| Historical notes: | STATEMENT OF COUNTRY
The Earp Gillam Bond Store, Russell Warehouse and railway siding stands on Awabakal Country (AIATSIS 1996). The Awabakal have lived in the Newcastle area for many thousands of years. The landscape around Newcastle contains many places of cultural importance to the Awabakal. Following the arrival of Europeans in the late 1790s and subsequent dispossession, the Awabakal retained strong connections to the Newcastle area, as have other Aboriginal people (Miromaa Language & Technology Centre n.d.). Convict artist Joseph Lycett painted a series of scenes of Aboriginal people in Newcastle in the period 1817–19, showing that the traditional life of the Awabakal continued after the establishment of a convict station in 1804 (Dunn 2019). Awabakal and other Aboriginal people maintain a close connection to the Newcastle area and are a key part of the Newcastle community today.
DEVELOPMENT OF NEWCASTLE AND ITS PORT
From Newcastle’s penal origins in 1804, its history has been tied to maritime trade. In 1817, commander of Newcastle James Wallis led the establishment of the convict lumber yard for the shipping of coal and cedar. Convict labour was also soon used to commence the construction of a break wall to Nobbys Island to create a safer river entry and harbour to aid shipping.
While the port’s shipping industry gained momentum in the 1820s, the development of Newcastle did not accelerate until after the establishment of the collieries of the Australian Agricultural Company in the 1830s (Architectural Projects 2002).
In 1840, the first foreshore reclamation began east of the Watt Street wharf, in front of the Convict Lumber Yard. By 1850 reclamation had substantially progressed, changing the foreshore alignment in this area (Architectural Projects 2002).
Between 1856 and 1861, the steadily growing coal trade caused Newcastle’s population to double. The Great North Railway opened in 1857, joining Newcastle to Maitland and opening the Hunter Valley for increased shipping trade (Australian National University n.d.). By 1858, the rail line was extended from Honeysuckle to the northern end of Watt Street, with Newcastle Railway Station as the terminus. A branch line extended further along the foreshore, allowing ships to moor directly alongside the wharf while steam cranes transferred cargo directly between train and ship (Kingswell 1890). The city continued to experience a boom through the mid-Victorian period, with bond stores and warehouses built to serve the growing shipping trade. The East End became the "aristocratic end of the city" as substantial villas were built (Architectural Projects 2002: 2) and Newcastle recognised as "by far the most important city of this colony after Sydney" for its economic weight, built on overseas shipping and the coal trade (Australian Town and Country Journal 1891: 28; Childe 1923). Construction during this time drew on the new technique of mass concrete for footings (Reedman 2008).
DEVELOPMENT OF THE EAST END
Intensive development of the East End was hampered for a time by the deep sand drifts that widespread shrub clearing in the 1830s and 1840s had caused. Not until the 1870s were the dunes sufficiently stable as to permit more permanent construction. The Scottish Australian Investment Company achieved this through mitigation work using coal-mine chitter. Dune stabilisation and land reclamation provided opportunities for rail and other infrastructure to be established (Architectural Projects 2002).
Railway transport continued to grow in the 1870s and 1880s, with many of the buildings in the East End of Newcastle being built for the railway or associated purposes: Newcastle Customs House (built 1876, SHR 01403), the Berthingmaster's Office (built 1879, later Paymaster’s Office, part of Convict Lumber Yard or Stockade Site [SHR 00570]), the former Coutt's Sailors Home (built 1882, part of Enterprise Park and Coutt’s Sailors Home [SHR 01842]), the Seamen's shelter shed (c.1884) and the former Stationmaster's residence (built 1885, part of Convict Lumber Yard or Stockade Site [SHR 00570]).
