Murray brothers rival the Wills and Goodes in building big businesses from drapery in 19th Century Adelaide city
The warehouse built by the Murray brothers in Galwer Place, Adelaide city, in 1886. While his brother William ran the London office from 1866, David Murray stayed in Adelaide until 1900 and became a member of parliament as part of wide involved in community life. He bequethed an extraordinary collection of old masters European prints to the then-National Gallery of South Australia in 1907.
Images courtesy State Library of South Australia
The Murray brothers rivalled the Goode brothers and Wills brothers as building large businesses from a start in drapery in 19th Century Adelaide.
Born in Anstuther, Fife, Scotland, the Murray brothers, David and William, had some experience in the retail and wholesale drapery, which included supplying shops in young South Australia. The brothers arrived in Adelaide in 1853 and began operating a drapery store in Adelaide city in the previous H. D. Hilton printing shop, on King William Street, near Hindley Street, with access on Gilbert Place.
By 1858, the Murray brothers moved to larger premises at Cohen's Corner (later dite of the T & G Building), on the south corner of King William and Grenfell streets, previously Prince's crockery shop. As a warehouse for their growing wholesale trade, they took over the adjoining King William Street building that had been Monteith & Muirhead’s wheat store until it went insolvent in 1860. Two storeys were added to the building, running foul of city council regulations, as the walls weren’t 15 inches thick as stipulated.
Seeing their strengths and opportunities in the wholesale, they sold their retail business in 1862 to James Whiting. In 1866, William Murray left for England to take over their London office in Fenchurch Building, the Barbican and, from 1890, 28 Finsbury Street. He only returned for a few brief visits to Australia. David Murray stayed in Adelaide and became member of parliament among other public activities. He built as reputation as an art collector and connoisseur and, after he did move to live in England in 1900, bequeathed a major collection of European old masters’ prints to the then-National Gallery of South Australia in 1907.
In 1867, the Murrays took over the lease on Levi & Watt's new warehouse at 96 King William Street (previously Coglin's woodyard and later the Commonwealth Bank). A serious fire destroyed most of the Murrays stock's in 1868 but prompt action by the hose units prevented it spreading to the Napoleon Bonaparte Hotel next door. In 1884, the Murrays sold their building’s 100-year lease to the Commercial Bank of South Australia that collapsed in 1886, and the lease was bought by John Robb of Melbourne, who renovated it as the Royal Exchange.
The Murrays built a five-storey warehouse in Gawler Place, Adelaide city, opened in 1886. Behind this, they had a box store on the site of the later stock exchange building on McHenry Street. This site had been left to David Murray by landlord Dr George Louis John McHenry who bequeathed his acre lots 168 (west of Freeman Street/Gawler Place) and 169 (next west) to their tenants. The Adelaide Boot Factory was founded by the Murrays on Park Terrace (later Greenhill Road), North Unley, around 1870 and it was still producing footwear there for Goode Durrant & Murray in 1954.
In 1897, the company became D. & W. Murray Limited, with a paid-up capital of £500,000. By 1913, it had warehouses in Adelaide, London, Melbourne, Brisbane (Creek and Elizabeth streets), Townsville (Sturt Street), Perth (Murray and Barrack streets), Hobart (Murray Street), Launceston (Patterson Street), and Sydney (Market and York streets).
In 1934, Goode, Durrant & Co. Ltd. bought the South Australian, West Australian, and Broken Hill businesses of D. & W. Murray Ltd and it became Goode, Durrant & Murray Ltd. D. & W. Murray Ltd continued to operate in London and other states. The Gawler Place warehouse was left vacant until occupied rent-free by the Red Cross Society during World War II, when up to 200 volunteers were engaged on the society's work. In 1946, the building was sold to Savery's Pianos. The Red Cross bought Matthew Goode and Co. old warehouse at Stephens Place, Adelaide city, for its new headquarters.
