E. S. Wigg & Son grows from bookseller in Rundle Street, Adelaide city, in 1849, to major stationery business
The original E.S. Wigg & Son business (top left) in Rundle Street, Adelaide city, and the members of the Wigg family (bottom left) at their Wockwalla summer residence in the Adelaide hills in 1887. (William Davidson who eventually led the busines is at left). The company's envelope factory (top right) on Port Road,Thebarton, and (bottom right) the heritage-listed Wiggs Building that became its headquarters in Grenfell Street, Adelaide city, in 1921.
One of South Australia’s oldest businesses, E.S. Wigg & Son, was liquidated in 2021 after origins in Rundle Street, Adelaide city, in 1849.
Edgar Smith Wigg, from Tunstall, Suffolk, developed his business idea in England after starting a book club for his fellow bank clerks and then opening a bookshop in Warwickshire. He brought his wife Fanny and first son (Edward) Neale to South Australia, arriving on the William Hyde at Port Adelaide in May 1949. In June, he rented a shop at 4 Rundle Street, near the Beehive Corner, in Adelaide city, selling books and homeopathic medicine.
Two months later, South Australia’s Municipal Corporations Act was passed, requiring “many records to be kept, including those of council accounts, religious congregations, licences issued and taxation”. Wigg saw the chance to move into manufcating stationery and was able to buy cheaply 600 reams of Australian foolscap paper lying unused in store from George Elder of Elder, Stirling and Co.
In 1857. the business moved to larger premises at 12 (later 14) Rundle Street. Wigg bought out another bookseller Charles Platt's business and became the largest bookseller in the province, expanding the printing and manufacturing side. He also opened a pharmacy at 34 King William Street. In the 1870s, the company quickly expanded as it supplied educational needs and Sunday schools. Wigg also promoted amateur art exhibitions and organ recitals.
In the mode of many South Australian Protestant Dissenter businessmen, Wigg maintained a close relationship with the North Adelaide Baptist Church. He also supported the Institution for the Blind.
In 1871, Edgar's son, Neale, married Janet Davidson whose brother William Davidson emigrated to Adelaide and joined the company. Wigg, also an Adelaide city councillor (1871-74 and 1876-80), retired from the business and handed over to eldest son Neale and son-in-law William Davidson. In 1885, Wigg’s daughter Mary married William Davidson, who by that time was managing the business.
The company opened branches in Western Australia and, after E. S. Wigg died in 1899, expanded further. In 1901, William Davidson bought and installed the first envelope machine in South Australia and land was bought at Port Road in Southwark (later Thebarton) for a factory to produce the envolopes. The partnership between Neale Wigg and William Davidson dissolved in 1910, with the Wigg interest sold to the Davidson family.
With E.S. Wigg & Son still the registered name from 1910, the company made its headquarters in 1921 at 65 Grenfell Street, Adelaide city, that housed the retail business into the 21st Century. It opened sales offices in Melbourne (1969), Sydney (1972) and Brisbane (1987). But the company faced increased competition with the advent of Officeworks and falling Australia Post mail volumes.
In 2005, the company’s stationery shop in Grenfell Street was sold to WC Penfold and, in 2016, the envelope business was taken over by New Zealand company Candida, with the Port Road factory site sold to a developer.