The land on which the Earp Gillam Bond Store now stands was made up of two lots. The first adjoining Bond Street was part of Lot 220, being a Crown Grant to Hugh Hill in 1845, the second being Crown Land. Hill did not build due to the sand drifts that plagued the East End. In 1863, Lot 220 passed hands to the Scottish Australian Investment Company, who sold to James Russell in 1886. Russell was a contract builder in Newcastle involved in the extension of the Australian Agricultural Company wharf on the harbour, where he managed steam cranes, and the construction of Fort Scratchley (Russell 1880; Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners’ Advocate 1881; Hunter / Russell 2024).
RUSSELL WAREHOUSE
In 1886, Russell built a three-storey warehouse facing the railway yards at the western end of his allotment in which he had his own offices and business. In 1887, Russell dedicated land for a new street between Telford and Watt Streets, which gave his warehouse a street frontage (Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate 1887). This was approved by the Newcastle Borough Council in 1889 and became Bond Street (Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate 1889). He subsequently purchased an adjacent lot from New South Wales Government Railways. The block was bounded on the north by the railway, resulting in it being triangular in shape. That same year, Russell took out a large £30,000 mortgage on the block and soon after commissioned a new bond store adjoining the existing warehouse for the merchants and shipbrokers Earp Gillam & Co. In 1894, James Russell defaulted on a loan and the store became the property of the Bank of New South Wales (Dunn 2019).
The association of the Russell Warehouse with Stanton Catchlove and Company appears to originate in the 1930s after the company’s registration in 1930 (Dun’s Gazette for New South Wales 1930).
EARP GILLAM AND COMPANY
Earp Gillam and Company (Earp Gillam & Co) formed in 1884 when George Frederick Earp, a merchant and importer from England and William Jenkins Gillam from Albany, Western Australia, formed a partnership to ship coal from Newcastle. Once in Newcastle, Earp acquired a trading ship and the company grew to trade in a range of goods including coke, export and import timber and general merchandise.
Following the initial exploration and extraction of coal resources at what became the East Greta Colliery, Earp Gillam & Co were approached to form a company to provide capital to advance mining operations. In 1891, the East Greta Coal Mining Company Limited (EGCMC) was floated with Earp and Gillam both inaugural directors (with other partners). By 1893, the East Greta Colliery was connected by rail to Newcastle and commenced coal exports. Concurrently, by 1894, a railway siding was also in place along the northside of the Earp Gillam bond store.
EGCMC exports were initially handled by Earp Gillam & Co, subsequently replaced by Earp Brothers and Company (Earp Bros & Co) following the dissolution of Earp Gillam & Co in 1900. Gillam and the Earp brothers (George, Charles and Frank) were reported to have ‘built up a trade for Maitland coal that since has become world-wide. So successful were they in building up the reputation of this coal that the attention of other coal companies was directed to the Maitland field.’ (Sydney Morning Herald 1921; Scott 2021).
The role that EGCMC played in opening up the South Maitland coalfields and pioneering the establishment of rail infrastructure between the coalfields and Newcastle port was critical in the growth of coal mining in the region. The contribution of the South Maitland coalfields to the NSW economy was considerable, earning the coalfields a reputation as "the great emporium of the coal trade in the southern hemisphere" by the late 19th century (Australian Town and Country Journal 1891: 28). In the early 1920s, collieries in the Maitland district produced 40 per cent of all coal in NSW. Newcastle’s contribution to the NSW economy and current position as the world’s largest coal export port can be traced, in part, to Earp and Gillam’s pioneering investment in mining and rail infrastructure (NSW Mining n.d.; Sydney Morning Herald 1921), which was, in part financed by their earlier trade from the Earp Gillam Bond Store.
