By the Beaudesert Historical Museum
Brisbane Street used to be home to a Woolworths Variety Store.
The store was located in the building now housing Jenny’s Western, and was certainly operating in the 60s and 70s but the exact dates are unknown.
The top floor of the building, accessed by a narrow staircase to the right of the main door, brings back not so pleasant memories for many of us who made the trek up to the local dental surgery.
True to its name, the merchandise was varied and one could obtain just about everything one wanted.
Store management were very supportive of the local community.
On one occasion they ran a special promotion for Father’s Day.
Entrants had to draw a picture of their father and the winner’s dad received a shirt as a prize.
No doubt they also ran competitions at Christmas and Easter.
The Historical Society and Museum was recently gifted a Beaudesert T shirt, pictured below, which appears to be a tourist promotion for the town.
The writing says, ‘Hi from Beaudesert Queensland’, and shows the Mount Lindesay Highway, William Street and Kerry Road intersection, the Cenotaph and Enright’s Store.
In the photo, traffic lights were not yet installed – the road between Central Place and the shops, Wrights Jewellers and now Bean To, was still in place.
This actually dates the shirt to the 80s or very early 90s.
The label on the shirt is Woolworths which leads us to believe that it was produced in the time of the Variety Store as the new Woolworths opposite Davidson Park was not built until much later.
If any of our readers could provide any information about this shirt and the occasion for which it was produced, please let us know. We could then display it with proper details.
