In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Bourbong Street was a bustling thoroughfare lined with draperies, outfitters and department stores.
One of earliest and most prominent of these was Buss and Turner. First established in 1876 by brothers Frederick and George Buss in partnership with W.H. Williams, the business grew quickly from a small drapery into a complete department store selling crockery, soft furnishings, and the latest fashions in men’s and ladies’ wear. James E. Turner joined the firm in the late 1880s and it became known as Buss and Turner.
By the early 1900s Buss and Turner had earned a reputation as one of the most extensive emporiums in provincial Queensland, the size and grandeur of which was unsurpassed by any metropolitan establishment. Buss and Turner operated as a department store throughout the 1900s. It closed in late July 2000 after 124 years of business.
Garnet Buss was born in Bundaberg in 1886. He would become the managing director of Buss and Turner for many years, passing away in the year 1973. Listen to the memories of his grandson, Rodney George as he tells a short story about this remarkable man.
References
1. ‘The Fashion Archives’, Wide Bay-Burnett, Issue 8, December 2013. http://thefashionarchives.org/?page_id=486
2. BUSS AND TURNER. (1907, May 18). The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld.: 1866 – 1939), p. 23. Retrieved July 12, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22269070
3. BUNDABERG. (1886, February 25). Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 – 1947), p. 3. Retrieved August 17, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146772594
4. Rodney George, interview, July 2017.
