A wander in Commercial Street may well bring you to 69 Commercial Street, where you will find the Hare and Tortoise Bookshop. Quite a treasure trove it is.
by Janet Wilson
Above the verandah, and visible from across the street, as you look towards the shop you will see the initials WS or SW. This shop was in earlier times the business place of Solomon Weisser. In 1888, at the age of 23, Solomon Weisser came to Australia. This German born watchmaker and jeweller had established businesses in the early 1890s at Surrey Hills and Box Hill. In Korumburra, he was in business by about 1895. He bought land in Station Street in 1900. It was not uncommon for watchmakers and jewellers to become optometrists, and this was the case for Solomon Weisser. He was registered as an optometrist in 1936, at the age of 70; prior to this time there was no registration required.
He came to Korumburra at the time of a downturn in the economy, however mining was in full swing in Korumburra. He involved himself in the life of the town with involvement in the rifle club, the football club and the cemetery trust.
He owned the premises in Commercial Street, selling the watchmaking and jewellery business to Mr. A.F. Broughton in 1914. Solomon continued to work as an optometrist from this premises. He had seemingly combined these skills from about 1905.
Solomon Weisser is renowned for having owned the first car in Korumburra, a Model T. Ford which he purchased in 1914, and in June of that year became an agent for a Melbourne Ford dealership. Twelve months on he was hiring out his car.
One of Korumburra’s biggest fires must have come as a devastation for the Weissers, with Solomon’s shop one of those destroyed in the fire which broke out early on 30th. December, 1928. Only days prior, the street would have been packed with busy Christmas shoppers.
The fire started in the large, double storeyed Knight’s building, situated to the south of Mr. Weisser. Scott’s butchery building, further to the south, with a brick wall, aided the efforts of fire fighters who were able to arrest the fire at that point. All of the businesses from that point to Radovick Street though were burnt out. C.E. Brown’s chemist shop, owned by Mr. Broughton was lost, Williams the Shoemen lost their business, as did Mr. Weisser and Knights. Mr. Scott’s plant and fittings were similarly burnt out.
G.G. Knight, A.F. Broughton, S. Weisser and Williams the Shoemen were corresponding with the shire after the finding that their buildings, recently destroyed by fire, encroached on Commercial Street by approximately ten inches. However, as all other buildings in the street were similarly built, the newly constructed buildings were replaced at the same alignment.
Williams the Shoemen were reported in our local paper in February 1929 to be looking forward to reopening in their new premises, and in May 1929 Mr. Broughton and Williams the Shoemen were asking the shire to concrete the footpaths in Commercial Street and Radovick Streets, abutting their respective properties, and undertaking to bear half the cost. The Weisser’s brick building must date from this time.
Mr. Weisser, in later years, conducted his business from his home in Station Street.
The Bronwyn Frock Salon operated from this site for a time. It is listed in 1952. Russell Broadbent’s mother worked in the Bronwyn Frock Salon. A butchery business may or may not have been next, but operated from at least 1972 until 1995.
What an absolute treasure this building is, imprinted with its history for us all to see.
There undoubtedly is more to the story. The Historical Society and present owners of the bookshop would be interested in hearing from anyone who can add more information.
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