“Netafit Clothing” – 15 Young Street, Southport€¦ · “Netafit Clothing” – 15 Young Street, Southport In 1945 my father Alf Pickering, a Tailor by trade, ... witnessed

“Netafit Clothing” – 15 Young Street, Southport

In 1945 my father Alf Pickering, a Tailor by trade, extended his Brisbane

manufacturing business by starting a factory in an existing building in

Garden Street, Southport. At the time it was difficult to find employees

for the Brisbane factory and after meeting with members of the

Southport Chamber of Commerce, it was suggested that a manufacturing

business might be of benefit to Southport, making it the first clothing

manufacturer on the Coast.

Then in 1947 the new factory, “Netafit Clothing”, was built at 15 Young

Street, Southport with bricks from the Southport Brickworks. In 1952

we moved permanently from Brisbane to live at the factory. The building

consisted of the ground level as the working factory and a residential flat

above the front section.

My father manufactured men’s and women’s clothing for Brisbane’s well

known Warehouses and retail stores such as Myer. I have many memories

of travelling in the truck to Brisbane and waiting hours (so it seemed)

for my father to deliver his stock to the Warehouses. My big reward

was always stopping on the way at the Yatala Pie shop for a pie – a very

special treat.

First factory in Garden StreetImage courtesy of Dawn Pointon

Netafit factory and the truck we travelled to Brisbane to deliver stockImage courtesy of Dawn Pointon

Place : Southport StoriesTheme : BusinessesAuthor : Dawn Pointon

Gold Coast City Council Southport stories 72 Community tales submitted for the Southport Heritage Walk 2009

Little Miss Muffet Children’s Salon – Bulletin Arcade, 21 Nerang Street Southport

My mother, Gwen Pickering, always wanted to own a children’s clothing

store. In 1960 with a suitcase of “samples” from my father travelling as a

salesman, she opened up in a room above Barry & Roberts supermarket in

Scarborough Street. It was not long before she moved into a shop in the

Bulletin Arcade which adjoined the Bulletin Newspaper. The Bulletin Arcade,

running from Nerang Street to Scarborough Street, was a busy place with all

the shopkeepers becoming one big family.

In 1969 it become of great concern when Sundale Shopping Centre opened,

as all the Southport shopkeepers were certain it would see the demise of

their businesses. But they were not deserted by their loyal customers and for

25 years Mum became a well known acquaintance of generations of Gold Coast families. My two sisters and I all worked at various

times in the shop and the five grandchildren all grew up spending countless hours “in the back” doing homework and playing

games. “The shop” was our meeting place. With the construction of the Mall then the demolition of the Arcade it was a sad time

for all and saw the end of a wonderful era for Nerang Street.

The Pier Picture Theatre

There was an extremely long pier at the eastern end of Nerang Street which lead to a Picture Theatre situated out in the Broadwater.

It was quite a sensation to have the water lapping under the pier and theatre. As kids, going to the movies in the 50’s and early 60’s

was a full afternoon’s entertainment as we saw a newsreel, cartoons and two movies. I have great memories of those wonderful low

slung canvas chairs with no armrests between; if you slid down in them enough, the row behind couldn’t see you cuddle and kissing


continued

Place : Southport StoriesTheme : BusinessesAuthor : Dawn Pointon

Gwen PickeringImage courtesy of Dawn Pointon


your boyfriend (well we hoped not!). The “milk bar” was an enormous horseshoe shaped counter in the room behind. There was

always a mad rush out of our seats at interval to be served and be back in time for the start of the main feature movie.

The Steam Train – Southport to Brisbane

To this day I love travelling on trains and I am sure it has evolved from my childhood experiences of travelling on the train in the

50’s and early 60’s. My memories are of the many dark tunnels we journeyed through on our long 2 hour trip from Southport to

Brisbane. I am not sure when it stopped being a steam train, but going through those tunnels created a film of soot on our laps

which our mother always warned us not to touch or brush off. Once the train arrived we would stand up and shake our skirts to

blow the soot off. All was lost when the government pulled up the line and we resorted to travelling by Greyhound bus – albeit a

shorter journey, but without that wonderful charm.


