The Great Barrow Wars

In the early 1920s the economic base of the Richmond-Tweed region started to look pretty shaky. Post WW1 soldier settlement blocks had been created everywhere, substantially increasing the number of dairy farmers and fruit growers struggling to share the available pie. The banana industry collapsed in 1922 and the dairy industry started heading in the same direction. By early 1923 farmers and farm hands were starting to wander the countryside trying to earn a quid, with many of them having a go as hawkers of fruit and veggies in the local towns.

By this time the retail and wholesale fruit and veggie trade was dominated by the Greeks in most Northern NSW towns and generating a bit of aggro. In Lismore one disgruntled retailer with a small fruit shop outside the CBD, which gave him cheap rent but less passing trade, convinced the council to give him a hawker’s license to flog his stuff from a barrow around the CBD block, joining the three already licensed. But the cunning bugger built himself a barrow the size of a semi-trailer, which remained fixed in Molesworth Street, and proceeded to aggressively market a wide range of produce.

It was so successful that pretty soon he had invested in a warehouse, ripening sheds and a carrier business, with his lorry doing regular runs to markets in Brisbane and the Tablelands. Others followed suit, parking their ‘barrows’ of various sizes outside the existing fruit shops of the Lismore ‘block’, creating traffic havoc and bad tempers. The shopkeepers were whinging about unfair competition while the public were over-joyed that the increased competition had brought cheaper fruit and veggies of higher quality and quantity. At this time the town was choc-a-block with fruit merchants, all barely turning a profit, and the price war from the barrowmen was the last straw, although an investigation by the ‘Northern Star’ newspaper had indicated that fruit consumption in Lismore had gone up by 50% in 12mths, and declared that this was a healthy thing, prompting it to campaign on the side of the barrowmen.

Council initially listened to the shop keepers and resolved to abolish ‘barrowmen stands’ within the municipality, but was then hit with an orchestrated letters-to-the-editor campaign from the barrowmen: …It is particularly hard on the digger barrowmen who has ‘done his bit’ and invested in the purchase of equipment to be ordered off in preference to Greeks and other foreigners who are rapidly gaining business ground to large advantage in this country….. (A follow-up letter from ‘Fairplay’ said: The returned soldier stunt is well to the front in Mr Manewell’s argument, but from careful and exhaustive inquiries made, I find that not one of the proprietors of these street fruit stalls is a returned soldier. The ‘digger ploy’ remained a favourite marketing strategy throughout the Depression.) It turned out that only three Greek cafes (one in Molesworth and two in Woodlark), and three other ‘foreigners’, who were ‘old and respected citizens’,had a fruit retailing sideline.

The barrowmen eventually delivered up a petition signed by 700 disgruntled citizens afraid that the days of cheap fruit were over. The council went wishy-washy and did a Pontius Pilot by handing the matter over to the Wheel Traffic Committee for a determination. In the meantime the letter war continued with the Greeks entering the fray, prompted by some unfortunate words from Alderman White, reported under the heading ‘Trade With White People’. Said White, in the chair in the absence of the mayor, ….Practically the whole of the fruit trade in New South Wales was in the hands of foreigners. Were they going to give them a monopoly? The question of rents had been raised. He said it advisedly that the Greeks were the cause of high rents in Lismore today.[A nice politician’s spin on the facts. The building housing the Bavea Bros Garden of Roses café was sold in late 1921 for £156 per foot, a record for Woodlark Street frontage, shortly after which the new owner raised the rent to recoup on his investment.] The Greeks employed no white labour, and did not have to comply with the industrial laws. These foreigners who had shops in Lismore and who hawked fruit and vegetables around the town cared nothing for the country; they got all they could with the ultimate idea of taking it away from Australia. It was a pity that people could not realise these things and do business with white tradesmen. Ald. White went on to say that he was standing outside a Greek shop the other day. In the window were grapes marked at 1/- a pound. A man came along selling the same grapes. He told the Greek they were four pence a pound, and the Greek would not buy them at that price. What sort of game was that? If the barrowmen were endeavouring to earn that sort of thing they were doing something more than making a living for themselves. They were putting fruit within the reach of the people……

The good Alderman had apparently viewed the window display of Peter Dimitri Feros, who wrote an indignant letter to the editor giving facts and figures, which showed little difference between prices, but significant difference in quality in favour of the shopkeepers. …So far as employment is concerned I have ascertained that there are 14 local girls employed in various Greek shops in Lismore, and the proprietors of such shops are all subject to the same laws and awards as anyone else. As a matter of fact the girls in my shop are paid considerably over the award rates and are provided with free board in addition. It may surprise some of your readers to know that the current expenses of working my shop amount to £21 per week. Just compare this with the 5/- paid by the barrowmen and consider whether we are not entitled to some sort of a fair deal.
So far as my nationality is concerned it is quite true that I was born in Greece; but I do not know that I am any the worse for that. History reveals the fact that English princesses have condescended to marry Greek princes and surely if such alliances were considered advantageous and politic by the ‘powers that then were’ surely it is not for your correspondents to say that we Greeks are not entitled to earn our daily bread under the British Union Jack. Perhaps your correspondents are not aware that the Greek civilisation is the oldest in Europe and for many centuries Greece led the world in art, education and most other accomplishments. Surely it is not quite good taste for any of them to infer that they are any whiter than we (the Greeks) are…

