AN advertisement appeared regularly in the Wagga paper, The Worker, for several years from 1905 onward: Gallagher Bros., Storekeepers, North Darlington Point, Largest and most up-to-date stock in the district. Hawking vans visit sheds.
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The “sheds” referred to were the men’s accommodation on pastoral properties, and the picture here shows just such a visit. It appears that a brisk business is about to commence, with the vans packed with goods and plenty of potential customers waiting.
Stations then employed large numbers of men who had little means of transport and so were isolated from towns and the facilities they offered.
Many outlying farms and households may also have welcomed the hawker’s van.
Several rows of boots and shoe boxes can be seen in one van, while hats, shirts and other apparel would have been welcome essentials. Other lines may have been reading matter, stationery, and small luxuries such as sweets.
Patent medicines would also have been called for, to deal with coughs, colds, aches and pains, and constipation.
Dr Sheldon’s Magnetic Liniment was one remedy that Gallaghers advertised; for use on cuts, burns and wounds, and priced at one shilling and sixpence, or three shillings a bottle.
Gallaghers’ store stood on the corner of Narrand and Darlington streets, on the north side of the Murrumbidgee River, and had been established by brothers Edward Francis and John Joseph Gallagher, sons of Edward Gallagher the first police officer appointed to Darlington Point.
The substantial building had an underground cellar, and additions were made in 1908 and 1910.
This included a freezing works which had been dismantled at Carrathool and re-erected as part of these premises.
The partnership was dissolved in 1920, and John Joseph continued the business alone while retaining the name Gallagher Brothers until the business was leased to other operators in 1928.
In 1946 ownership was transferred to Milton John Cardow, as an adjunct to his main shop south of the river. The bulk of his business was carried out at the main shop and by the 1960s the north side store operated for limited hours only, and eventually was closed down.
The building was demolished around 1980.
As car ownership increased, and roads improved, larger towns that offered a variety of retail outlets became more accessible, so the old style of country general store no longer had a function or any importance in the community.
Today the corner site is partly occupied by a storage shed unrelated to previous businesses.