Milk factory, Scarborough Street Southport: Primary school children

attending the Southport State School were able to leave the school grounds at

lunch time and walk down to the Milk Factory for their bottle of milk. We would

give our penny to the factory employee at the door (generally Mr Percy Walker).

The half pint bottles of milk were just inside the door of the factory and we would

get our bottle of milk, sit on the small section of lawn in front of the factory to

drink it and put the empty bottle back in the crate when we were finished. There

was also a pieman outside the school gate with pies kept hot in a fire heated

oven: these cost four pence (3cents)

Southport Pier: The old Pier was a great fishing venue, particularly in winter

when huge schools of mullet, bream and ludrick congregated in the area. Mullet

and luderick were illegally jagged and whilst the mullet generally schooled over

oyster beds resulting in lots of lost jags, fishermen could catch a sugar-bag of

luderick in an evening. Luderick were called “black bream” at that time and on

the daylight run-in tides, fishing with floats and green weed the fishermen at

times were so numerous they had to queue at the northern end of the pier to get

their float in the water to walk the length of the pier to the south before walking

back and rejoining the queue hoping the float would go down during the walk

along the end of the pier.

Place : The Milk Factory and the Southport PierTheme : History and DevelopmentAuthor : Bryan Smith

Southport Pier, circa 1891Image courtesy of Gold Coast City Council Local Studies Library

School children at the opening of the South CoastMilk Factory, circa 1947Image courtesy of Gold Coast City Council Local Studies Library


Back in the early 40’s I arrived by train from Toowoomba, where I

was a nurse in the Army at the first Orthopaedic Hospital, having

been transferred from Mt. Eliza in Victoria. It was at Toowoomba

where I met my beloved husband Beverley Ralph and we married

there and came to live at Main Beach, Southport, to the old house

beside the change pavilion where we lived for 5 years and had 4

offspring there.

NB: There were only about 6 houses at Main Beach at the time.

View over Main Beach looking south, circa 1940sImage courtesy of Gold Coast City Council Local Studies Library

Place : Stories of SouthportTheme : Pioneers, Identities and Family StoriesAuthor : Paula Stafford


I am from a pioneering family of Southport - Andrews, and we had the

first general store in Southport from the 1870s. I spoke with my Ma and

she relayed this tale:

It was the early 1960s, New Year’s Eve. I was in my mid-teens and

excited to be attending an evening of frivolities and enjoying different

performances being held outside of Cec Carey’s Corner Grocery Store on

the corner of Nerang and Scarborough Street, Southport. The evening

was fabulous and I was amazed at the wonderful three-part harmony of

a particular group who were performing on the back of an open truck

with guitars in hand. There was an older brother and two twins and they

were fantastic entertainers. Little did I know at the time that I had actually

witnessed The Bee Gees! And here we are now at The Bee Gee’s 50th

anniversary!

New Years Eve at Careys Corner, circa 1954Image courtesy of Gold Coast City Council Local Studies Library

Place : Southport Stories – New Years Eve CelebrationsTheme : Pioneers, Identities and Family StoriesAuthor : Kiri Stinson


Strange to say I was born in the

old Council Chambers building

in Davenport Street, which was

Southport’s first fire station. This was

October, 1936. My father was Arthur

Laver, the first Chief Officer there.

In 1937 the building was replaced by the first permanent fire station to be built on the coast. The site is where the Court House now stands. I can remember as a child clambering over the only fire engine. When the fire alarm went off Dad slid down the pole rather than take the stairs.

