H.G. & L. Riley The story of a Tasmanian country

general store

Henry Riley was born in North Shields, Northumberland, in 1867 and migrated with his family to Launceston in 1884. He worked as an engineer at the Salisbury Foundry in Launceston before leaving for South Africa in 1894. Later the same year he married Louisa Shepherd in Durban, South Africa. Louisa, or Louie as she was known, was born in Luton, Bedfordshire, in 1869. Her father George began working for the Great Northern Railway when he was 15, and his work took him to Brazil, India, Mauritius and South Africa, where he moved with his family in 1882. In 1886 he settled in Tasmania, taking on the position of Inspector of the Permanent Way on the Northeast Line, which was being built from Launceston to Scottsdale. Henry Riley and Louie settled in Johannesburg and Henry found work as an engineer at the Begbie Engineering Works. It was there that their two children were born; Henry George in 1897 and Winifred in 1899. Within a month of Winnie’s birth, Henry and his family fled Johannesburg at the outbreak of hostilities between the British and the Boers. The family went to a refugee camp in East London and it wasn’t until 1901 that they were able to return to Johannesburg, only to find their house looted and damaged when the Begbie Engineering Works, which had been converted into a munitions factory by the Boers, exploded. The family remained in Johannesburg until 1914 when they returned to live in Launceston, one month before the outbreak of the First World War.

Louisa and Harry Riley

Winnie, Harry and Louisa Riley

Harry, as Henry junior was known, joined the 13th Field Ambulance in 1916 and saw active service in France and Belgium. He was repatriated in 1919 and the following year he joined forces with his future brother-in-law, Roy McCormack, to open a general store in Avoca. In 1921 he married Eva McCormack and continued to run the Avoca Exchange Stores until the family moved to Winnaleah in 1923. It was during his time at Avoca that his love for cars first became evident. The manager of the Rossarden mine claimed to Harry that a car couldn’t be driven along the rough road to Rossarden and that if anyone could manage to do it, he would buy the car. Harry took on the challenge and successfully drove the first car to the town.

Eva and Harry Riley

After his father’s death in June 1923, Harry founded H. G. & L. Riley with his mother at Winnaleah. He moved into the shop previously known as Murdoch’s on the corner of Main Street and Banca Road. The shop also included the town’s post office and in October that year Harry became postmaster, assisted by his daughter, Winnie. The business flourished, selling everything from groceries and drapery to stockfeed and wirelesses, and became a focal point of the community. Harry also collected cream from local farms for the Winnaleah butter Factory. The shop took local produce sure as butter as part payment of accounts which most people settled monthly. Prompt payment was often encouraged with the offer of boiled lollies. It may have been Harry’s early entrepreneurial spirit, but business was no doubt helped by activities such as hosting Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. Part of his obituary read, “Children grown to manhood and womanhood will ever remember the spirit of peace and goodwill that pervaded Riley’s Corner at Winnaleah every Christmas Eve. The red-letter day, the high-light of the year in all youthful minds, was Xmas Eve at Riley’s”.

Gilbert, Jean, Meg and Jack Riley

This community spirit was also expressed in other ways. Harry was one of the few people in the district to own a car and this fact coupled with his medical experience as a stretcher bearer in the First World War often made him the first point of call in emergencies. In 1930 he became a Justice of the Peace, a position he held until 1945. He was the director of the Winnaleah Butter Factory for a number of years, and in 1937 he and a friend, A. P. Findlay from Launceston, founded the local radio station 7DY. In his application for a broadcasting license Harry complained that it was very hard to sell radios in an area where the reception was so poor and thought that the best solution would be to establish a local station. Harry’s childhood

involvement in the fledgling scout movement in South Africa led him to work towards the foundation of scouting in the Northeast and in 1939 he was made District Commissioner for the North-Eastern District. After the Second World War, Harry retired to St. Helens due to ill health and he died in Winnaleah in 1947. At his funeral he was described as ‘a comrade who had marched with them on the fields of France and had shown a standard of service which he had carried into his private life and built up a reputation for integrity and honesty of purpose’.

Customers received a docket for each transaction (top). These were entered into a ledger and accounts were issued at the end of each month (bottom).

Harry’s passion for cars was passed on to his son Gilbert who completed his apprenticeship as an automotive mechanic with Reeman and Manning in Launceston in 1939. Gilbert returned to Winnaleah and worked in the shop until he was called for military service in 1941. Around that time the authorities requisitioned his BSA motorbike, a request which Gilbert matched with an offer to join the Signal Corps if he could ride his own bike. In 1943 he married Connie Jordan and the newlyweds moved to Hobart where Gilbert was stationed. After returning from New Guinea, he took on his father’s bakery located between

the hotel and butcher’s shop. He also worked with Syd Crawford whom he’d met while doing his apprenticeship. On his father’s death, however, his interest in mechanics had to take second place to the responsibilities of running the family business. Gilbert was Winnaleah’s postmaster from 1948 to 1952, when his sister Meg officially took over the role and moved the post office to its current location. His sister Jean was to later become the postmistress for many years at Ouse and his aunt Winnie was the postmistress in Branxholm. In 1954 Gilbert moved the shop to the much smaller building opposite the Memorial Hall. Mickey Mace had run a barber’s shop in the front part of this building and a bookmaker’s shop at the rear. Later, in 1961, Gilbert purchased M. & F. Eddy’s drapery shop. Initially Connie continued to sell drapery in the new shop, but some time later the groceries and other items were moved there as well. A small shop was also opened in Pioneer. This closed in May 1976.

