History with Brian James: The boot palace

The brothers were sons of a Ramsgate bootmaker, known in the trade as a cordwainer, a term not likely to be used today.

John arrived in Melbourne, but decided to move on and after a year sailed to Sydney, by then he was seventeen years of age.

By the time Hunter reached Sydney the rush to the Lambing Flat Gold fields was in full swing.

He purchased a horse and van and loaded it with a wide range of stock and headed into the Riverina.

By the time he reached Hay he had sold most of his stock, so he camped there and ordered more stock, including Napoleon boots, which were very popular.

When he eventually reached Lambing Flat he found the place to be in great disorder due to the disruption caused by the European gold miners attempting to drive the Chinese from the diggings.

This did not prevent Hunter from selling from his wagonette and realising that there was a good market here, and he needed a shop.

Hunter leased a slab-sided, bark roofed shed just east of where the Albion Hotel stood (Now the IGA Supermarket.)

This was the first of his chain of retail stores.

He found on the goldfield a cordwainer (bootmaker) who had experience in tanning and as wattlebark was easily procurable he decided to make boots more suitable for the diggers needs.

Where this tannery was situated it is not known, but at the time would have been easily located by its smell.

Hunters business expanded quickly and he advertised extensively in George Lang's 1862 newspaper "The Courier".

At the age of twenty, John married a Miss Brady, whose sister conducted a millinery establishment in Boorowa street where

McInerney's Menswear was later located. When gold was discovered at Grenfell John opened a "Boot Bazaar" there as well.

Over time he became interested in the Gulgong diggings and purchased a clothing store there with boots as a sideline, and closed Young and Grenfell.

From Gulgong he moved to Goulburn into a well set up boot store, from here he returned to Young and opened again in June 1865.

This store was a little west of the Town Hall and opposite the Australian hotel.

He opened a second store in Young, it was situated opposite the Criterion Hotel.

By now he had stores at Parkes, Forbes and Bathurst.

In the late sixties John entered into the footwear trade in Sydney first opening a footwear retail store in the northern end of George street, near to Circular Quay.

In the early eighties he purchased a small boot factory in Redfern and soon enlarged and expanded it into a fine business.

He bought out his brother, William, in Adelaide and later, James, in Brisbane.

In 1902 John Hunter and Sons advertisement attracted the attention of a Sydney newspaper reporter who revealed that the company trading as the "City Boot Palace" in George street had 75 branches through the City, the suburbs and towns in NSW.

All this had emanated from Hunters little store at Lambing Flat in 1861.