Saturday Referee and the Arrow (Sydney, NSW : 1912 - 1916)
Saturday 17 January 1914
BERT, THE FISH-AND-CHIPS MAN
MEDITATIONS ON MANLY
THE CARNIVAL CONSIDERED
(By N.LO.)“So you’re goin’ over to the Manly carnival,” said Bert, the fish-and-chips man.
“Wouldn’t mind goin’ meself, only I ’ave to git back to biz.
“Manly’s a diff’rent place now to what it used to be.
Reminds me of one of them suburbs a man ’as sometimes lived in. When you’re first there everythink’s like nature, but first thing you know nature’s ashfelted.
That is if the residents git together and don’t give the council no rest till things are done, and if they keep it up all the time.
“Yes, if you go to Manly now it’s
NATURE AND ASHFELT
all right.
There’s them new surf-sheds (I wonder if it’s true that any outsider ’oo likes can see into them from above), and all sorts of arrangements. Entertainment and food, and lovemakin’ all like the city. You could think you was in Sydney if you didn’t think.
“I ’ear one of the councillors says they ought to ashfelt right down to the water’s edge. Why not ’ave a bit under the water, too? Knawin’ might go better, though.
“Them chairs used to be very pop’lar when mixed bathin’ first took a jump ahead. Funny about Ma Gullasone, when she took a trip down there one time. She asked ’ow much the chairs was, and the bloke said thrippence. So she give ’im thrippence and starts luggin’ a chair towards ’ome. She ought to ’a known better, because she’d ’ad a similar experience at one of the big grocers. She saw some bacon marked ‘take the piece,’ so ’anded it. She don’t shove it in ’er Peggy-bag, or whatever they call it, and ’ad a ’ard job persuadin’ the manager she wasn’t a philatelist, or whatever that word is for people that steals things in shops.
“They go big at Manly at carnival time all right. Wouldn’t mind runnin’ a little refreshment joint there meself. After all it’s
US PEOPLE THAT PERVIDES FOOD AND DRINKS
that does the best out of most carnivals. About the same with me as with the Australia.
“Carnivals always remind me of church. So many women and girls there ’oose object seems to be to see other women and girls ’oo’ve come to see them, and ’ow they’re dressed!
Some of them stays down the pier end all the time, sittin’ on a beach in the reserve, or in a boat if they ’ave a bloke to take them out.
It’s not reel rowin’. You just sort of tie your boat up to one of the ripples, and talk mild jokes to the girl, and look each side of you to see if people are noticin’ ’ow you can make ’er laugh.
But that’s the way with a lot of water carnivals. The old ’Enley in England, or the Australian ’Enleys that ’ave sprang up the last eight or nine years, are pretty like it.
One set of girls git in boats or barges, and look as if they’s thinkin’ ‘Don’t you wish you was me?’ And another lot sit on the benches in the reserve, if they ain’t all gone, and give Charlie ’ints about ’avin’ a boat. But per’aps Charlie only buys them
LOLLIES, CHOCOLATES’
from an old man instead. Some Charlies don’t even do that. The fare over ’as broke them, p’r’aps.
“When you’ve got through the Corso it’s diff’rent. They seem to be enjoyin’ themselves more there. Them that’s got their clo’es orf, anyway. The only man I’ve ever seen that didn’t look ’appy when ’e got ’is clo’es orf was Chidley. But I don’t s’pose it would do for a martyr to snarl.
“The diff’rent events are amusin’. Most of the people ’oo are there don’t know ’oo’s won till they see it in the paper next day. The young ’eroes ’oo are competin’ think they’re distinguishin’ themselves under the eye of beauty an’ chivalry, as it says in that pome about Waterloo; but the fact is, ’arf the beauty and chivalry ’ardly knows what’s doin’.
All the bloke knows is that it’s ’is duty to take the girl somewhere on ’er afternoon orf, an’ that Manly ought to do, and all the girl knows is that when there’s an extra lot of people at Manly, an’ the merry-go-round is kep’ livelier than usual, an’ grinds its barrel-organ extra fast, that’s a carnival, and a carnival seems the sort of thing that you ought to be at.
“I knew one bloke ’oo made quite a reputation with the girls for knowin’ Manly because ’e
USED TO POINT TO A MAN
an’ say, ‘That’s ’Appy ’Igher,’ and then tell them somethin’ about what ’Appy ’ad did in the way of life-savin’. ’E’d read it in a paper, but ’e didn’t tell them that.
’E spoke as if ’Appy wouldn’t ’a done it only for knowin’ ’im.“The fact is, the judges and the people that ’elp them, and the competitors, and the reporters, are about the only ones that know very much about what’s goin’ on.
And I’ve ’arf a idea that a few of the reporters don’t know much until they worril someone ’oo’s on the committee, so they can give a thrillin’ account of ‘what ’our representative observed.’
“There’s more ways than one of spendin’ a ’appy day at Manly. I’ve known blokes ’oo went down to see the carnival and never got farther than the first pub. They done their surf-bathin’ in powder.
Y’ see, there’s two kinds of surf-bathin’— one applied inside an’ one outside. The outside sort works in, an’ makes you feel good all over. And the inside sort works out— p’r’aps in good temper, and p’r’aps in fights.
“After all, Manly’s just the same as most other places in ’avin’ a diff’rent attraction for diff’rent people. With some it’s sport, or just gen’ral enjoyment in or out of the surf; with some it’s palin’, and with some it’s girls.”