My father was a keen sportsman, playing “A” grade tennis and cricket. Having been in the Army in World War 1, he belonged to the RSL and held the position of Treasurer and also Secretary of The Digger’s Hall Committee. During World War 2 he was the MC at the Saturday night dances at the old Digger’s Hall. It was there that Dad taught me to waltz at the age of five. He was later made a Life Member of the Southport RSL.

Another memory was of my mother going to the nearby café with bowl in hand to buy scoops of ice-cream and topping as a treat for our dessert. Those were the days when you could buy a small ice-cream or a chocolate frog for a penny!

I enjoyed living my first eleven years in our home over the fire station. We could walk to the old State School, then in Scarborough Street, to the shops in Nerang Street and to any of the three picture theatres – the Regent, the Pier or the Savoy.

Place : Southport StoriesTheme : History and Development – WWIIAuthor : Mavis Veivers (nee Laver)

Southport Town Council Hall, circa 1919Image courtesy of Gold Coast City Council Local Studies Library

Southport Ambulance Brigade, circa 1920sImage courtesy of Gold Coast City Council Local Studies Library

After Dad had a stroke we had to move out and sadly about a year later, on 30th November, 1949, he died after another stroke at

the age of forty-eight. Incredibly my mother died exactly forty years later on 30th November, 1989.

As a teenager I worked at the BCC Grocery Store in Nerang Street. We check-out girls had to memorise all the prices in those days.

I later met and married my husband, had three daughters and still live happily in Southport, enjoying watching our grandchildren

grow up.

continued

Place : Southport StoriesTheme : History and Development – World War IIAuthor : Mavis Veivers (nee Laver)



In the summer of ’73, my first son arrived at the Southport Hospital. It had

no insect screens but as it was hot and humid, the windows were always

open. It was not unusual to find a fat cockroach nestled amongst your

nighties in the bedside drawer!

On one visit, my husband was surprised to see the family dog sitting on my

bed when he arrived. The dog had been in the tray of our Holden Ute in the

car park, had simply sniffed out my room and jumped through the window,

beating him to my bedside.

My second son was also born at Southport and as the wards were full,

second time mums were moved to the nurses quarters as many had gone

home for the summer holidays.

On Saturdays, we would shop at the fresh produce markets on the Nerang River then on to Sundale shopping complex nearby.

What an exciting place that was. It often hosted Art competitions in its gallery and my mother occasionally exhibited and sold her

paintings there. Also, that was where I first experienced a talking set of scales so for your 10 cents; all around were informed of your

weight!

Place : Southport Early 70’sTheme : History and Development - HospitalAuthor : Gabrielle Vining

Aerial view of the Southport Hospital, 1978Image courtesy of Gold Coast City Council Local Studies Library


Our family’s involvement in the early days of Southport include my mother’s

(Olive Whelan {nee Smith}) birth in Sister Bourke’s private hospital at the

western end of Suter Street, Southport on the 11th October 1914.

Her parents Thomas (born at Yawalpha) and Mary Smith (nee Stevenson)

lived in Southport at that time prior to beginning their farming life at

Currumbin, Tallebudgera, Mudgeeraba and finally Benowa (farm opposite

the now Benowa shopping centre). Thomas Smiths’ father was the

Blacksmith at the Benowa Sugar Mill, which was adjacent to the Rosser

Botanical Gardens.

Prior to and during WW2, my mother Olive Smith worked as the Manager

of the Woolworths Variety store in Nerang Street and also as usherette and

later office manager of an evening, at the Pier Theatre on the Broadwater

working for the Tham’s family. She became engaged to my father

Godfrey J S Whelan, on this return from WWII.

Following my father, Godrey (Goff) Whelan’s return from the Tobruk

Campaign (9th Div, 2nd 13th Field Co. Eng.) in the Middle East, they married on

4th March 1943, in the Presbyterian Church, Nerang Street, Southport.

On 27th March 1948, Goff and Olive Whelan opened one of Nerang Street’s

early private mixed-businesses (groceries, produce and fuels) which they’d

built opposite land on which later was built the Southport Hospital.

