History – Changing facades

There are a number of sites in Warkworth township that many people would consider iconic. Some, such as the hotel and the building now occupied by Warkworth Butchers, still reflect the purpose for which they were originally built. However, there is one significant building whose current purpose is far removed from its initial function and that is the building on the corner of Queen Street and Mill Lane. Now occupied by a real estate agent and an optometrist, it was formerly the premises of Rodney Motors.

Ray Civil was the original owner of the site and in the early 1900s he established a commercial garage, which was to become Rodney Motors. It was bought from him and registered as a limited company in 1930. A major rebuild of the premises in 1936 resulted in the building we see today. Many of the shareholders seem to have been local farmers and business owners. The incentive for anyone to be involved in this way probably had its roots in government involvement in the import licensing of cars in the 1930s. This had the effect of restricting the number of cars available, resulting in waiting lists. Anyone with shares in a garage would have early warning, if not priority, in the access to vehicles.

Warkworth Museum has a significant quantity of documents relating to the business, as well as items that were used by the business or were given out as promotional gifts. One of these gifts is a darning mushroom, which seems an odd choice for a garage. Documents include the signed agreement with General Motors to be the local agent, as well as an agreement with the AA. This required the busness to “…immediately proceed to the assistance of…” any AA member and to “…take steps to either restart such motor car…’’ or “…convey such motor car and its occupants and luggage to the garage of the contractor…” or to the member’s property if this distance did not exceed 15 miles.

As is often the case, correspondence with the town council reveals many stories. One of these revolves around a request in 1930 for permission to place more petrol bowsers on the footpath. Permission was refused, to which Rodney Motors replied offering to erect lights by the bowsers and so benefit the town by lighting up the area surrounding the business. Whether this found favour we cannot be sure, but we do know that they received a letter early in 1931 granting them permission for their bowsers.

The museum also has many photographs of the business. A.G. Broomfield’s collection provides us with some particularly imposing views while others are more informal, such as the ones taken by John Derecourt who was an employee. His employment records, together with others, give us an idea of incomes at that time. The average wage seems to have been 2 shillings and 6 pence per hour; 3 shillings and 9 pence for overtime hours, providing a weekly wage which seems quite acceptable when converted to today’s equivalent.

There was a fire at the business in the 1970s, but this does not appear to have altered the façade. The business was dissolved in April 1992, but the building continues to have a commanding presence in our town.