Bateman Hardware

J. & W. Bateman Ltd.
Industry	Hardware
Founded	Fremantle (1834)
Founder	John Bateman
Area served	Western Australia
Key people	John Bateman; John Wesley Bateman; Walter Bateman

Bateman Hardware was the earliest hardware shop established in Western Australia (and the second-oldest commercial enterprise of any sort),^[1] and until its demise in the 1980s was the longest-running.

The business was founded by John Bateman in 1834 on property that he bought in the second round of land sales in the nascent Swan River Colony.^[1] This land on Henry Street was to be the home of J. & W. Bateman Ltd. for the next 150 years. Initially it was a shipping and warehousing business (including lighterage and river transport), and 1840 is given (in a 1951 company prospectus) as the "early start of trading, with the help of his young sons, John and Walter".^[1] The first item had been sold in 1834, a grindstone possibly belonging to "the implements valued at £55" that Bateman brought to the colony on board Medina.^[2]

In 1895 the company built a new warehouse and office building (the Union Stores Building^[3]) on the corner of High and Henry Streets.^[4] This extended 120 feet (37 m) along High Street and 104 feet (32 m) along Henry Street. It was designed by local architect Herbert Nathaniel Davis.

Notes[edit]

^ ^a ^b ^c Henderson, Charles W. (1981), The Bateman hardware enterprise in Western Australia, retrieved 18 March 2014
^ "Foundation years, 1830 to 1837". The Bateman hardware enterprise in Western Australia. p. 5.
^ Garry Gillard (11 February 2016). "Fremantle Stuff > People > Herbert Nathaniel Davis". Retrieved 20 March 2016.
^ "NEW BUILDINGS AT FREMANTLE". The West Australian. Vol. 11, no. 2, 887. Western Australia. 20 May 1895. p. 5. Retrieved 20 March 2016 – via National Library of Australia.

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