Place : Southport MemoriesTheme : History and Development - WWII, BusinessesAuthor : Brian Whelan

Nerang Street, circa 1957Image courtesy of Gold Coast City Council Local Studies Library

Southport Pier Theatre, circa 1950Image courtesy of Gold Coast City Council Local Studies Library

I was born in April 1946 and have many fond memories of our busy family

life in the store and my attendance at the Southport Primary School in

Scarborough Street. I also attended the kindergarten, operated by a Miss

Rendells, off a lane now the site of Australia Fair shopping centre, prior to

commencing primary school. This lane provided rear entry to the then Pacific

Hotel.

Many happy times were spent along the sea-wall foreshore, in the safe

swimming enclosure at the Pier Theatre , the Loders Creek entrance to the

Broadwater and the area now in front of the Charis Fish Shop (opposite the

original Grand Hotel). Other memories include family favourite haunts such as

“Mick Theodores” Café, at the eastern end of Nerang Street, who then had

some of the best food in town.

On some summer afternoons, after Primary School, Mum would take us fishing, down to a road off Ferry/Bundall Rd, which led to

an old Ferry site, that operated across to Cavill Avenue. The land in this area later became Chevron Island, developed by Stanley

Korman. My uncle/aunt Val and Lil Whelan and Brigadeer Monaghan, his wife and family, also lived there prior to Chevron Islands’

development. Their homes were severely damaged in the flood of 1956, in which Val and Lil Whelan had to spend the night high

in a large gum tree, to be rescued the next morning by an army reserve crew, including my father Goff, in an Army Duck. I can still

vividly recall the view of flooded houses looking from the hill at the Drury Avenue entry into T.S.S. In most cases, the roofs were

the only evidence of houses in the area, as far as the eye could see. The Nerang River had risen up to the small Chinese Restaurant

located in Cavill Avenue, near the Bank of N.S.W. on the highway.


Southport State Primary Infants School, circa 1950Image courtesy of Gold Coast City Council Local Studies Library


Our other memories of Nerang Street, include the building of the Bulletin and Dalton Arcades, Purvis’ Hardware store, the BCC shop

next to Commonwealth Bank, Miss Doherty’s Dress shop and Dr Roy Bevan’s Dental Surgery upstairs in the Savoy Theatre building.

Cecil Carey had a large mixed-business diagonally opposite the Southport PO, close to the still operating Birkbecks Jewellery store.

Further west of the Cecil Hotel was businesses like Woods Café (later run by the Solway family). These were opposite the imposing

QATB building, prior to the Council Chambers, on the Davenport Street corner. A little further up was the Regent Theatre, then

Trittons Furniture. Land was resumed in the Theatre area to extend Davenport Street down to Young Street.

On the opposite side to the Council Chambers was the Queens Hotel. Next to it was the Beveridge family Modern Furniture

Exchange, with the McPherson Division, Australian Electoral Office, above. This adjoined Earls’ Ford garage, which in the early

days, served fuel from bowsers located on the footpath. The furniture shops’ building was called “DougBar” – as Mr and Mrs Earl’s

children were Barbara and Douglas.

Further up Nerang Street, west of High Street and St.Peters Anglican Church, was the Methodist Church’s Bellevue Hostel. This was

very popular for youth gatherings for the areas teenagers. In between Bellevue and my parents shop, was the Dowling family home.

The 1950’s and 1960’s in Southport central were a fabulous time to experience the early example of growth, we have become so

used to today. Southport was the commercial heart of the early South and Gold Coast. In fact, Southport had the only High School

for the region until the early 1960’s.

continued

Place : Southport MemoriesTheme : History and Development - WWII, BusinessesAuthor : Brian Whelan

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“Netafit Clothing” – 15 Young Street, Southport€¦ · “Netafit Clothing” – 15 Young Street, Southport In 1945 my father Alf Pickering, a Tailor by trade, ... witnessed