Neil and the Bean

In the first half of the 20th century Neil Phelan's father, Roy, operated a general store in the small town of Mitiamo north of Bendigo in Victoria. Their home was right next door. (I've written about the store, Mitiamo and the family a number of times in this blog and the links are in the tags on the right.) The store had been previously operated by Neil's grandparents, Charles and Euphemia Sims who lived nearby.

Quite a few family snaps were taken in the backyard of the Phelan home and the store and it's interesting to see what is in the background of the photos. In this case I'm looking at a particular car. Neil was photographed in their car, a Bean, in about 1925. He's wearing a pair of sunglasses that must have belonged to uncle Chas Sims I think - he was a bit of a lad. The Bean was owned by his grandfather Sims who bought it new.

Young Neil Phelan in his family's Bean car, c1925.

The Bean and Neil Phelan c1925

The Bean vehicles were manufactured in England. This one could be either the model 11.9 four-seater that started rolling off the production line in 1922 or a Fourteen Tourer, that was produced in 1924. I'm thinking it's the latter but I'm happy to be told one way or the other.

Company catalogue

From the 1919 Bean catalogue.

Neil Phelan, backyard of the Phelan home in Mitiamo c1925.
The Bean car is in the background.

A restored Bean 11.9, England.

A restored Bean Fourteen Tourer, England

This post has been in response to the Sepia Saturday theme photo for this week, a film crew on an Australian beach. I've chose to match the element of people wearing sunglasses.

Sepia Saturday: Business trucks

The theme photo this week features Finnish radio engineers on top of a broadcast van. So what have I got in my collection that might match? I found a few photos of trucks used by several generations of the Phelan family in various businesses over the years. Unfortunately this exercise has made me realise that there are a few gaps so I have some homework to do.

Firstly I should say that while the photos of the trucks are interesting the background is equally important for family history. We see images of buildings and landscapes not usually seen in 'posed' photos.

The first three photos are of a truck used by the Sims Bros general store in the small town of Mitiamo in central Victoria in the 1930s. The business was called Sims Bros but when these photos were taken it was owned by Roy Phelan who married Annie Sims. She was the daughter of C W Sims who bought the business from a Mr Dyke. (As an aside, I like the phone number - Mitiamo 2. Annie's brother, Charlie, set up the first phone connections in the Mitiamo area, a private line between several businesses and a farm at Pine Grove that the family owned. Mitiamo 1 was their home number in Mitiamo. Both numbers were probably applied when the official PMG lines were installed.) 

The truck used by Sims Bros general store to deliver goods throughout the Mitiamo district.

Neil Phelan and the Sims Bros delivery truck.

Doug Phelan and Pluto, Mitiamo.

Charlie Sims started making ice cream in Mitiamo and he had a nice little business going where he sold icecream at the Mitiamo railway station. After WW2 he moved north to Swan Hill and established an icecream factory. His nephew, Neil Phelan (my husband's father), worked for him for a while in the 1950s. This delivery van, a Chevrolet, was used in the business at Swan Hill. The sign on the van reads 'Sims Ice Cream. The cream of the north.'

Philip and Alan Phelan beside the Sims Ice Cream van, Swan Hill.

Neil Phelan at the Sims Ice Cream factory, Swan Hill.

The sale notice for Sims Ice Cream business
The Argus 20 November 1954

After operating a Post Office and Telephone Exchange at Toolamba in the mid-1950s Neil Phelan's next business venture was a fuel depot in Kerang. He delivered fuel around the town and out to the farmers in the district. Neil was already familiar with the fuel industry because of his father's and grandfather's involvement in the general store. He purchased this new 1957 Chevrolet truck, made in the USA, from Wattie Corrie, Bendigo. It was originally red with white trims on the grill, wheel hubs and grill but Mobil decreed that the truck had to be repainted Mobil red. The truck was used to carry bulk fuel and drums.

Mobil Depot, Kerang. Neil Phelan with his Aunt Ina and family, Philip, Alan and Shelley.

Philip and Alan Phelan on dad's truck at the depot.

The business needed a second truck so Neil bought a Chevrolet Maple Leaf, made in Canada. It was secondhand.

The Mobil fuel depot's second truck. Neil Phelan with Shelley and Kay.

Neil moved from Mobil over to the Amoco fuel depot in Kerang and used the truck in the next photo to deliver heating oil. It's a 1948 Morris Commercial truck. He purchased it off a local farmer. This truck has recently been donated to the Kerang Museum where it is being restored. The Amoco depot also had a bigger truck, a 7 ton Bedford, but I don't have a photo of that one so I'll have to search some more family albums and slides to see if I can find one.

Neil retired from the fuel business after about 30 years and no longer owns any trucks.

The Morris Commercial truck - still in the family but long after it had finished its working life.

I suggest you travel on over to Sepia Saturday to see what others have made of the theme photo.

Sepia Saturday: Installing the new boiler

Keith and Neil Phelan, brothers, returned from serving in the Pacific in WW2 and were at a bit of a loss for a while as to what to do next. It turned out all right in the end but one of their business ventures, in 1952, was to take over a company that had been owned by other family members. It was a cordial factory, Euroa Cordials. They closed it down after a year or two because it wasn't profitable.

Here are Neil (left) and Keith (right) watching cheerfully while their father's first cousin, Ford McKernan (also a returned serviceman), does all the hard work! They're installing a new boiler.

You can.see more blogs on the Sepia Saturday theme here