A store has occupied this property from as early as 1872. The original two-storey building on the site “burnt to the ground” on August 28, 1896. The current building was probably built shortly afterwards on the remains of the previous store.
Early photographs indicate that the shop was a general store, and that for more than 50 years (at least) it was run by the same family. Photographs dated 1901-1906 show the ‘Pulford Bros. General Cash Traders’ as occupants, while the trading sign in a 1951 image shows the proprietor as ‘C.G. Pulford General Cash Trader’.
Some sources suggest that poet C.J. Dennis may have lived in this dwelling for a short time in his youth, with his grandfather M. Tobin.[1]
By the 1990s it was operating as an antiques shop. In 1991 the shop was fitted out and used during the shooting of the 1993 film ‘Hammers over the anvil’ starring Charlotte Rampling and Russell Crowe, and directed by Ann Turner.[2]
Notes
- Mintaro State Heritage Area. Dwellings, stores, workshops and offices. State Heritage Places entered in the South Australian Heritage Register. Department for Environment and Heritage, 2006.
- IMDb, Hammers over the anvil (1993), https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101996/, accessed 1/9/2024.