Peter Nick Bavea also took special exception to the remarks of Ald. White re Greeks, and fired off a couple of indignant letters, also giving facts and figures… In closing I would point out to the general public and to Ald White in particular that Greeks generally live as well as any other race of people that inhabit this planet and always spend their money in the towns in which they make it. We have one hope and that is that on the last day that He who marks the sparrow’s fall will not make any distinction as to our colour. This according to Ald. White’s remark offers us one bright hope. …. And in another letter…Voicing the opinions of the majority of the Greeks of Lismore we say leave the barrowmen where they are as we bear them no ill will. We have faith in the general public to believe that there will still be a picking left for us to keep the wolf from the door. What we take exception to is the colour scheme that is being introduced into the controversy for we see no reason for this mark of distinction. …… One point you give us credit for and that is that we, by the price we charge, never attempt to scab on our ‘white’ brother….

The Northern Star again conducted a survey and again came down on the side of the barrowmen: …In Woodlark street there are four shops in which fruit is sold. Two are conducted by Greeks and two by white men. In only one shop window were the prices shown on the fruit displayed for sale. This was a Greek’s shop. In the business section of Molesworth street there are two shops where fruit is sold. One is conducted by a Greek and the other by a white man. ….During the morning there was much perturbation among the Greek shopkeepers. A sort of indignation meeting was held to discuss the developments of the meeting of council. One Greek is said to have declared that he was prepared to spend a good deal of money in a further effort to have the barrowmen removed off the streets. To whom and why! The answer to the latter question is obvious. There is the instance of the price of grapes cited above…(where a chart compares prices in a Greek shop with those of a barrowman parked outside.)

There were more letters for and agin’ the Greeks, but mostly agin’. And the Greeks continued to be singled out as the culprits ripping off the public despite the presence of the Australian born fruiterers. ‘Fair Dinkum’, under the heading The Greek v. The People, reckoned that if the members of the Wheel Traffic Committee and those few other belated alderman who still hold to the obsolete doctrine of the divine right of aldermen were about town on Tuesday morning, they must have seen and heard a few striking demonstrations as to how far the foreign ring is interested in getting the barrowmen annihilated. In one corner of the block a veritable Greek legation held counsel. Savage is the only word to describe the anathemas heaped on certain aldermen, the ‘Northern Star’, the petitioners, and the whole show generally. …. Then the legation adjourned in several directions hot on the trail of the offenders who had dared to tell the truth. Napoleon on Elba had ‘nothing on’ one hefty Greek propping up the lintel of Alderman White’s door. With folded arms and a fierce ‘then I wait’ this foreign martyr to the voice of the people and the rights of little children was last seen glaring at an empty office and awaiting the deputy Mayor.

And another anonymous bloke, more than likely the semi-trailer entrepreneur himself, under the heading Who Rules the Town, was into conspiracy theories and reckoned that the people are alive to the unique quality and quantity of their fruit supply at present, whether the aldermen are or not, and they want justice for the man who pioneered the move here, has sunk his capital, and who had compelled the foreign combine to come out and show their unhappy hand. He buys his fruit from local and Tableland growers, and his lorry carts the local grower’s produce to the Tableland in return. I am open to correction, but have been told that he will be found to pay the local grower as much as 50 per cent on what the foreign trader offers.
We aver that the barrow did not take the trade from the shops so much as create by sound fruit, cheap prices, and the confidence of the public, an entirely new field of trade. We again quote the ‘Northern Star’s’ unbiased news item before this controversy opened up at all, as the unique increase in fruit consumption in the last twelve months here. A 50 per cent increase in spite of ever-increasing drought, slacking trade, reduced wages, and a decreased population is something which even a ‘mere school boy’ (to quote Ald. Stratford) would have too much respect for his mental reputation to seek to ignore. …. The foreign element have during Monday, by their prices, and the following days, by their execrations, threats, and general consternation proven every word, line and letter, of the petitioners’ pleas and arguments….
Yet another bloke also dwelt on the man and not the ball…one only need to pay a visit to any important suburb or town throughout Australia, and Europeans, Greeks and Chinese will be seen offering fruit for sale from shops and from barrows also.

The Greeks subsequently retired from the fray leaving Mrs E. Gundlach to cop the flak as spokesperson for the ‘foreign fruiterers’. She got the backing of the Chamber of Commerce, who refrained from calling for an outright ban of the barrows and simply recommended to Council that they be relocated to other sites such as in front of the Post Office, the Council Chambers, and the ‘Northern Star’ office…and the Public School.