The News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954)
Tuesday 7 June 1927
FRIED FISH AND CHIPS First Dealer Makes Fortune
RISE OF MR. WINTER
"Fried fish and chips!"
Many purveyors of these appetising morsels, so dear to the "digger" in France, will envy Mr. Bernard Winter, who accumulated a small fortune in a short time by the sale of fish and chips.
To start from scratch and record a profit of £3,000 after four years in business is a remarkable achievement. It could only be attained by a man possessing a keen business instinct.
Since he landed in South Australia in 1911, Mr. Winter’s business career has been one of rapid advance.
It is his ambition to improve Hindley Street West. He has purchased from the estate of the late Mrs. Emma Birdseye, of Bromley, England, the freehold of the Castle Inn at the corner of Hindley and Morphett streets, together with eight adjoining shops.
He plans many improvements to the hotel and will rebuild the shops on modern lines.
Thriving Business
When Mr. Winter arrived at Port Adelaide he was paid off by Capt. Bradley of the Inverancy, owned by the Aberdeen Company. For several years he was employed at Port Adelaide by Cave & Co. and a tug company.
He saved some money and, with a determination to succeed, opened a shop for the sale of fried fish and chips. Mr. Winter claims to be the first man to open a shop of that kind in this State.
It became a thriving concern.
The sale of fish and chips was followed by the sale of wine in a saloon he conducted opposite the Port Adelaide Police Station.
Perhaps the most remarkable incident in the career of this interesting businessman is a deal in millions of gallons of claret with France during the Great War. The liquor was sent at great risk, but he possessed unbounded faith in those with whom he was dealing. He received payment for the claret after hostilities had ceased.
Mr. Winter used to supply many French boats at the port with wine. From the wine saloon, Mr. Winter (who was born in Antwerp, Belgium) transferred his operations to the business of a hotelkeeper. The Commercial Hotel, Port Adelaide, became his property.
Looking for fresh fields to conquer, he sold that hotel and set up in a similar business at Tumby Bay. From there he went to Port Lincoln, where he built his own hotel — The Great Northern.
Sympathy with Seamen
The memory of Mr. and Mrs. Winter has been perpetuated by the erection of a statue of justice at the corner of St. Vincent Street and Commercial Road, Port Adelaide. When he returned from his second visit to Europe, Mr. Winter brought home a beautiful statue, which he presented to the town — an act that was greatly appreciated.
He gained popularity through his sympathy with the seamen during the maritime strike of 1909. His generosity to the wives and families of the men during a time of acute distress made him a warm favourite.
In the bar of the Castle Inn is a framed address from the Seamen’s Union bearing testimony to the generosity of Mr. Winter during those strenuous days. Signatories include Messrs. A. C. Woodsford (chairman), John Barreau (president), T. Taylor (secretary), and S. G. Kemble (treasurer).
Sunday Times (Perth, WA : 1902 - 1955)
Sunday 29 November 1936
FISH-AND-CHIPS.
Questioned as to how and why he fell in love with his wife, a well-known businessman of Perth said he “became attached to her by the way she cooked and served up fish-and-chips.”
Talk not of tripe and onions; curried sausages and mash,
Fillet steak and artichokes, stewed mutton, chops and hash;
Boast not of how your bonny wife attracted you to her
By the way she killed a rabbit and deprived it of its fur.
Skite not it was her cooking that attracted you for good,
Once you tasted ham and kidney grilled above a fire of wood;
And also don’t assert ’twas Yorkshire pudding, plus some beef,
Made you look upon your loved one as an angel past belief.
For here is our example of the way that Cupid toils
Apart from hashmagandies, Irish stews and roasts and boils.
You may lure him from his mother with your soft and loving lips,
But they’re nothing in comparison with good old Fish-and-Chips! —
THE UNDERSTUDY.
Smith's Weekly (Sydney, NSW : 1919 - 1950)
Saturday 2 April 1938
Unique Fish Shop
You can go into any fish shop in Australia, except one, ask for fish and chips, and get service with a smile; but in the oldest and tiniest fish shop in the Commonwealth such an order would be met with a pained and shocked look.
On the walls, in heavy gilt frames, are warrants granting to the shop the patronage of seven Governors-General, fifteen State Governors, and three Lieutenant-Governors.
The documents make almost a complete row around three walls of the minute fish-mongery, leaving only a few inches of space into which has been squeezed a testimonial from the late Dame Nellie Melba.
It is the proud boast of the shop that no fish in a fried state has ever passed out of its door, nor ever will while the owners remain fishmongers and poulterers to Melbourne’s inner social circle.
After 80 Years The business was established in Toorak Road, South Yarra, over 80 years ago by Mr. David Brian. Dave started fishmongering with a basket on his arm, prospered, and bought the shop, which has not been altered, except for a few coats of paint, from that day.
Count Garibaldi, the famous Italian statesman and soldier, conducted a small business with his wife — who made braces for the gentry — in a shop two doors away from Brian’s, after he had been exiled from his native land.
About 50 years ago, Brian died, and bequeathed the business to his partner, who sold it to Mrs. Mary Mason in 1910. Mrs. Mason still owns the shop.
Lord Stonehaven and she were friends. As a girl she had lived on his father’s estate in Scotland. But the Governor-General she liked most was Lord Denman, who, by the size of his account, liked fish and fowl more than any other holder of his office. Often his bill would be around £200 a month.In contrast, a certain State Governor’s order for a week would consist of ½ lb smoked fish and six oysters.
No cat was kept at Government House at that time.
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