Letter from Australia

[Downsunder]

Here in Australia, Bunnings Hardware are a retail juggernaut with megastores in every population centre, so, when I heard that Bunnings tried to break into the UK market and the Brits told them, quite emphatically they didn’t want their brand here, I allowed myself a bit of a snigger. Even though I don’t fully understand them, terms such as multinationals, conglomerates, co-operatives and monopolies still leave a nasty taste in the mouth. So Bunnings Hardware got hammered to the tune of a billion bucks. Which got me thinking about our local hardware store.

 

When we first drove into this little town in Northern Tasmania 30 years ago looking for a light bulb and a tap washer, the hardware store was easy to find. A wonderful ancient 3-storey weatherboard building (the yanks call it clapboard) with multiple rooves of different sizes, gables pointing in every direction, a weathervane at the highest point and the name – just the name - CAMERONS blazoned across the front. What else could it be but a hardware store!

 

Inside, the well-worn floorboards moved and creaked, a huge unguarded wood-burning fire took centre stage and a rickety wooden staircase lead the intrepid customer to the second floor. Every nook and cranny was a health and safety nightmare, but what a treasure trove! There were trowels from America, knives from Sweden, saddles from Spain, Australian boots and oily coats, pots and pans from Poland, German chainsaws and British tools. I bought a hacksaw stamped Footprint Brand Made in Sheffield which I still have, I call it the Rolls Royce of hacksaws. Funny, I don’t recall seeing anything made in China!

 

Camerons was an institution which we grew to love, it didn’t matter that they closed their doors every day from twelve to one for the staff to have their lunch. Or that Saturday was a half day and no one would dream of working on Sunday. The big shed at the back of the building which could have been used to store rolls of fencing wire or sheets of chipboard had been leased to the undertaker for as long as anyone could remember and that’s where he kept his coffins and garaged the hearse.

 

Sometime in the nineties, Camerons was swallowed up by another hardware chain (not Bunnings) They moved to a new building across town and changed their name and now everything they sell is made in China. The old weatherboard building is still there, the name painted out but the memories can never be erased.

Edited April 7, 2018 by Downsunder