Ninghan Trading Company (fmr)

Statement of Significance

This building has enormous social and historic significance as it reflects a time of great enthusiasm in the wheatbelt. Fred Main and the Ninghan Trading Company were very influential in the development of the District and gave great service and encouragement to many to establish themselves and to succeed.

Physical Description

The Ninghan Trading Company structure was built as a showroom with an office partitioned off in the north west corner. It had an engineering works and blacksmith at the back. It has unlined, corrugated iron walls, a stepped pressed cement block facade and pitched roof with all jarrah beams. Many internal modifications have been made over the years and it is now used as a craft shop and as a centre for workshops on pottery, dried flower arranging and many other crafts.

History

Frederic William Teesdale Main, son of an Adelaide chemist had gone to Roebourne as a young man. His uncle, F.W. Teesdale, had a large business there and was a Member of the Legislative Council for the province. After the War, Fred Main established Mains Ltd. in Katanning with the 'Sunshine' Agency. Hearing of good business at Bruce Rock, he asked for the Agency there, but was advised to go to Koorda, this new area of beautiful land being opened up by another railway. Arthur Redmund McNab was travelling for H.V. McKay in the Great Southern and was most enthusiastic from what he had heard. Fred Main knew members of the McKay family and suggested a partnership. Ralph and Victor McKay and A.R. McNab put in £500 each and Main £1,000. The Ninghan Trading and Agency Co. Pty. Ltd. of Koorda was established with F.W.T. Main as Managing Director in 1926. Mains Ltd. of Katanning was sold, but went bankrupt after quite a short time. The 'Ninghan' never went bankrupt, not even in the worst of the depression, but was very near to it at times. The best site in Koorda for such a business, Lot 12, was owned by James McCallum Smith. He would never part with an inch of land but agreed to erect a building at a price. Mick Bonser built the shop and show-room and partitioned off an office on the north west corner. He also finished a large cement bungalow for the Mains to live in. In September and November, 1926 the Wyalkatchem Road Board gave permission for two bowsers to be installed and the Ninghan Trading Co. was in business. There was certainly business to be done and the need for an engineering workshop to help keep going the trucks, tractors and cars, of which more were arriving every day, was essential. A garage and workshop were added to the back and three mechanics employed. A stock of parts, tools, tyres, fuel and oil was added to a supply of 'Sunshine' parts. The capital in 'Sunshine' parts alone would stagger any businessman now, and it was not always appreciated how much had to be serviced before wages and profits could be considered. The Ninghan acquired also the General Motors Agency, Hart Parr tractors and the Shell Company. By this time, Fred Main had been out in the bush, had familiarised himself with the land, its tracks and farms and the people just setting up their camps on newly selected blocks, had made himself known to the town and the older settled farmers and made friendships which would turn out to be life-long. Soon the walls of the office on the north-west corner of the Ninghan premises were covered with charts and maps. The office was an unlined, only partly ceiled room with an uncovered cement floor. There were a couple of tables, a few hard chairs, a small safe, odd shelves here and there, as many filing cabinets made of kerosene cases as required and a typewriter. There was no money to be wasted on fancy offices, nor on the shelves, stands and counters in the shop. Money was for stocks of parts and farm needs or credit to a quickly growing list of customers. The stock of 'Sunshine' parts was the envy of the Wheatbelt and farmers arrived at the Ninghan from far and near when breakdowns occurred. The hours were as long as anyone wanted to do business and 'Tinny' Walker waited at the 'Sunshine' premises by the Maylands railway line for the night trains to go through to load last minute orders. A farmer could rush in before 8 o'clock on Sunday night, on his way to Paddy's pictures, order a 'Sunshine' part and it would be in Koorda about 8 o'clock the next morning. By 1927 Koorda was a booming town. Few of the new farmers had any experience of farming in Western Australia and many no business experience either, so men like Fred Main found themselves in the position of a present-day farm adviser. He also became involved and took on personal problems as well as honorary jobs for the many clubs and