Thread: Ya canna hand a man a granda spanna

Originally Posted by Tins

Fitzroy North? What sort of modern crap is that? It's North Fitzroy. Just as it's East Melbourne, West Melbourne or South Melbourne. The North, South and East bits are part of the name of the place, unlike Ringwood East, which I still call East Ringwood nevertheless..

But you are correct, as I said in the previous post. Clifton Hill is residential and retail. Always has been. I believe Collingwood was the area for boots, but info is sketchy. Brunswick had foundries.

So I checked, and Clifton Hill did have an old industrial area, along Hoddle Street, Merri Creek and Queens Parade. Mea culpa. Didn't realise that the Shot Tower was in Clifton Hill.

And yes, it should also be East Brunswick not Brunswick East.

Well, I had another thumb through the internet pages. Sidchrome's own site says Royston Siddons started the business in 1931 in Collingwood and moved to a better factory in Clifton Hill in 1934. Other sites say it was started in Brunswick. Now I have never lived in Melbourne and never will. Bloody awful city. Dreadful climate. But looking at maps I am of the opinion that Brunswick and Clifton Hill are neighbouring suburbs. So there may have been some confusion there. All those inner suburbs with a few exceptions like the toffier areas, Trak and Pran etc, were full of industry, light and heavy. Factories big and small. Yes, Collingwood was the centre of the footwear industry. Tariffs made a few families who dominated the footwear business extremely wealthy.

A book was written on the history of Sidchrome in 2012, it mentions Sidchrome tools being made in the 'Brunswick area'.

Sidchrome 70 years : a short history of Sidchrome Tools in Australia and New Zealand / Graeme Plaw. - Version details - Trove

Interesting....Fitzroy then moving to Clifton Hill SIDDONS, John Royston (1927–2016)Senator for Victoria, 1981–83; 1985–87 (Australian Democrats; Independent; Unite Australia Party) | The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate

Clifton Hill it is........ 23 May 1942 - SIDDONS DROP FORGINGS LTD - Trove

77a Spensley St. from another search but maybe that was the registered office ??

Originally he leased a metal casting factory at Collingwood Biography - Royston Siddons - Australian Dictionary of Biography

Better get back to work now.....

Colin

Originally Posted by gromit

A book was written on the history of Sidchrome in 2012, it mentions Sidchrome tools being made in the 'Brunswick area'.

Sidchrome 70 years : a short history of Sidchrome Tools in Australia and New Zealand / Graeme Plaw. - Version details - Trove

Interesting....Fitzroy then moving to Clifton Hill SIDDONS, John Royston (1927–2016)Senator for Victoria, 1981–83; 1985–87 (Australian Democrats; Independent; Unite Australia Party) | The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate

Clifton Hill it is........ 23 May 1942 - SIDDONS DROP FORGINGS LTD - Trove

77a Spensley St. from another search but maybe that was the registered office ??

Originally he leased a metal casting factory at Collingwood Biography - Royston Siddons - Australian Dictionary of Biography

Better get back to work now.....

Colin

On the packaging from late 80s

I looked at Google Maps and Google Street View for 77a Spensley St. A street of quite nice, tidy, older houses. No sign of anything resembling a factory. I think Gromit may be correct in that 77a Spensley st. was the corporate office. There is a lane, Marshall Place, off 77 Spensley St. Maybe there was a factory down behind the two nice old homes either side of the lane. As some sites say the factory was in Brunswick perhaps there was an office and a separate factory elsewhere? The Sidchrome site says they moved from Clifton Hill to West Heidelberg in 1948.

Originally Posted by Bigbjorn

I looked at Google Maps and Google Street View for 77a Spensley St. A street of quite nice, tidy, older houses. No sign of anything resembling a factory. I think Gromit may be correct in that 77a Spensley st. was the corporate office. There is a lane, Marshall Place, off 77 Spensley St. Maybe there was a factory down behind the two nice old homes either side of the lane. As some sites say the factory was in Brunswick perhaps there was an office and a separate factory elsewhere? The Sidchrome site says they moved from Clifton Hill to West Heidelberg in 1948.

I did the same and it looked a 'bit flash' for a factory.
I deal with a drop forge that was until recently in Brunswick East, eventually surrounded by houses & complaints about the noise so they moved to Coburg North. You wouldn't have imagined a) a Drop forging company still survives (there are actually a couple in Australia) and b) their location with a night-soil laneway between the buildings at the old location.....


Colin

Sidchrome did replace broken tooks but it usually took ages. They replaced my large shifter...interesting that it was made by Bahco in Sweden. I still have it.

My tools in Telecom were all Bahco made in Sweden. Great stuff too.

Siddons must have imported and rebranded tools at some time?

This link mentions moving machinery to 77A Spencer Street from the leased factory Otter St, Collingwood.
A fire in 1941 nearly destroyed the factory. The Commonwealth Wartime regulations stipulated he could rebuild the factory only if he installed a drop forge for making tools for the Department of Defence......the rest is history.

Collingwood Notables Database - Collingwood Historical Society Inc
Sidchrome ring spanner c.1992 - MAAS Collection


Interesting picture Anderson & Brook'''s boot factory | Marshall Place and 77a Spe… | Flickr
Marshall Place and 77a Spensley St Clifton Hill

Built c1920

By 1923 a large two-storey brick boot factory was built on a block behind residential streets. In 1934 Sidchrome tools moved in and manufactured metal boxes and hand tools. They were still the owners in 1991.

https://apps.epa.vic.gov.au/EnvAudit.../22117-2_a.pdf


Enough research for today......

Colin