You can all keep dreaming. New England is fantastic, quiet and has no noticeable humidity. Take that you coastal plebs, enjoy the congestion and pollution and don't come knocking when the sea invades the lowlands.
Just don't mention the war..
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Would we have to worry about marauding Beetrooters roaming the landscape?
Or is he safely tucked up in the fleshpots of Canberra?
A
Barnaby is the man around here don't you worry about 
1919 Renault hearse outside the funeral parlour of Wood Coffill Ltd., Sydney, Australia, ca. 1930, Sam Hood, State Library of New South
The detective in me leads me to the cnr. of Kings and Darby streets Newcastle and the base building is still there. Can any local Novacastrians confirm?
that doesn’t look like the same building, but I’m in Melbourne and only looking at your photos.Original looks like a 90 degree corner block.
Contemporary photo building is recurved?
I didn’t see any address listed for Newcastle.
I would guess the hearse is parked in front of the Sydney head office, opposite Christ Church? That would place it at this halal Thai restaurant but again this facade doesn’t look right...
I would guess the hearse is parked in front of the Sydney head office, opposite Christ Church? That would place it at this halal Thai restaurant but again this facade doesn’t look right...
A quick look at Newcastle papers showed that Wood Coffill moved to Darby St in 1936. Prior to that they were in Pacific St.
There's a problem with 810 George St Sydney too (see ad above). That address is currently next to Christ Church in George St and isn't a corner block. The photo above is opposite (odd numbers) at the corner of Valentine St but isn't a match as Shibuichi notes.. Perhaps numbers have changed.
This photo from the same collection gives a better view of the building
There's a problem with 810 George St Sydney too (see ad above). That address is currently next to Christ Church in George St and isn't a corner block. The photo above is opposite (odd numbers) at the corner of Valentine St but isn't a match as Shibuichi notes.. Perhaps numbers have changed.
This photo from the same collection gives a better view of the building
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Nice fleet of hearses.
Aha! There's a restricted record in the State Library concerning St George's Place. Premises were the church, A. Fernandez & Co., Wood & Company, Coffill & Company, and the Savings Bank of New South Wales.
Good detecting, seasink! I was wondering if W&C was on the other side adjacent to the church and replaced by a newer building.
Renault picture is likely not Sydney head office.
Renault picture is likely not Sydney head office.
I found an address.
19 Darby was W&C with the building having a second frontage at 26 King. It butted up along the back wall of this pub on the corner.
Newcastle Darby St is not the Renault building. Earlier Pacific address perhaps?
The pic isn't of the Maitland branch in High St either. W-C inherited several Sydney branches of the former firms. It is probably one of them. Camperdown was big enough to hold thousands of coffins when it burnt down, so not there.
Did you know our Dame Nellie Melba purchased a Renault from this crowd..?
Good photo and a good find. I've been chasing a photo of a Peugeot ambulance donated by a Toorak matron in 1914 but without success. The AWM doesn't have a specialist curator for early machinery. There are lots of military history and military vehicle enthusiast people about online. The AWM has a large amount of material available online for the WW1 period. Combine with the now rare and expensive battalion histories and Bean's multi volume history and you can turn up quite a lot. I turned up twenty pages on a request from an old lady for more information on her uncle who died at Pozieres. Sad thing was I realised I knew more about his fate than the army ever told his parents.
Unlikely that vehicle in that form ever saw service. By 1915 people were building serious armoured cars but they were of no use on the Western Front. The British used some in the desert, don't know about Australia. Peugeot built a series of useful looking armoured cars they sold to Poland at wars end.
From a historical point of view - what was the vehicle purchase policy of the Army? Was the vehicle a donation?