organisations starting up. He was the Chairman of the Hospital Board for many years. By 1928 the business was booming and employed excellent mechanics such as Frank McCormack and Bert Prince who were keeping the vehicles and tractors going and helping the Wheatbelt into the new age. The firm installed an electric lighting plant and Saturday shopping night became brighter. It had two opulent cars in its Showroom, an Oldsmobile and a Buick. Three Buicks were sold. 1929 was a magnificent year and one day in October a single train load of 25 Sunshine Harvesters arrived in Koorda, and the staff of the Ninghan Trading Company and the 'Sunshine' experts were very busy. Ralph McKay arrived to see how Mervano and the Ninghan Trading Co. were going. The Managing Director, F.W. Main, reported that the firm had shown a very good profit, although there were a few dubious debts. Three of the four shareholders, Ralph McKay, A.R. McNab and Fred Main stood on the road outside the Ninghan in the bright sunshine of a glorious day after a lovely rain and decided to plough back into the business, by way of stock and plant, all the profits to that time. This was very fortunate for the farmers of Koorda as by 1932, during the height of the Depression, all local business men worked hard to get supplies but it was very lucky that there was a company like the Ninghan which held an unusually large stock of parts and still had some capital to give out credit. Lucky too was it that the shareholders and the managing director, Fred Main, were willing to carry on. In 1933 When the Ninghan Trading Company took over the Agency of Dalgety & Co. a campaign was started to get the farmers into sheep. The stock agents laboured long and hard during the 1 930's aided and abetted by the manager of the Ninghan and his staff in particular. When the price of wheat dropped in 1929 it delayed the inevitable mechanisation of farming for awhile. Tractors had been unreliable and took many bushels of wheat for fuel but horses delayed going in for sheep. However, by 1937 tractors were improving and gaining ground again. They were becoming cheaper to run and more efficient so one by one the teams of old friends were being sold or pensioned off. F. Main and all the staff of the Ninghan Trading Co. were delighted with the new tractors, that 'Sunshine' had for sale in 1937. These were the Pacemaker 16/20 HP and the Massey 25 26/41 HP. They had the pace and a good new oiling system. A field day was arranged. John Arrow needed a new tractor and if this very successful farmer bought one it was known many more would follow and as was said in those days "the acid was put on Jack to take one". John Arrow said he'd buy the tractor that would pull his two Sundercuts at once and efficiently on heavy ground. The Field Day came, the Massey 25 did the job easily and ten other orders followed John Arrow's. One went to Alex Aitken and others were for Cyril Hardwick and G.T. May. By 1945 at the end of the War, the engineering works, valve grinding and general repairs to cars, trucks and tractors had closed as the Ninghan had lost all its skilled men. Phillip Main came home from the war and took over the management of the Ninghan. In 1949 the Ninghan was sold and Fred Main retired and moved to Albany to live. There was a large send off. Geoff Leunig bought and took over the Ninghan Trading Company, that business that had given so much advice, encouragement and enthusiasm to open up the district in the boom years of the 20's, but also survived and supported many through the bad years of the depression and the War. The Marshall Bros, bought the business in 1952 changing the emphasis somewhat from a farm business to a general store stocking hardware, kitchenware and other household necessities as well as having a number of farm agencies. Robert Leonard Marshall and Dudley Graham George bought the freehold in 1956. This was then transferred to Dudley George and his wife Colleen in 1960 and is now owned by the estate of the late Dudley George. In 1988 after a lot of hard work and busy-bees the building was opened as a educational centre for many hobbies and crafts and also as a display area for locally made arts and crafts. The property is now leased by the Wheatbelt Cottage Industries with a Craft Shop and an area where many demonstrations and workshops are held to learn various craft methods.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity: The external structure and roof are virtually original but the inside has been altered many times. Modifications: The interior has been modified many times over the years.

Condition

Fair

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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