George Shaw, Sergeant – 1875 – 1953 Brisbane, QLD, Australia

The reason for researching this material was a result of frustration and conflicting views from family and people who contacted us. The result or benefit was a better appreciation of how research works, quite an art form, and the mistakes so readily made.

Our great grandfather George Shaw snr. was part of an elite rifle shooting community (and fishing) that was part of an historical movement impacting the quality of the Australian army. His retail store was significant to the early days in Brisbane. Looking back through family history, we also see personal, financial and business loss with some insight into those causes. The focus on this website has been on G Shaw, an overview of the sporting stores up to 1977, and some content on Mum’s side of the family.

It was urgent in 1900 for the British Admiralty to prepare for war against Germany. This supported the view that army soliders do better if they are trained in use of rifles and shooting skills. This was the message promoted due to successful championship shooters competing at Bisley from Colonial countries, of whom G Shaw was a member – countries such as Canada and New Zealand.

In these competitions, Australians were surprisingly seen as equal to British shooters. The Australian States came under the Federation in 1901. Prior to this, Bisley was attended via private funds and donations. In context of the urgency, the Federal Government supported rifle training for the army, making a crucial difference in future warfare, and funded competition travel. Team members were quotered from participating states, with two from Queensland, Shaw being one.

G Shaw went to Bisley in 1901. The team won the highest score to date. In 1907 he had an individual win, and prize of 250 Guineas – about AUD $50K+. Internet searches show no record of Shaw in Bisley 1907, but we have a photograph of the trophy on a postcard. This means that known records are just records and nothing more, including incorrect information.

The State Governments encouraged immigration from Ireland and England with offers of transport fairs. Not all ships have original or digitised lists available to us.

There were many Shaw families, a common name.

Being in the army as a Quartermaster, a Private, Sergeant, and then Lieutenant, he had the skills to run a retail store and supplies.

We should consider that any apparent historical information is not necessarily correct. I sighted numerous Trove articles with inconsistencies and doubtful content even in the early 1970s.

The Brisbane army records of the period are only kept with State Library Queensland (not digitised).

The Trove articles show a few interesting things, like stopping fishing licensing, and the introduction of the new Mosquito repellent.

Some further detail…

The early British shooting competitions were moved from Wembley to Bisley.

G Shaw competed locally in Australia – e.g. the Governor’s Cup and King’s Cup. He had about 24 medals, some gold. These are now lost.

There was a lot of activity around shooting, mostly from those in the army. There was also a “miniature rife” association my grandfather Harold was in. The 1900 rifles were gigantic in size. In its earliest days, I am told shooting was more popular than cricket (verbal reference QRA manager). Men would strap their rifles over their shoulders in public. Competition winners were at times given the rifles they used.

We recently found a gunpowder flask from G Shaw snr., filled with FFF grade powder, labelled from London in the early 1900’s. I neutralised and disposed of the powder. (An unstable, potential bomb we never knew about.) The powder was not as fine as I thought it should be (Dad used to sell gunowder) and had a stronger smell than fireworks.

In the early 1900s, travel to and from England could take months. People (including children) died. A photo from 1902 shows G Shaw quite gaunt, with clothes too loose in Bisley.

G Shaw was genuinely a handsome man. His wife had an affair, so his photograph as shown here, has his wife painted out. Who knows what caused this?

There was a lot of movement of shops in Brisbane. Much happened after the great fire of 1864 in Edward Street such as demolitions, renovations, new buildings. Leases all over the place were changing. Shaw & Sons, when located in the three Granite buildings, had to consolidate into two buildings, and found extra space to do so. There is reference to three stories height for the shop at one point.

There is also an historic record of a gay men’s meeting place behind the shop from Edward Street at one time. Fortitude Valley was another location. Living conditions were worse in those days.

G Shaw snr. passed his shop onto son Harold William Shaw, who we are told was not interested in it, causing problems down the line. We have photography of the shop from 1936 in 194 Albert Street. At some point the shop name changed to George Shaw Sport’s Store – possibly when my Dad took over in the 1950’s or likely when renovated in 1966.

When Harold Shaw ran the shop, others had part ownership. My Dad later bought out these shares apparently at great cost. Harold Shaw’s best man was L. Ward, but I knew Bill Ward who I am very grateful to. Bill was regretful at the selling of shares. He knew first hand how the pension by itself was crippling short of what we need. There are other names that go back, such as Whitehead, and Robinson.

Dad sold and amalgamated his store with Robinsons Sports Store on 1st July 1971. The store ceased in 1977. It brought in all manner of sports via Robinsons and other store names or managers as acquired. I don’t have reliable history on this. I only remember the staff as people. The store sold everything. I stayed away from firearms and did not like retail at all.