This flushed out the semi-trailer entrepreneur under his own name, who gave a gratuitous serve to the whingers: …The trouble with most of these people (Gundlach, Feros and Bavea) kicking up all the noise is that they don’t know how to handle the fruit business. They don’t know the markets and therefore make losses instead of profits…. There seems to be a great outcry because Howell has a lorry (funny we don’t hear anything about Mr Baveas having a motor car for hire though, and sometimes using it for other purposes than fruit carting) [The Baveas Bros acquired a 7 seat Studebaker in late 1922, presumably as part of the catering business being run by Jim Bavea, but it seems to have been a white elephant and was continually advertised for hire, presumably without the appropriate taxi license. It was sold a month or so after this letter.] Well, if this old town considers a man should be knifed in the dark merely for the sin of putting a couple of thousands of his hard earned money into circulation … and punished for having brains to make one business work in with another, then it’s a pretty queer town.
…..As I’ve said before, they haven’t got a sound argument between them. Mr Baveas infers something about ‘scabbing’ in his letter. I don’t know what he is talking about; but I’m not ‘scabbing’ on women and children by trying to snatch fruit from them in a climate like this, anyhow.
If the people of Lismore had even a baby’s knowledge of the fruit trade they would know that the same ‘hidden hand’ has fought the barrowmen every inch of the way right across Australia. It’s the same hand every time and in every place, and its ways are as dark as they are devious. I notice that the Greeks have thought it a diplomatic move to honourably withdraw from the controversy, and Mrs Gundlach, who has previously been silent, takes up the running. This seems to need explanation and certainly the public are entitled to know the whole story of this attack on their fruit supply…. I have never been on the Greeks’ premises nor yet on Mrs Gundlach’s, but I hereby invite the whole box and dice of them and the general public to visit my shop and sheds and backyards …(to view the state of cleanliness)… and I hereby challenge Mrs Gundlach and the Greeks to come out in the open and do likewise. Are they game!
And I notice they still leave the pie stall alone. Remarkable and significant fact!…. [An increasing number of pie carts were also competing with the cafes, as were fish hawkers, which can perhaps be viewed as another of the indicators signalling an early onset of the Depression in the Northern Rivers region.]

The Council was duly served with the Chamber of Commerce recommendation accompanied by a petition of 200 names. They again deferred a decision by referring it to the Wheel Traffic Committee, which eventually recommended that three barrow stands, on wheels and no bigger than 10ftx4ft, be approved; one in Magellan street near the post office, one on the west side of Molesworth and one on the north side of Woodlark, and that tenders be invited from British subjects only. The letter writers had great fun in pointing out that one of the current barrowmen was an American. And one bloke saw the loophole:…As for the clause allegedly seeking to disqualify the foreigner – all that we have to say is that it will not disqualify him at all – not in the very least. If the wheel and traffic committee or the council want proof of that I am willing to put them in the way of obtaining it. … the clause is unfortunately worded. Instead of barring the foreigner it runs that ‘the applicant shall be a British subject.’- ie, giving the dreaded ‘Hindoos’ and naturalized Greeks and other ‘aliens’ a look in. The conspiracy theorists also reckoned that there would be colluding tendering, with the barrowmen forming a ring and acting as frontmen for the fruit and veggie mafia: Any alderman of even the smallest experience in public life must realise the utter impossibility of knowing for certain the identity of the real ‘man behind the gun’ in any system of tendering….As the petitioners pointed out at the beginning of this controversy, the ‘hidden hand’ always has been, and always will be, consummately ‘gloved’….

Five months after the controversy started the council finally bit the bullet and resolved to accept all the Wheel and Traffic Committee recommendations - except for defining the nationality of the operators.

Both Bavea and Feros then left town, as did a number of others, including Nick Poulos of the Canberra Café in Woodlark Street, and a period of great turbulence followed. Peter Bavea left his brother Jack to hold the fort and wandered off to Mundubbera, near Maryborough, to acquire the Royal Hotel. Peter Feros left his brother Jack minding the shop and went off to Toowoomba where he rode out the Depression with a successful carrier business. Theo George Fardouly sublet his Olympia Café to his father-in-law, Peter Con Lemnos (Polychrone), and went into the ice making business. Nick Calligeros walked away from his Kythera Café and became a fish hawker around the block. Poulos disappeared into the woodwork, but his brother/cousin George remained to open the Gopoulos Refreshment Rooms in North Lismore. Out of the mess arose Paul Coronakes who took over the Poulos café and entered the fruit and veggie game big time by establishing the Lismore Fruit Exchange, which went on to become the biggest produce wholesaler in the district.

The local economy continued to deteriorate and the fun and games became more intense, with the next major development being the battening down of hatches for the 1925 ‘alien election’. The gurus reckon the Depression generally occurred over the period 1929-33, but Lismore’s got news for them.