Thread: Who is the real L.S.Barker ?

Hi Alan,

You will generally get a better response in future if you create your own thread rather than hijack another thread.[/QUOTE]

Its nice to be nice!

Hi,

Found LS' father's death notice in the Argus, 13 Feb 1915, and it reveals many siblings!
So there were plenty of potential family members who could have been involved with the business following LS' death.

13 Feb 1915 - Family Notices

BARKER.-On the 10th February, at Winton (the
result of accident), William Lee Barker, gate- keeper, Clarke street railway gates, Northcote, dearly beloved husband of Janet Barker, beloved father of Mrs. T. Kneebone, Mrs. A. McDougall, Mrs. N. Hansen, Edmund, William, and Sydney Barker, and the late Mrs. C. Taylor; beloved brother of Mrs. T. McWaters, Mrs. J. Pass, Mrs. P.Pini, James and Lott Barker, aged 60 years.


There was also another notice from a sister after the death of LS in the Argus on 15 Feb 1947.
15 Dec 1947 - Family Notices

BARKER.-On December 12, Sydney Barker,
loved brother of Mrs. Hansen, loved uncle of Jean, Ellie, Norma, and Maxwell.

I couldn't find anything on LS Barker in the 1915 McPherson's catalogue ………………….Do you want a copy Matty??????

What about the 1924 one then???

Who else was selling tools etc in competition to McPherson's & John Danks & Son??????

Originally Posted by hiroller

Hi,

Found LS' father's death notice in the Argus, 13 Feb 1915, and it reveals many siblings!
So there were plenty of potential family members who could have been involved with the business following LS' death.

13 Feb 1915 - Family Notices

BARKER.-On the 10th February, at Winton (the
result of accident), William Lee Barker, gate- keeper, Clarke street railway gates, Northcote, dearly beloved husband of Janet Barker, beloved father of Mrs. T. Kneebone, Mrs. A. McDougall, Mrs. N. Hansen, Edmund, William, and Sydney Barker, and the late Mrs. C. Taylor; beloved brother of Mrs. T. McWaters, Mrs. J. Pass, Mrs. P.Pini, James and Lott Barker, aged 60 years.


There was also another notice from a sister after the death of LS in the Argus on 15 Feb 1947.
15 Dec 1947 - Family Notices

BARKER.-On December 12, Sydney Barker,
loved brother of Mrs. Hansen, loved uncle of Jean, Ellie, Norma, and Maxwell.

Hiroller, the plot thickens !!
The question is who of these relatives is still alive to tell Lot's story ?
Great work by the way !!

Dale, a 1915 McPherons catalog ?, I think we have some serious talking to do on our road trip tomorrow !!
Looking forward to it !

Melbourne Matty.

Originally Posted by L.S.Barker1970

The question is who of these relatives is still alive to tell Lot's story ?
.

Anyone tried Facebook??????

Originally Posted by DSEL74

Who else was selling tools etc in competition to McPherson's & John Danks & Son??????

J.Blackwood & Son have been in business for about 130 years, selling engineering supplies and steel. I'm pretty sure they were Sydney based, and were the direct opposition to McPhersons especially in the Sydney market.
I have all of the old Blackwoods catalogues stashed away somewhere, but I believe the McPhersons catalogues had a much more comprehensive section on machine tools.

As I type this, I also recall a company called Austral Engineering Supplies, who also sold quite a large range of woodworking equipment. They are now based at Ermington in Sydney, but have no involvement in woodworking equipment these days. Their range these days are in the steam valves and pressure gauge equipment areas.

A.E Herbert were also involved in woodworking equipment. Again, i believe I have an old catalogue somewhere, and I also have an old A.E Herbert table saw under a tarp, used occasionally for fire wood cutting.

Another opposition company to McPhersons in the engineering supplies field was Scruttons, who were in Mascot for many years before they moved to Lidcombe. They sold metal working lathes etc, not sure about woodworking machinery. I'd have to uncover my old Scruttons catalogues to check.

Hope this is of interest.

Alan...

Edited - Added Scruttons information.

Hi Matty,

A question for you. When did LS Barker equipment start being listed in McPherson Catalogues?
One thing that is conspicuous by it's absense in the newspapers of the time are adverts for LS Barker.
I can't find any in the paper, save a couple of classifieds for 2nd hand equipment.
At the same time, there are daily ads in The Argus for Wolfenden and agents for Wadkin equipment.

I also found an article/insert in the Argus for the All Australian Exhibition in Sept 1929. It featured Australian manufacturing. It was opened by then Premier, Sir William McPherson and featured 142 exhibuts including a whole host of Australian iconic brand names such as ICI, McPhersons (of course), Berlei, Taubmans, Berger Paints, Sanitarium, Wolfenden, Wormald, Henry Disston and Sons, Sutton Tool and Gauge, Purina Grain Foods, James Hardie (and a host of other asbestos product manufacturers), Kiwi Polish, Bryant and May (matches) and AWA.
Unfortunately no sign of LS Barker, probably still too small.

Makes the current woodworking show look particularly lame.

Originally Posted by hiroller

One thing that is conspicuous by it's absense in the newspapers of the time are adverts for LS Barker.

Hiroller,

I have also spent a lot (no pun intended) of time looking for the strangely absent L.S. Barker advertising. Although I have been a bit quiet on this post now for the last few days, I certainly have still been doing research (some may say it has reached an unhealthy obsession), so I will have some information to provide in a few days (when I return home).

Cheers,

Camo

Yes, the non-existant ads go well with the non-existant streets for the factory! Mentioned so far we have:
Willis St, North Melbourne (could be Kensington)
Collie St, North Melbourne (could be anywhere)

Originally Posted by hiroller

Yes, the non-existant ads go well with the non-existant streets for the factory! Mentioned so far we have:
Willis St, North Melbourne (could be Kensington)
Collie St, North Melbourne (could be anywhere)

Patience, patients, all will be revealed shortly on these two.

Cheers,

Camo

Originally Posted by camoz

Patience, patients, all will be revealed shortly on these two.

Cheers,

Camo

OK enough teasing, this one was a bit of a join the dots challenge to work this one out.

By looking at the postal directories, I was able to confirm L.S. Barker was at 20 Willis st North Melbourne off 76 boundary st and cross street Buncle stimage.jpg

next confirmed a Willis st North Melbourne existed and then later did not exist. The postal directory showed that Willis St North Melbourne existed, and then in later years no longer existed, with no other suburb suddenly showing up, which ruled out a simple change in suburb name. So we looked at this 1958 street directory to find its past location.

image.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpg

Below is a digital image of an early council map showing the street, and the bonus is that Collie st is the next street down (a two for one offer).

image.jpg

So what happened to the streets then? Well a look at google maps gives the answer:

image.jpg

They both became North Melbourne Community Centre.

Another two pieces of the puzzle goes into place.

Well that pretty much exhausted my mobile Internet allocation for the month, so no more pictures etc. until I get home and to a PC.

Cheers,

camo

P.S. Sorry about some of the layed over photos

Nice find camo.
Looking through those Council maps is needle in a haystack stuff.
You must have a good magnet!

Your a Magician Camo, a Genie in a bottle !!
Great work !!

Melbourne Matty.

Originally Posted by hiroller

Hi Matty,

A question for you. When did LS Barker equipment start being listed in McPherson Catalogues?

I have a 1949 Catalog that advertises "Barker" machinery, but I believe the Macson/Barker transition went on for several years prior to 1949.
Never seen any L.S.barker advertisements either, very strange, I'm wondering now if they were not just contracting woodworking machinery to just McPherson's and thats all, just not sure ?

Melbourne Matty.