What Depression? Trittons prosper during the early 1930s

Guest blogger: Mary Howells - 2022 Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame Fellow

Tritton’s Gold Medals were awarded in the peak years of the Depression -- 1928-1929 -- cementing the business name in the minds of Queenslanders. Fred Tritton’s outstanding leadership drove his business to continued success, underpinned by his strategic thinking, innovation, and the use of advertising.

While the ad hoc laboring jobs of the unemployment relief schemes of the Depression era provided work for some, Fred Tritton suggested that it would be advantageous for relief workers to be employed on reafforestation schemes. Tritton had been enlightened to the need for forest conservation during his 1926 American trip. In Oregon, every felled tree was replaced with a new seedling, and both Canada and New Zealand had large reforestation schemes. (1)

In Queensland, timber was seen as an infinite resource to be harvested for profits. Newspaper articles on the 1930 Annual Report of the Provisional Forestry Board included the headline from the Queenslander that forests were being ‘massacred’. Future timber supplies were not being managed or mandated in Queensland, which potentially threated the sustainability of Tritton’s business, and the building industry in general; hence Fred Tritton’s advocacy for reforestation. Trittons continued to source timber from North Queensland, while the government was more interested in opening it up for dairying and agriculture. (2)

A feature article on the success of Trittons Furniture in 1931 stated that the timber seasoning yards at the Russell Street factory held up to £8000 of timber from North Queensland, stacked for drying. The company was employing 130 people at that time, most of whom had been with the company for more than 30 years. Trittons employed a world class designer, cabinet makers, upholsterers, French polishers as well as production line staff, and had acquired a large fleet of motor trucks. (3)

Fred Tritton seized on another marketing opportunity when the interstate rail line to Sydney opened in September 1930. Since his factory was opposite the rail terminus at South Brisbane, he immediately ran half page illustrated advertisements in the Mullumbimby Star, The Northern Star (Lismore) and the Kyogle Examiner. (4)

Fred Tritton recognised the power of advertising. A meeting was called for the advertising men (and ladies) of Brisbane on 12 May 1931, where the Institute of Publicity was formed. Its vice-president, John Richard Churchill, Advertising Manager for Trittons, reported that this organization would take over the assets and liabilities of the Queensland Institute of Advertising Men, which dated back to 1917. (5) Churchill’s marketing campaigns for Trittons were innovative for the time. Presumably he initiated the comprehensive article – ‘The Romance of Trittons’ which featured in the Brisbane Courier in August 1931. (6)

The George Street façade of Tritton’s store was enhanced with the installation of electric signage by Claude Neon. It was largest of its kind in Queensland in December 1931; being 40ft (12m) high, 5 ft 6 inches (1.6m) wide and containing more than 250 feet (76m) of neon tubing. According to Claude Neon, the sign generated so much business for Trittons, they ordered another one in October 1932. (7)

Churchill’s next venture for Trittons was in the production of a feature film promoting the business and its achievements over time. ‘The Story of the Right Place’ film was shown to a private, yet select audience, at the Melba Theatre in Wickham Street Fortitude Valley on 7 May 1933, with a personal introduction by Fred Tritton. The following year the song ‘The Right Place’ was released with the sheet music, written by Meta Maclean, available for free from Trittons Stores, or by mail. (8)

Son-in-law, Ashley Shaw, called tenders for a major expansion to Trittons George Street store in May 1934. The new three storey reinforced masonry structure required the demolition of existing shops, closer to Queen Street, and would create a larger shop window display to George Street and an extra 697m2 of floor area. The Brisbane firm of Hutchinson won the contract for the new structure. (9)

By mid-1934, Trittons had 150 employees (an increase of 20 over 3 years) and had purchased land in West End for the site of a future factory; signifying confidence in the future. (10)

Ashley Shaw designed homes for family members; (possibly) a house for newlyweds Roy and Irene Tritton in Yabba Street Ascot in 1928, an Italianate styled home ‘Capri’ for himself and Ivy at Baldwin Street Ascot, completed in 1933, and the Tudor styled ‘Cotswold’ for John Cyril Tritton and his wife Valetta (nee Bell) at Batman Street Clayfield in 1933/34. Cyril had joined the family firm in 1931. (11) So the early 1930s were prosperous times for the business and the family, with much to look forward to in the coming years.

Mary Howells

The Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fameopen_in_new is an initiative of QUT Business School, State Library of Queensland.

Other blogs by Mary Howells

• Fred Tritton - From Second-hand Dealer to Furniture Manufacturer (1886-1910)
• Trittons - Gold Medal Manufacturer (1910 – 1930)
• Fred Tritton: Renaissance man
• From Austerity to Prosperity: Trittons in the 1940s.
• Trittons: Flourishing through the fifties
• Tritton’s Legacy

References

1. ‘A Brisbane Businessman on Tour’, Bowen Independent, 11 June 1927, p.7; ‘The Romance of Trittons’ Brisbane Courier, 29 August 1931, p.11.
2. ‘Forestry Massacred’, Queenslander, 6 November 1930, p.54; see also Frawley, Kevin J. ‘Forestry and Land Settlement: The 1931 Royal Commission on the Development of North Queensland’, paper presented to the 17th conference of Australian Geographers, August 1981; ‘The Romance of Trittons’ Brisbane Courier, 29 August 1931, p.11.
3. ‘The Romance of Trittons’ Brisbane Courier, 29 August 1931, p.11.
4. ‘Furniture Trade, Industry Depressed’, Brisbane Courier, 5 December 1929, p.3; 'Now you can easily get Trittons Furniture', Northern Star (Lismore), 3 October 1930 p.5; ’Trittons Ltd’ Kyogle Examiner & Upper Richmond Advocate, 3 October 1930, p.2, 3; 'Now you can easily get Trittons Furniture'  Mullumbimby Star, 9 October 1930, p.3.
5. ‘Diggers’ Friend J R Churchill’, Truth, 14 December 1930, p.3; ‘Institute of Publicity’, Telegraph, 13 May 1931, p.1; ’News of the Day, Institute of Advertising Men’, The Daily Mail, 16 June 1917, p.6.  
6. ‘The Romance of Trittons’ Brisbane Courier, 29 August 1931, p.11.
7. ‘Lighting up Brisbane’, Telegraph, 12 December 1931, p. 18; ‘The sign of Satisfaction’, Telegraph, 25 October 1932, p.12.
8. ‘Story in Film’, Telegraph, 8 May 1933, p.18; ‘Come in and get your Free copy’, Telegraph, 20 June 1934, p. 11.
9. ‘Extensive additions to Trittons’ Courier Mail, 8 June 1934, p.20;  https://issuu.com/hutchies/docs/hutchies100thbook_emailablequality/58
10. ‘Progressive Firm, 40 Years in Business’, Telegraph, 30 July 1934, p.6.
11. ‘Tender notices’, Brisbane Courier 21 August 1928 p. 21; Brisbane City Council Building Register, Nov 1927-October 1928, p. 55, dwelling for AR Tritton, Yabba Street.; Sunday Mail, 30 July 1933, p.24; ‘Old England Set in Clayfield’, Truth, 20 September 1936, p 33; see also Brisbane City Heritage Register for Cotswold.