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Urban Exploring: Balfours Cafe & Tea Rooms

Scottish baker James Calder and his wife, Margaret (née Balfour), were bound for Melbourne when the trials of a long sea voyage led them to disembark in the newly-established town of Adelaide instead. That decision in 1852 marked the start of a South Australian baking dynasty that was to last for the next 150 years.

Elizabeth Balfour

Suspected image of Elizabeth Balfour c. 1910.
Suspected image of Elizabeth Balfour c.1910.

Elizabeth Balfour was the mastermind behind the company’s first Tea Rooms, and later its successful cafés.

In 1894, after her family’s devastating business losses during the depression of the 1890s, Elizabeth Balfour at the age of 53 stepped up; determined to rebuild her family name. She opened what was to become the famous Adelaide Balfour’s Cafe at 74 Rundle Street (now 72 Rundle Mall). Elizabeth would have hardly imagined how successful her new venture would become, because for the next 110 years there would be a Balfours Café at 74 Rundle Street.

Balfours Cafe, Adelaide c. 1924
Balfours Cafe, Adelaide c. 1924

She modelled the building with women in mind — the cake shop facing the street and the ladies’ lounge with bright wallpaper and attractive furnishings on the same level. Upstairs was modelled for the gentlemen; with a smoking lounge.

In 1900, the first public electrical power was being supplied throughout Adelaide. In 1902, electricity was installed inside Balfours Café and “beautifully ornamented mirrors” were added to lighten up the long, narrow Ladies’ Lounge. It was an atmosphere designed to entice fashionable women.

In 1920, street re-numbering in Adelaide changed the Balfour’s Café address to 72 Rundle Street (later to become Rundle Mall).

1920’s Extensive Re-modelling

Premises of Balfour Wauchope Limited c1926.
Premises of Balfour Wauchope Limited c1926.

In the early 1920’s, one of Adelaide’s most noted architects, Louis Laybourne-Smith, designed the upper levels of Balfour’s Café, adding the distinctive glass and steel studio-style window facade that you see today. The newly designed Cafe was officially opened on September 30, 1924 with the windows flooding the upper levels of the cafe with natural light. It is in this state that the building remains today.

During this period Balfours’ product range begins to focus on pies, pasties, sausage rolls, custard tarts and donuts, rather than the biscuits of the early years. It was at this time one of Balfours’ signature products is born: the frog cake.

Having a tasty Balfours pie at lunch time has always been a favorite past-time of many South Australians. Many of you would remember the classic Balfours advertisement that ran on television in the 90’s.

 

The iconic Balfours Café catered for the people of Adelaide until its closure in 2004. Since then it has been home to a handful of retail shops who have only utilized the ground floor and basement areas of building. The rest of the building has remained disused and abandoned since then.

Balfours Cafe c1991.
Balfours Cafe c1991.

While exploring the building over the last couple of years we found it has structurally remained pretty much the same since its 1920s renovation except for some internal false walls and floors. The original Balfours Cafés’ ceiling is still evident along with the adorned wall mirrors. Behind the heritage-listed facade, the original Balfours insignia can still be found.

Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.
Balfours Tea Rooms, Abandoned Building Photographs, Adelaide, South Australia.

Disused / Abandoned Buildings & Ruins, Urban Exploring (Urbex) , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Urban Exploring: Golden Port Tavern

The History

The Golden Port Tavern was originally named the Globe Hotel. She was built in 1865 on the site of a previous hotel which burnt to the ground.

On ground floor was the main bar and snooker area with a small kitchen at the back.

Below ground, a number of rooms with the larger keg room located directly beneath the main bar.

Up-stairs were the guest rooms and a second smaller bar with a balcony looking onto the majestic St. Vincent Street of Port Adelaide.

Globe Hotel, St. Vincent Street, Port Adelaide, c1950.
Globe Hotel, St. Vincent Street, Port Adelaide, c1950. (Source: Supplied)

Ghost or Angel?

Beulah Hayter, an 8-year-old girl, lived with her mother on the first floor. Their room opened up onto the balcony and on warm nights Beulah would sleep outside on the balcony.

On one particular warm night, Beulah was woken by a lady dressed in a white flowing gown standing at the balcony door. At first she thought it was her mother. When she spoke to the woman and there was no answer she got scared and ran into her mothers room to find her sleeping.

Terrified, Beulah spent the night in her mothers bed.

That night a violent storm lashed Port Adelaide and tore the balcony from the hotel. Some say if it hadn’t been for the ghostly lady in white making herself known to Beulah, she would have been killed in the collapse.

Abandoned & Left to Rot

For nearly 150 years The Golden Port Tavern served the patrons of Port Adelaide. It wasn’t until 2008 that her doors closed, and she sat languishing in a state of decay.

For 10 years she sat abandoned. When we entered it was as if time had stood still — a true time capsule of The Port. Glasses were still sitting on their coasters from last drinks. Cue-chalk placed by cue sticks ready for the next game…

