room and a trolley system were added in 1887.

This was a time of great growth for Maryborough and Queensland in general. However, in the next ten years, Brennan & Geraghty's business started to struggle. By 1896, they had to close the partnership. Over the next few years, they sold off their properties to pay their debts. Martin's son, Frank Geraghty, bought the store and rented it back to the business for a small fee.

In 1902, Michael Geraghty, another of Martin's sons, bought the butcher's shop next door. By this time, Lennox Street was mostly homes, as it is today. Michael pulled down the butcher's shop and built a new house there for his mother, Catherine, after his father passed away in 1904. This new house was named "Uskerty," after Catherine's mother's birthplace in Ireland.

A Century of Business

After the Brennan & Geraghty partnership officially ended in 1903, Catherine Geraghty ran the store. Her children, especially Agnes, Florence, and George, helped her. She ran the store until she passed away in 1934. In 1934, the Geraghty family also bought "The Cottage" at 62 Lennox Street. The business kept going until 1971. George Geraghty wanted to make sure the store completed 100 years of trading from that spot. He passed away in 1973.

Becoming a Museum

After George Geraghty died, some of the items from the house and store were sold. The Maryborough City Council even planned to tear down the store. But in 1975, the National Trust bought the entire Geraghty property. By then, grocery shopping had changed a lot, and old-fashioned stores like Brennan & Geraghty's were very rare. What made this store even more special was that George hadn't changed much, and he hadn't thrown away old stock or records. Many items in the store were no longer made, or they looked very different now.

In the 1980s, people started a fundraising effort to save the store and its contents, and the local community strongly supported it. Finally, in 1990, the store opened to the public as a museum!

What You'll See: The Store Today

The Brennan & Geraghty's Store museum is located at 64 Lennox Street, Maryborough. It's surrounded by two other historic buildings that belonged to the Geraghty family: "Uskerty," built in 1904, and a cottage bought in 1934.

The Store Building

The store is a large building made of timber (wood) with a metal roof. It has a brick front that has been plastered over. A long roof-like structure called an awning sticks out over the footpath, held up by strong metal posts. There are two big glass display windows on either side of the entrance, which can be covered with removable shutters.

Inside, the store has three main areas. The front part is the shop itself. 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 other items used for running the store.

Amazing Collections

The shop holds a collection of over 100,000 items, all of which were originally sold or used in the store. Most of these items are from the years between World War I and World War II. But you can find things like tea from 1885, soap from the 1920s, and even toilet paper from the 1950s! These items are displayed just like they would have been when the shop was open. They show how goods, household needs, and shopping habits have changed over time. The museum also has almost all of the store's business records, going all the way back to 1871, plus a huge collection of old advertisements.

The store building is very well preserved. You can see how it changed over the years as the business grew and faced challenges. The inside walls are still unpainted, except for the shop area, where the original paint colors have been kept. The outside has been painted to match what it looked like between the two World Wars.

Other Buildings

• The Stables: Behind the store, there's a stable building. It's a simple wooden structure with a metal roof. Most of the floor is dirt, but two rooms at one end have wooden floors.
• Uskerty House: This house is set back a bit from Lennox Street. It's a medium-sized wooden house with a metal roof. It has four main rooms, a hallway, and a kitchen area with two more rooms. There are verandahs (porches) on three sides with decorative metal railings. Part of one back verandah has been closed in to make two extra rooms. The house is still in great condition and even has some parts that might have come from the old butcher's shop. The garden is also well-kept, with pathways and old trees. A wooden 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 wooden house, raised up on stumps, with a metal roof. The outside walls are covered with different types of wooden boards. There's a simple verandah at the front, and the back verandah has been closed in to create a kitchen and bathroom. The inside of the cottage is also very original, keeping its old wooden details and hardware. The main rooms haven't been painted.

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

Why It's Important: Heritage Listing

The Brennan & Geraghtys Store, along with the two houses and stables next to it, was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on October 21, 1992. This means it's recognized as a very important historical site for several reasons:

• Shows Queensland's History: It helps us understand how Queensland's history unfolded. It also shows the ups and downs of the Brennan & Geraghty business, which was a big trading company in Maryborough in the 1800s. Maryborough itself was a very important trading center.

• Rare and Special: Brennan & Geraghty's Store is unique because it's a grocery store that is still almost completely original, with its old stock and business records. This is very rare to find!

• Learning About the Past: It can teach us a lot about how grocery shopping and buying habits changed in Queensland over a hundred years.

• Great Example of Its Kind: It's an amazing 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 wooden houses from the late 1800s and early 1900s in Southeast Queensland.

• Connected to Important People: The store is strongly linked to the Brennan & Geraghty business, which was a significant part of Maryborough's history as a trading center.