J Hemley - Cash Grocer

[tedscout]

Hello Gwendoline999,

If you pass your mouse over the "smilies" at the top of the reply box you Will find they all have names.

#4 is Grin. He looks very cute at Christmas time when he is wearing a Santa hat.

I am also one of those who never throws an old photo away. In fact when I am looking around op shops and antique centres, I always look at the old photos - especially ones with people in them, hoping that one day I can reunite the photo to the family. You are extremely lucky to have such a long rich history that you know about. I was never given the chance to ask my grandparents about their history, and I have very few precious photos.  . Every time I make a wish I wish that one day someone will contact me with a photo of one of my great grandparents, or a house they lived in.

There are many selfless and talented people on this forum. Cando and JM are two such people who use the resources they have gathered over the years to help others. I know they have helped me immensely in the past. They found my husband's 2 convicts. He is very proud of them.

I try too (with my limited resources) to help others too. I call it paying it backwards and forwards. Sometimes we get on the wrong track, especially with limited original information.

This is a free forum and all the information gathering and help given is done by volunteers.

I hope one day you find the J Hemley in the photo is related to yours. Another photo for your collection.

Jeanlit, Thank you for sharing this remarkable photo with us. I hope you find where this beautiful colonial shop is. I am a member of the Victorian State Library and they have a beautiful collection of old photographs. If you find the photo is not significant to your family you might like to donate it to them, if in fact it is a place in Victoria. I have donated a few over the years.

Yours in Rootschat, Cheers, Ted

[jeanlit]

Thanks JM - I agree the photo was probably late 1890's. 

One day, the mystery may be solved about the connection between this photo and Forbes, NSW.

Jean

[just2]

Hi Gwendoline999
In your post 18/9/13 concerning the heritage study by the northern grampians shire, the section titled history ended with ...more.  I would like to know what else was revealed.  I would appreciate you help
Thanks,
just2

[Neil Todd]

There is only one death of a J Hemley in NSW  from 1860 to 1950
No Marriages and no births with he as the father.

Unlikely the right one as it was in 1950. John Thomas Hemley at Griffith and if you can find a hill at Griffith it must have been man made. 

So interstate??

Seems as though there are lots of Hemleys in Victoria maybe a search of bdm's there will unearth something 

Neil

[Gwendoline999]

To Just2: I cant look for the heritage register right now but the cordial factory (with which the ' ...more' ends) belonged to my father Albert Hemley and I can tell you anything you wish to know about it if that helps. I hope it is acceptable to include my email address here   Email address removed, see below but be sure to put something meaningful in the title of any email you send as I get huge amounts of overseas stuff which I often trash.

To add to the discussion here is an email I sent to the administrator when I couldn't work out how to reply. It just includes a little extra information, much of which was in earlier posts but some is new.

In my attempts to reply I came across this old post from 2013 (and I may
> have posted a reply back then, I cant see it). It is so totally wrong and
> inaccurate. In fact it casts the research people are trying to do through
> electoral rolls in a very poor light.I grew up in Callawadda (Callawadda
> is so tiny that its funny that someone has 'discovered' a 'Callawadda
> South'!!) and the info I will give you after I copy and paste the screed
> here is absolutely correct. I grew up in the business of the shop and
> telephone exchange at Callawadda. The shop was started by Ada Hemley my
> grandmother (married to George Hemley who did not take part in the
> business) and my father Albert Edward Hemley joined his mother when he was
> about twenty. The business then changed to A Hemley and Son. (Ada Hemley
> and son). Ada's eldest son George, named after his father...and
> grandfather...(the original George Hemley who came here as a convict had a son named George. George is not mentioned in this original early posts for some reason .....original George had a lot of children including a George) took over his fathers little farm and one son still lives on
> a part of that farm today (Laurie Hemley).
> The Callawadda telephone exchange was actually created by my father Albert
> Hemley. When he was a young man there was no service at Callawadda. The
> 'trunk line' from Stawell went only as far as Campbells Bridge. My father
> tried to have it extended to Callawadda, some ten miles, but the PMG
> (Postmaster General) would not pay for the wooden poles required. My
> father set up the trunk line by using the top wires of all the fences. He
> showed me himself so many decades later how he ran the lines under the
> side roads and back onto the next fence. He operated the line and
> connected the Callawadda subscribers. Our telephone number was Callawadda
> 1.
>
> The PMG finally put in poles and an exchange was installed in my
> grandmother's house. ( a PBX switchboard I think you call it). I operated
> it many times as a child at weekends when the telephone exchange was
> officially closed and people had to pay an 'opening fee' of one shilling and
> 5 pence to be able to speak to someone at the weekend.
>
> The exchange was operated in my grandmother's house for decades and many
> local girls were employed there (one employee at a time of course). They
> would sleep overnight at my grandmother's house if they normally lived out
> on farms.
>  The exchange was finally sold to the manager of Albert Hemley's cordial
> factory (which was also called A Hemley and Son, and which operated until about 10 or 15 years ago under that same name) and a new switchboard was set up in a dedicated
> building at his house next door to us. (Charlie Squire).