Golden Port Tavern, Abandoned Building Photographs, Port Adelaide, South Australia.
Golden Port Tavern, Abandoned Building Photographs, Port Adelaide, South Australia.
Golden Port Tavern, Abandoned Building Photographs, Port Adelaide, South Australia.
Golden Port Tavern, Abandoned Building Photographs, Port Adelaide, South Australia.
Golden Port Tavern, Abandoned Building Photographs, Port Adelaide, South Australia.
Golden Port Tavern, Abandoned Building Photographs, Port Adelaide, South Australia.
Golden Port Tavern, Abandoned Building Photographs, Port Adelaide, South Australia.
Golden Port Tavern, Abandoned Building Photographs, Port Adelaide, South Australia.
Golden Port Tavern, Abandoned Building Photographs, Port Adelaide, South Australia.
Golden Port Tavern, Abandoned Building Photographs, Port Adelaide, South Australia.
Golden Port Tavern, Abandoned Building Photographs, Port Adelaide, South Australia.
Golden Port Tavern, Abandoned Building Photographs, Port Adelaide, South Australia.
Golden Port Tavern, Abandoned Building Photographs, Port Adelaide, South Australia.
Golden Port Tavern, Abandoned Building Photographs, Port Adelaide, South Australia.
Golden Port Tavern, Abandoned Building Photographs, Port Adelaide, South Australia.
Golden Port Tavern, Abandoned Building Photographs, Port Adelaide, South Australia.
Golden Port Tavern, Abandoned Building Photographs, Port Adelaide, South Australia.
Golden Port Tavern, Abandoned Building Photographs, Port Adelaide, South Australia.
Golden Port Tavern, Abandoned Building Photographs, Port Adelaide, South Australia.
Golden Port Tavern, Abandoned Building Photographs, Port Adelaide, South Australia.
Golden Port Tavern, Abandoned Building Photographs, Port Adelaide, South Australia.
Golden Port Tavern, Abandoned Building Photographs, Port Adelaide, South Australia.
Golden Port Tavern, Abandoned Building Photographs, Port Adelaide, South Australia.
Golden Port Tavern, Abandoned Building Photographs, Port Adelaide, South Australia.
Golden Port Tavern, Abandoned Building Photographs, Port Adelaide, South Australia.
Golden Port Tavern, Abandoned Building Photographs, Port Adelaide, South Australia.

If you’d like to read other articles of disused and abandoned buildings of The Port, please see The Port Admiral Hotel, The Port Morgue, and Harts Mill.

Disused / Abandoned Buildings & Ruins, Urban Exploring (Urbex) , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Urban Exploring: Shearer’s / John Shearer & Sons

John Shearer (1845-1932), founder of John Shearer and Sons of Kilkenny, South Australia.
John Shearer (1845–1932), founder of John Shearer and Sons of Kilkenny, South Australia.

John Shearer

John was born in the Orkney Isles on the 9th September, 1845, and came to Australia in 1852 at the tender age of seven. At the age of 33 he started business at Mannum in South Australia doing general blacksmith repairs to paddle steamers and farmer’s implements.

He had a keen, inventive mind.

At the time, market farmers in South Australia had been confronted with a serous problem. Owing to the nature of rough timbered and stony land, the ploughshares in use at the time were prone to wear out quickly.

The problem of producing a ploughshare more adapted to the conditions in this part of the world was tackled by Shearer.

In 1888 John invented a Wrought-Steel Plough Share, which he patented throughout Australasia. It was a major improvement over the brittle cast-iron shares in use at the time. This enabled farmers to prepare and cultivate land which had until now been impossible to do with traditional cast iron ploughshares.

It made John Shearers’ a household name throughout pioneering Australia.

In 1897 he visited the Meadows Steel Co. in England to consult with them about the production of a highly resilient steel— known as Resilflex. The new steel ‘became the backbone of all future Shearer implements’ and led to the production of farm equipment of unequaled quality and strength throughout Australia. His innovative machinery revolutionised farming.

Shearers’ 12-Acre Factory at Kilkenny

To escape the heavy transport costs from Mannum to Adelaide, the firm opened a branch at Kilkenny in 1904. It was ran by John and his three sons.

The factory started with twelve men who produced three ploughs a week.

1928-1938 Shearer Spring Tyne Combine.
1928-1938 Shearer Spring Tyne Combine.

World War Two

During World War 2, Shearers’ received what was, at that time, the largest single order of farming machinery EVER given to any company throughout the World.

The order came from the British Government and was given top priority. The machinery was used to boost food production for the millions of British people engaged in the war effort.

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Shearer products won accolades at almost all agricultural shows.
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Shearer products won accolades at almost all agricultural shows.

More Farming Inventions

Collage of images from within the Kilkenny Shearers' Factory.
Collage of images from within the Kilkenny Shearers’ Factory.

The works at Kilkenny continued to grow and under the management of Johns’ sons and grandsons, greatly increased output. In addition to ploughs and cultivators, the company invented many new farming inventions including the Majestic Disc Plough, the Trash Culti-Seeder, Band Seeder, Rabbit Ripper, Buffel Grass Planting Machine and the Two Tow Pull.

The Mighty Majestic

The Majestic Plough, hailed by many agriculturalists as the strongest plough in the World, has been used to cultivate hundreds of thousands of acres both in Australia and overseas.

Shearer Majestic Plough "Where Scrubland used to be .." sales brochure
Shearer Majestic Plough “Where Scrubland used to be ..” sales brochure

The plough has been used extensively in Government schemes such as the Tipperary Downs Sorghum Project in the Northern Territory, the Heytesbury Land Development Scheme in Victoria and the Ninety Mile Desert Project in South Australia.

A Great Australian Company

John Shearer working 60 hours a week started and built a great Australian company. From humble beginnings, the small workshop at Kilkenny grew into a vast 12-acre engineering complex that revolutionised farming throughout the World.

John Shearer died on 9 August 1932 at his Kilkenny home, survived by his wife, four daughters and three sons who carried on the business. He was laid to rest in the Mitcham General Cemetery in the foothills of southern Adelaide.

Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
Shearer's / John Shearer & Sons, Abandoned Building Photographs, Kilkenny, Adelaide, South Australia.
John Shearers' Grave, Mitcham General Cemetery, South Australia.

Disused / Abandoned Buildings & Ruins, Urban Exploring (Urbex) , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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