|
Private Revenue Perfins of Western Australia An Elsmore Coath production The authors would welcome your comments additions or input into this work B C D F G H I K L M N O P R V W Other G -------------------------------------------------------- GDCo.a User: Goode, Durrant & Co Merchants Address: 39-41 William St, Perth, WA Railway Use: 1905-6 issue 3d. 1907-23 issue 1d (pink), 3d, 6d, 9d, 1/-, 2/-, 2/6d, 5/-. Rarity Scale: 1905-06 issue 3d. 1907-23 issue 1d R3, 3d R3, 6d R4, 9d R4, 1/- R4, 2/- R3, 2/6d R4, 5/- R4. Background: *Charles Goode (later Sir) was born in 1827 in Herefordshire, England. In 1837 he left school and 2 years later he was apprenticed as a draper and in 1849 (aged 22) he migrated to South Australia where he opened a shop in North Adelaide as well as selling goods on foot and later by cart. When his initial partner Thomas Good retired he joined with his brothers Samuel and Matthew in opening a warehouse in Adelaide. In 1859 Charles went to London to establish a buying department and did not return to Australia until 1863. After a short period in politics in the seat of East Torrens in the House of Assembly he returned to London and conducted the business from their until 1882. At this time the partnership with his brothers was dissoloved and he returned to Australia and created a new company with new partners W. H. Durrant, (his London manager) and W. H. Tite. The company was publically listed in 1893 and Goode remained a director but he had other interests, including a Directorship in a Bank, an Insurance company and several manufacturing concerns as well as the newspaper the South Australian Advertiser. The company expanded from its base in Adelaide across to Perth were they had premises at 39-41 William Street, Perth but also at the Lion Boot Factory, Subiaco, and offices in Kalgoorlie, and Broken Hill (NSW) and a London office at 27 Milton Street London EC. Charles was knighted in 1912 and he died in 1922 aged 95. In 1934 Goode, Durrant merged with D & W Murray to form Goode Durrant & Murray Ltd, which continued to be run from offices in London. The company was in turn taken over by D & W Murray (Australia) Limited in July 1957. Device: As with the GDCO/P.a device below, the GDCO.a device was a single die device produced by Slopers in England. The Sloper records show its date of manufacture to be 1903, which is coincidently the end of the usage of the GDCO/P.a device. Given the GDCO letters in both GDCO.a and GDCO/P.a are identical it would be logical to assume that the GDCO.a device is the GDCO/P.a device with the P removed. The GDCO/P.a device shows no sign of wear that would necessitate its repair or indeed its withdrawal from service and there is no usage recorded after 1903. The true circumstance may never emerge but given the Sloper records would suggest that the most likely scenario is that Goode Durrant returned the GDCO/P.a device to Slopers and that they modified it by the removal of the P and returned it to Perth. Alternatively the GDCO/P.a device may have been destroyed by an accident, such as a fire, and that another device was ordered from Slopers in the GDCO format. This seems less likely as even Slopers would have had difficulty matching the GDCO so accurately. The GDCO.a device was a robust one and it is found used on postage stamps up until 1944. It is not found on WA revenue stamps but it is found on WA railway stamps. Related patterns: Refer to other Goode Durrant and Co patterns in: WA: GDCO/P.a GDM.a * The Australian Dictionary of Biography *State Library of WA -------------------------------------------------------- GDCo/P.a User: Goode, Durrant & Co Merchants / Warehousers Address: 39 William St, Perth, WA Revenue Use: 1882-1895 postal/fiscal issue 1d, 3d. 1897-1903 issue 1d. Rarity Scale: 1882-1895 postal/fiscal issue 1d R4, 3d R4. 1893-1903 issue 1d R3. Background: see GDCO.a Device: The GDCO/P.a device was known to have been manufactured by Slopers in England in 1896. The device was part of a larger order which had been placed by Goode Durrant and Co which also included the GDCO/A device. The “P”device was for the Perth office and the “A” device was for the Adelaide office. The “A” device is only found on postage stamps but its usage extends from 1897 until 1960. The “P” device is much shorter lived and is only found on revenue and postage stamps of WA from 1897 until 1903. At this time Sloper records show the company purchasing a new device, GDCO.a (see above). The GDCO seems to be exactly the same as the GDCO part of the larger GDCO/P.a device. What is more the new GDCO.a device appears to replace the GDCO/P.a device as it is used exclusively in Perth. Related patterns: Refer to other Goode Durrant and Co patterns in: WA: GDCO.a GDM.a -------------------------------------------------------- GDM.a User: Goode, Durrant & Murray Ltd Merchants / Warehousers Address: 39 William St, Perth, WA Railway Use: 6d. Rarity Scale: 6d R4. Background: See GDCO.a Device: As with other Goode, Durrant devices this was a single die device. The device in the GDM format was most likely created to reflect the change in the ownership of the Company that came about with the merger with D&W Murray in 1934. The device came into use in about 1939 and seems to have replaced the GDCO.a device. However the GDM.a device was short lived and it is only found used between 1939 and 1940. After 1940 the company appear to have returned to using the GDCO.a device as this is found used up until 1944, although such usage between 1940 and 1944 is rare. After 1944 the company ceased using a perforator at the Perth office. In previous publications on Australian private perfins the usage range for the GDM pattern is reported as 1914–1940. This is clearly an error as this would mean that the device was in use 20 years before the merger between Goode, Durrant and D & W Murray that lead to the GDM (M for Murray) format in lieu of the GDCO. Related patterns: Refer to other Goode Durrant and Co patterns in: WA: GDCO.a GDCO/P.a -------------------------------------------------------- GR/W.a
User: G & R Wills & Co Merchants / Warehousers Address: Initially: High St, Fremantle, WA later: Hay St, Perth, WA. From 1947: 'Wills House' 573 Wellington St, Perth, WA. Railway Use: 1907-21 issue 2/6d. Rarity Scale: 1907-21 issue 2/6d R5.
Background: *Brothers George and Richard
Wills arrived in Adelaide from Devon (England) in
1847 and with the softgoods they had brought with
them, they started G&R Wills from small premises
in Rundle St. By 1858 they had created a buying
office in London and George returned to England to
run this office. Richard stayed in Adelaide but died
in 1862 aged just 33. However the company grew in
Australia and in 1866 they opened a branch in
Fremantle and this was soon followed by branches in
Broken Hill, Kalgoorlie and later Melbourne. By 1881 the shipping concerns of
the company had grown to the point that they were
moved to a separate company named, George Wills and
Co. Richard (jnr) died in Adelaide in 1901 and
George (snr) died in 1906 in England and his estate
saw the distribution of his shares to his sons
Charles, George (jnr) and John as well as William
Brocksopp and George Jury. Later in 1913 the Adelaide Softgoods Warehousing business was renamed G&R Wills and Co and the London buying office was launched as a separate business named George Wills and Sons Ltd. This buying office expanded to become a world wide network of trading offices in the Far East, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the West Indies, South America and the USA. In Australia the softgoods business continued to expand and it was floated as a public company in 1946 under the direction of Sir Kenneth Wills, son of Richard Wills (Jnr). The company then embarked on a substantial apparel manufacturing operation with factories in Adelaide and Perth as well as offices in London and Singapore. This was initially successful and the company manufactured the popular “Ezi Fit” brand but since the 1980's the G & R Wills business was gradually broken up and sold off and today there are only small scale operations in Darwin and Alice Springs. Device: The GR/W.a device was a single die device which was most likely located at the companies Fremantle and later Perth office. Previous studies have attributed this device to the companies Adelaide office but this GR/W.a device is definitely a WA device as Perth postmarks predominate. Additionally the Adelaide office had a smaller GR/W device and usage of this device in Adelaide overlaps the usage of this GR/W.a device in WA. The Adelaide device is not found on revenue or railway stamps and is therefore not detailed as a related pattern in this publication. The GR/W.a device is not found on revenue stamps of WA but it is very rarely found on railway stamps of WA. It is also found on postage stamps of Australia from 1918 until at least 1930. Related Patterns: Nil
G & R Wills & Co. Ltd.
building on North Terrace photographed in 1878. The
building extended from Rundle Street (now Rundle
Mall) to North Terrace. *grwills.com.au *'These Hundred Years' printed by
The Advertiser Printing Office (1949) compiled by H
N Huffadine for G&R Wills and Co *Trove.com.au Digitalised Newspaper Archive -------------------------------------------------------- B C D F G H I K L M N O P R V W Other © copyright 2011 |