to be continued in my next post

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[Gwendoline999]

continuing my post with the rest of the email that I sent to the site administrator:

 Here is the post from your site which is full of errors:
> ~~~~~~~~~
>
> I did a bit of searching when Jean first posted. From memory. There was
> a Arthur HEMLEY, Storekeeper, lived at Callawadda near Stawell which is
> close to the Grampians. There is nothing there today. There was also a
> John HEMLEY, farmer at Callawadda. Arthur's wife had the telephone
> exchange. Perhaps John took over the store after his father died.
> Occupations on electoral rolls are rarely changed unless the elector
> re-enrols at a new address. I can't find my notes so am writing this from
> memory
>
> Jean have a search on TROVE and the online electoral rolls.
>
> Cheers
> Cando
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MY (Gwendoline999) REPLY
> Neither Arthur Hemley or his wife took over the telephone exchange. It was
> incorporated into a new network while still operating at Charlie Squires
> and thus automated.
>
> Our store (A Hemley & Son) was sold by my mother Frances May Hemley after my father died
> (1965 or 1966) to Jack Taylor. It never changed hands again and ceased to
> operate after some years.
> 'John Hemley never took over our store and my
> father did not have any sons. The store at Callawadda never resembled the
> 'J Hemley Cash Grocer' photo that all this has been about. I have photos
> of the original store established by my grandmother and of the new (still
> standing but empty) store built by my father about 1950. It currently has
> a Heritage Overlay.
>
> The house that I grew up in, which was beside the store and in front of the
> cordial factory, still stands. It was bought by Charlie Squire. At some
> stage it was rented to Arthur WALTER but was recently sold.
>
> Are you able to post this reply on my behalf please?
>
> Thankyou. Gwen Hemley (now Gwen Blake living in Ballarat)

The administrator reminded me of how to log in first, to reply to a post request, so I am posting it myself. There was a John Hemley at Callawadda who had a farm at the same time. He was a cousin but we had little contact with him. He was not in the immediate area. He did not have a shop. Someone mentioned mountains or hills in the immediate background. Callawadda is flat. No hills behind the shop at Callawadda. Actually I remember now that a branch of the family moved to Perth. My father and mother went over to visit that Hemley family in the 1970's or 1960's. I wonder if the photo is from WA ??

[judb]

Hi Jean
I'm sure you would have already done this.........can any of the writing on the poster to the right of the door be made out with a magnifying glass?  When I enlarge it on-screen it pixelates out (of course)    Judith

[Gwendoline999]

I have just discovered the truth about this much-discussed photo og the store with the signage ' J Hemley - cash grocer.' More than a year has passed since these discussions. I hope the person who originally posted the photo sees this info which I am about to post. I have decided to include here my email address because I have to leave this message to go into Word where I saved the details of Mr J Hemley and I have to then go into My Pictures to provide two photos which I have of the store in question and of Mr J Hemley in his car on top of a mountain. I want the original person to have this info so here's the address in case I can't combine it all here. I have limited time to spend on this too, and I am a very slow typist. (*)

 The store was actually built by J Hemley in the Grampians, actually in Halls Gap from memory (see the actual post copied from info from a Grampians Historical group's Facebook page) that I am hoping to copy into here:  Halls Gap & Grampians Historical Past (site) Facebook :


"Chas Mangle
3 March

Halls Gap's first General Store (Cash Grocer) was built by John Thomas (Jack) Hemley in the early 1900's.It was built at the rear of the present petrol station.A fire completely destroyed the establishment.It was rebuilt a little further north where Basecamp Eatery is now.In this photo the mother and child are Jack's wife Victoria May Hemley(Erwin) from Callawadda nursing their daughter.The boy on the bike is Lindsay Edward Hemley born13-04-1920 in Stawell.Man behind fence is Jack Hemley.
Jack Hemley was famous for having the first car to reach the summit of Mt.Victory,a good description of this feat is recorded in the Halls Gap & Grampians Historical Society Book "Victoria's Wonderland A Grampians History" page 139

OK I am now going to try to add the 2 photos.

