1981 photo of Ben Jackson outside the Old Bootmaker's shop c1904 at Mylor in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia
The Old Bootmaker’s Shop c1904
This building is the last known remaining early 20th Century 'self-built rubble masonry’ in Mylor and is a tangible remnant of the G W Cotton Working Man’s Block Scheme.
John Joseph Staples is credited with building this simple one room dwelling/workshop. John Staples emigrated from Chatham, Kent, and had arrived in Adelaide by 1870. He worked as a bootmaker in Brompton and Adelaide, before moving to Mylor. He was then 52 and a widower. After securing the lease of Homestead Block Section 1403, in 1904, John built his one roomed home and shop, using undressed timber from trees growing on his land and barrowing sand and rubble from the adjacent creek to build the walls. He lined the ceiling and southern wall with hessian flour bags, sewn neatly together and whitewashed. The original floor (since rotted away) was ‘paved’ using thick roundels of River Red Gum wood.
John lived and worked in his small home from 1904, until his death in 1919. He was an active member of the Mylor community and was well thought of.
Since 1919, the land and the ‘old bootmaker’s shop’ has had several owners, the last owner being Mrs Martha Sherry.
Martha used the old shop as her garden shed after building her house next to it. She bequeathed the land, now known as “Sherry Park” to the Adelaide Hills Council for parkland purposes.
Her nephew, Ben Jackson, lived there as oval caretaker until 1983. Her house was then removed, with the old ‘shop’ retained for historic interest.
The building remained untouched and gradually fell into ruin. Over the years, it survived many threats of demolition and has been the subject of many earnest community plans to ‘save and restore it’. In 2010 the Mylor Heritage Society Inc formed, and started a restoration and reconstruction process, culminating in the Old Bootmaker’s Shop being retained in the streetscape of Mylor.
It remains a testament to the earlier days of Mylor and of the aspirations of the ‘working man’.
Ref: Story Board
1981 photo of Ben Jackson outside the Old Bootmaker's shop c1904 at Mylor in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia
The Old Bootmaker’s Shop c1904
This building is the last known remaining early 20th Century 'self-built rubble masonry’ in Mylor and is a tangible remnant of the G W Cotton Working Man’s Block Scheme.
John Joseph Staples is credited with building this simple one room dwelling/workshop. John Staples emigrated from Chatham, Kent, and had arrived in Adelaide by 1870. He worked as a bootmaker in Brompton and Adelaide, before moving to Mylor. He was then 52 and a widower. After securing the lease of Homestead Block Section 1403, in 1904, John built his one roomed home and shop, using undressed timber from trees growing on his land and barrowing sand and rubble from the adjacent creek to build the walls. He lined the ceiling and southern wall with hessian flour bags, sewn neatly together and whitewashed. The original floor (since rotted away) was ‘paved’ using thick roundels of River Red Gum wood.
John lived and worked in his small home from 1904, until his death in 1919. He was an active member of the Mylor community and was well thought of.
Since 1919, the land and the ‘old bootmaker’s shop’ has had several owners, the last owner being Mrs Martha Sherry.
Martha used the old shop as her garden shed after building her house next to it. She bequeathed the land, now known as “Sherry Park” to the Adelaide Hills Council for parkland purposes.
Her nephew, Ben Jackson, lived there as oval caretaker until 1983. Her house was then removed, with the old ‘shop’ retained for historic interest.
The building remained untouched and gradually fell into ruin. Over the years, it survived many threats of demolition and has been the subject of many earnest community plans to ‘save and restore it’. In 2010 the Mylor Heritage Society Inc formed, and started a restoration and reconstruction process, culminating in the Old Bootmaker’s Shop being retained in the streetscape of Mylor.
It remains a testament to the earlier days of Mylor and of the aspirations of the ‘working man’.
Ref: Story Board