I found a lot of information about William Shaw’s stores. They were like a mini-Harrods. The original Shaw & Sons was in the South Bank, West End area in two locations, the second flooded in the great flood of 1893, without insurance. The shop moved to Queen Street between Edward and Creek Street into an arcade, and later to the three Granite Buildings, where one building was then taken by the Commonwealth Bank after a four year lease ran out. The Granite buildings were later demolished and CBA built its own building. All this was happening near the post office building. Shaw & Sons was hardware and ironmongery, eventually having everything you could imagine – hardware (e.g. piping), horticulture, sports, tobacco, furniture, clothing. I believe it could not compete in the 1930’s with the introduction of Woolworth’s, where stock was sold to them but never used. (I cannot find the newspaper article I once had on this.)

G Shaw traveled to England for rifle shooting where one ship (newspaper records) was the R.M.S Rome, which has no passenger lists for those years.

Image of R.M.S Rome – https://www.shipsnostalgia.com/media/rms-rome.391593/

The Governor’s Cup 1902 and the gunpowder flask as physical items are now with the QRA museum (Queensland Rifle Association). I am now holding onto a wedding present and the Bisley 1901 cup – quite small in size. I am custodian of any remaining Shaw family photographs. These only have one photo of G Shaw snr. Another folder of photographs are now with the Queensland State Library archives as these are helpful to researchers. (Refer to the PDF document on the About page.)

George senior and son Harold won various shooting and fishing competitions – we have some documentation and photos. As the fishing was “light-tackle” we were never exposed to ocean fishing on larger boats. As kids we fished on spits, creek banks, the beach, and small tinny boats. I recall us walking on sandbanks to pump for yabbies as bait, and the times we used worms on hooks. There was minimal use of lures. We saw the change from bamboo rods to fiberglass, and wood or Bakelite reels to fiberglass. The fishing took place in areas such as Coolangatta, Currumbin Creek and Bribie, to name a few. Fishing included crabbing. This is why as kids we were in this type of fishing environment.

It now makes sense to me why we had holidays in particular places like Gold Coast, Noosa, Currumbin. There are various Trove records of family members, the shops, and fishing areas or competitions. Out of interest, Harold Shaw honeymooned at Woody Point. Hence, it makes sense when leaving Silverwell, Kangaroo Point in 1952, he bought a home in Clontarf – i.e. Woody Point. Mum recalls the interiors as per recent photographs on the internet and our own, of both Clayfield and Kangaroo Point.

Dad was not a competition shooter. We did not learn shooting or archery. None of us wished to continue with the store. A Gerber two-bladed hunting knife fell into my foot when showing knives to a customer. Fortunately it missed the tendons. I once saw a younger kid shop lift a box of ammunition. I felt really sorry for him but did not report him. Now I understand that shooting is an expensive hobby.

In the early 1970’s Dad had been interviewed by newspapers and television including his views around gun laws. I would say he said what others in the industry said, that licensing was not viable for serial numbers, but shooters could be licensed. There had been various shooting incidents, so the discussions included a cooling off period.

Our families have never owned or had firearms at home. We do know what quality firearms, pistols, fishing reels, archery, knives, telescopes, animal skins etc. look like as we handled them while working in Dad’s store or via his friends. When Amart came to Australia, Dad did not see a future. Later in life, he said if he knew what he knew now, he could have continued. I don’t think so as his health was plagued by his accident that incurred tinnitus, and he was always worried and stressed. He could focus on particular things with great skill, but was not able in my view to handle conflict, dishonest staff, or emotional trouble. Like his father, he wanted to opt out of daily problems, but did contribute to a couple of organisations. His Rostrum speeches if anything show why we need psychologists today. Some very sad content. He had no brothers to bounce off of. He and Mum raised funds through an op shop and plant sales along Woolloongabba Road across from the PA Hospital for the new Cystic Fibrosis department and ward. This was a significant help towards medical machinery and paint for the ward’s walls.

There are various things I cannot say about Robinson’s and the take-over, what happened with stock and superannuation, Dad losing his job. One thing I can say, is the government introduced retrospective legislation to deal with a major business and what we call the Bottom of the Harbour scheme. This caught up others who apparently simply followed instructions from their accountants. Dad lost virtually everything. Our family funds were crucially dependent on Mum having built and sold some houses over a long time.

The sale of the building at 194 Albert Street went to Wallace Bishop. They put in engineering rods to hold the building together. The sale was around $300,000. Soon after, pricing escalated, and today it is worth millions. We have many memories of the store.

Dad had old style security alarms in the store, thick kinked wire between hinges across windows. The alarm tripped now and then. He had to drive from Moggill to the City to turn them off. Dad was falling asleep at the wheel, which was impetus to move to Chapel Hill. I recall yelling at Dad to wake up once on the way home. The city was a ghost town after 12 o’clock on Saturdays. Expo ’88 taught Brisbane that it was possible to have coffee shops and tables on the footpaths. We sometimes had Chinese takeaways in the city – very basic flavours. I loved the introduction of the IBM golf ball typewriter, and our new Bakelite phone system with lots of push buttons on them – very hard to press the buttons. The cash tills were not that easy to operate. The empty boxes were thrown onto the back staircase to the lane way and the lane way always smelt bad. It was the same odour even today. I had no ability as a retail sales person. Lino tiles in those days. We always had a supply of sports shoes and tracksuits!

We were present in the city during the Flood of 1974 and saw the height of the Brisbane river.