Delta Money Lent/Anna Loan Office & John B. Stewart Jeweller/Chemist – Hurstville, NSW
On the left, we have the former Delta Money Lent office, cleverly converted by Anna into her own Loan Office. Get your awning fixed, Anna.
On the right is a far more tragic story. According to various old newspapers, 312 Forest Road, Hurstville was a jeweller during the 1920s, run by a man named John B. Stewart. The clock above the awning is presumably a leftover from those days. In February 1933, Stewart filed for bankruptcy, but remained at the address through until Boxing Day, 1936, when he died. By 1941, the address had become a shoe shop. Prior to becoming the chemist, the shop was a Sushi Train restaurant.
Not bankrupt enough to drop out of Lodge, though. Image from SMH, 26 Dec 1936.
John Fretus Auctioneer/Sun Ming Chinese Restaurant – Hurstville, NSW
19 years before John Fretus opened his auctioneering business on Forest Road, Hurstville, misfortune struck:
From SMH, Monday 8 December 1902.
St. George Express House/Z&Y Lighting – Hurstville, NSW
I wasn’t aware that the St. George Express newspaper had ended its run, but apparently Hurstville didn’t have all the lighting it needed so something had to give. St. George Express was started in 1986, and I suppose it would have been in direct competition with the Leader, the other local paper. The last issue of the St. George Express was in 2011.
Australian & Chinese Take Away/Indian Hut – Penshurst, NSW
In the 1950s and 60s, a lot of Chinese restaurants offered Australian cuisine because racist old cobbers refused to eat ‘Oriental Chinko food’ and demanded options. Yep, nothing like getting take-away for a treat on Friday night and having the same steak and veggies you had all week, only instead of cooking it for you, your wife goes and gets it.
Unrelated, Indian Hut seems to have been okay to leave the Australian and Chinese bit of the shopfront bare, but painted over a Coca-Cola advert. Maybe they’re Pepsi people.
Past/Lives of the Near Future 