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[cando]

Gwen.....Many of us belong to facebook and perhaps you should also correct your post on the Halls Gap & Grampians Historical Past page .

Blimey !! I was contacted by a site years ago about this place, mistakenly listed/recorded as my grandmother's (Ada Hemley) and my father's (Albert (Bert) Hemley) general store in Callawadda (A Hemley & Son). I said i had never heard of it..many facts they had were wrong. Now I will try to copy this post and locate that old email. !! WoW !! Gwen Hemley.

No-one on this site contacted you.  "Years ago" .....You joined rootschat on 18 Sep 2013 expressly to comment on our research.  When researching one has to go down many avenues to find the correct information.  I for one was quoting from electoral rolls and Gerry from Post Office Directory.

it casts the research people are trying to do through
> electoral rolls in a very poor light.

Gwen

Well I don't think so!! Actually helps narrow down the date the store was built and the reason Jeanlit has the photo....they moved to NSW.

Australian Electoral Rolls
1917 Vic Grampians/Stawell
HEMLEY John Thomas Morrl Morrl  Farmer
HEMLEY Theresa  Morrl Morrl  Home duties
HEMLEY William  Morrl Morrl  Farmer
HEMLEY William Oliver  Morrl Morrl  Labourer

1919
HEMLEY John Thomas  Morrl Morrl  Farmer
HEMLEY Theresa  Morrl Morrl  Home duties
HEMLEY William  Morrl Morrl  Farmer
HEMLEY William Oliver  Morrl Morrl  Labourer

1921
HEMLEY John Thomas  Jennings Street  Stawell  Labourer
HEMLEY Theresa  Skene Street Stawell  Home duties
HEMLEY William    Skene Street Stawell  No occupation
HEMLEY William Oliver Morrl Morrl  Labourer

1924, 1925 Vic Corangamite/Ararat
HEMLEY Jack Thomas  Halls Gap  Grocer
HEMLEY Victoria May   Halls Gap  Home duties

1930 NSW  Riverina/Ardlethan
HEMLEY Jack Thomas  Barellen  Farmer
HEMLEY Victoria May  Barellen  Home duties

Narandera Argus and Riverina Advertiserr15 Dec 1931
From Mr. J. T. Hemley, Binya Road, Barellan. writing with reference to rabbits on Blue Clay dam reserve, adjoining his property.

1963
HEMLEY Victoria May  Farm 529 Bilbul   Home duties

Jean have a look on whitepages for listing at Yenda .

Birth
HEMLEY John Thomas
Father William  Mother Theresa SMITH
At Stawell 1895  Reg#24742

Marriage
HEMLEY John Thomas
ERWIN Victoria May
1919  Reg#4758

Birth of a son at Stawell in 1920....still living according to whitepages. According to the facebook page, he gave a photograph of the store at Halls Gap to the owner of the page about 10 years ago . 

WW2 service summary for John T.
http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/Veteran.aspx?serviceId=A&veteranId=399611

Deaths
27275/1950     
HEMLEY John Thomas
Father William  Mother Theresa
District Griffith

http://www.ryersonindex.org/
HEMLEY   John Thomas   
Death notice 3 Nov 1950 54 years   
Published in the Area News (Griffith)   3 Nov 1950   

Buried at Griffith Cemetery - Section Methodist, Row J, Lot 10.
John Thomas HEMLEY died 3 Nov 1950
Inscription - 54 years  ILMO

and at the same cemetery - Section Methodist, Row N, Lot 01
Victoria May HEMLEY died 27 Jun 1965
Inscription -ILMO 65 years IGK

25264/1965     
HEMLEY Victoria May
Father John  Mother Ellen
District Griffith

and John Thomas's brother William also died in NSW.

20983/1975     
HEMLEY William Oliver
Father William  Mother Theresa

Griffith Cemetery - Lawn 1 Row R 15/19
HEMLEY, William Oliver died 16 Jul 1975.
Inscription - 82 years [Cremation plaque under tree - facing North]
Remarks - Uniting Church records - William Oliver HEMLEY died 16 Jul 1975 aged 83 years.

Jean, William Oliver HEMLEY served WW1 and was farming at Cargelligo by 1930.  His last enrolment was with address Naradhan but may be the same farm location.
http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=5314891&S=1&T=P

May be of interest to you Jean along with the Yenda listing . 

19845/1953     
HEMLEY Ronald William
TAYLOR Mavis Winiford [sic]
District Forbes


Cando