EARP GILLAM BOND STORE
The design of Russell’s new bond store for Earp Gillam & Co was undertaken by architect Frederick Menkens, who emigrated to Adelaide from Germany in 1878 with significant experience in construction and draftsmanship. After working in the Colonial Architect’s office, Menkens relocated to Maitland in 1881 and set up practice in Newcastle in 1882. His experience quickly established him as one of the Hunter region’s leading architects. During his career, Menkens designed 62 individual buildings in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley, including commercial premises, offices, shops, villas, houses, convents and monasteries, as well as multiple additions and alterations. Nine of his projects were bond stores or warehouses, of which the Earp Gillam Bond Store was the first. The period between 1884 and 1895 is known as his decorative phase and is recognised as the period of his best work and most popular buildings (Dunn 2019; Reedman 2008).
After calling for tenders for the Earp Gillam assignment (Menkens 1888), Menkens chose local builder John Straub, the two having worked together on previous projects in Newcastle, including the Waratah Deaf and Dumb Institute and Convent. Russell’s smaller warehouse was partly incorporated into Menken’s plan, the two buildings abutting each other and linked with internal arched doorways.
The new bond store, close to Customs House, was a four-storey brick warehouse built to suit the wedge shape of the sloping site. Three stories faced Telford and Bond Streets, with a basement level that could be entered directly from the goods yard and future rail siding. The bond store narrowed from front to back and consisted of three main bays one each floor, each defined on the exterior by large arched entryways. The functionality of the store was balanced by Menkens’ use of two different coloured bricks, red and yellow, to define the bays and the columns. The use of the polychrome brickwork was innovative of Menkens at the time and thought to have been inspired by a stylistic change that had occurred in Menkens’ hometown of Oldenburg in the 1860s. The fenestration of the main façade has been identified as having derived directly from the Armoury in Oldenburg (Dunn 2019).
The completed bond store quickly became a Newcastle landmark, sited prominently above the railway yards and wharves; it was visible from all parts of the city and was the largest building in the East End when completed. Earp Gillam & Co had its name emblazoned on the rooftop parapet on all four sides and operated from the bond store for 10 years between 1889 and 1899. In 1900, the partnership dissolved and the company was renamed Earp Brothers & Co, which operated from the bond store until 1922, during which time the company traded in groceries, automobiles and coal. Earp Brothers & Co diversified into hardware, ceramic tiles and bathroom fitouts, surviving as a business to the present day (Eikos Environment and Heritage 2023). The Bank of New South Wales sold the store in 1923 after the Earp brothers left the building to Walter Edwin Bramble, later W.E. Bramble & Co, owner until 1979. It was occupied by a variety of auction houses including John Hogan & Co auctioneers from 1922 and later the offices of the Buchanan and Lambton Collieries (c. 1945-60) (Dunn 2019). The bond store remained vacant after its sale in 1979 and fell in disrepair, like much of the East End as the railway yards closed.
CHANGING FATE OF THE EAST END
With land uses changing through the 1970s and 1980s, Newcastle East was witness to battles between developers and conservationists. The future Earp Gillam Bond Store, Russell Warehouse and railway siding became one of several landmark wins for early conservationists. In August 1973, the NSW Builders Labourers Federation implemented a Green Ban on the East End of Newcastle following a campaign by local citizens, including the Newcastle East Residents Group, and the Newcastle Trades Hall Council to retain working class content and oppose the construction of high-rise office buildings and motels (Green Bans Art Walks Project 2023).
Community pressure again helped conserve the Earp Gillam Bond Store from demolition after the 1989 earthquake caused severe damage. Campaigning helped secure a $60,000 government grant for its restoration and averted demolition. Two years prior to the earthquake, Lahey Consortium had begun work on rehabilitating the building and continued post-earthquake. Converting the store for office accommodation, the work was completed in 1993 and received several national and state awards: the NSW Royal Australian Institute of Architects Greenway Conservation Merit Award, a Building Owners and Managers Association award and Master Builders' Association of NSW Excellence in Construction Award for Renovation/Restoration of a Historic Building. The restoration was instrumental in the beginnings of the wider Newcastle revitalisation and heritage restoration following the earthquake. Lahey Constructions, Suters Architects Snell and engineers Low and Hooke were the first tenants (Dunn 2019). |