Gilbert and Connie Riley

The layout of the shop remained unchanged since the 1920s. Most items were shelved behind counters and luxury items such as shampoo kept in special display cases. There was an area for cutting cheese, usually locally made, and a separate space was needed for wrapping bread and weighing groceries like sugar, flour and biscuits. Customers came to the counter and asked for the items they wished to purchase. The decision was taken to modernise the store, and in 1966 the shop was remodelled for self-service to coincide with the introduction of decimal currency. At about this time Gilbert joined the 4 Square group of grocers and with this came new innovations such as a freezer and Wednesday specials. In the 1920s Harry Riley had begun to print school exercise books with H. G. & L. Riley advertising on the front cover. This continued into the early 1970s, with the shop also handling the local school’s booklist orders. Most of Gilbert’s time was taken up running the ‘travelling shop’. There was a regular service throughout the local district, with orders taken by phone or customers buying from the range of goods kept on the travelling shop. Many young customers were much more interested in the ‘lolly box’ than what their mothers were buying. Probably more out of an interest in cars than business, Gilbert started the first school bus run in Winnaleah using an old Chevrolet truck from the 1920s. The children sat in the back on wooden benches running down the sides of the tray which was covered with canvas. The truck had survived the 1929 Derby flood tied to a tree and had been used on the Telita mail run for many years. Gilbert also had a taxi service which finally came to an end when private car ownership increased. Gilbert continued his father’s Involvement in the community. He was actively involved in the local RSL and supported the Winnaleah Anzac Day services that grew to be among the largest in the north east. He was also a councillor on the Ringarooma Council and, like his father, Gilbert was also an active Lodge member. Over the years, many young people from the Winnaleah area worked for H. G. & L. Riley. There were people who helped serve, collect freight, weigh and package groceries, stack shelves and prepare orders. After they left school, Robin, Gail and Tim all worked for their parents in the family business.

Connie, Gilbert and Christopher Riley

Like in most rural areas, Winnaleah’s relative isolation had given rise for the need for a local store that sold a wide range of merchandise. Goods were delivered by rail and nearly every day there were things to be collected from the station that had arrived on the afternoon train from Launceston. Increasingly items were delivered by bus or truck. With greater mobility, people also began shopping outside the local area and the demand for general stores decreased. In 1972 Gilbert was forced to stop work due to ill health. Connie continued to run the shop by herself until 1977 when the shop was sold to Ricky Rattray. Gilbert and Connie both remained in Winnaleah until their deaths.

An H. G. & L. Riley exercise book from the 1920s

Winnaleah in the 1920s

Harry Riley experiences the challenges of early motoring

Tim Riley and the Commer delivery van

Some Descendants of Henry and Louisa Riley Henry Riley, b. 1867 at North Shields, Northumberland, England, d. 1923 at Launceston, Tas. + Louisa Shepherd, b. 1869 at Luton, Bedfordshire, England, m. in Durban, South Africa, d. 1950 at Winnaleah, Tas.

├── Henry George Riley, b. 1897 at Johannesburg, Transvaal, d. 1947 at Winnaleah, Tas.

│ + Eva Susie McCormack, b. 1896 in Launceston, Tas., m. 1921 in Launceston, Tas., d. 1972 it St Helens, Tas.

│ ├── Gilbert Henry Riley, b. 1922 in Launceston, Tas., d. 1993

│ │ + Hazel Connie M. Jordan, b. 1920 in Quamby Brook, Tas., m. 1943 in Derby, Tas., d. 2009.

│ │ ├── Robin Elizabeth Riley

│ │ ├── Gail Eleanore Riley

│ │ ├── Henry Clarence Riley

│ │ └── Christopher Gilbert Riley

│ ├── Harriet Jean Riley, b. 1923, d. 2009

│ │ + James Robert Hill, b. 1921, m. 1950 in Derby, Tas., d. 1979

│ │ ├── Robert George Hill

│ │ └── Judith Mary Hill

│ ├── Margaret Louise Riley, b. 1924, d. 2002

│ │ + Ronald David King, m. 1948 in Winnaleah, Tas., d. 1998

│ │ ├── Barbara May King

│ │ ├── David Elvin King

│ │ └── Catherine Louise King

│ └── Jack Riley, b. 1925 at Scottsdale, Tas., d. 1991

│ + Margaret Lorraine McKernan

└── Winifred Alice Riley, b. 1899 at Johannesburg, Transvaal, d. 1954

+ Andrew John McHugh, b.1887 at Deloraine, Tas, m. 1926 in Winnaleah, Tas, d. 1960

├── Ruth Margaret McHugh

│ + Ron Thompson

│ ├── Joy Alane Thompson, b. 1956, d. 2002

│ ├── Maree Alice Thompson, b. 1958, d. 1978

│ ├── Anthony John Thompson

│ └── Andrew Thompson

└── Elizabeth Louise McHugh

+ Lindsay Bertram Webb

├── David Andrew Webb

├── Anne Elizabeth Webb

├── Susan Lynne Webb

└── Denise Julie Webb

© 2011 Christopher Riley