page_title: McWhirters
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: McWhirters / History
caption_attribution_description: English: James McWhirter, 1923
context_page_description: McWhirters is a heritage-listed former department store at Wickham Street, Fortitude Valley, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is also known as McWhirters Marketplace, McWhirters & Son Ltd, and Myer. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
  It has been redeveloped as a shopping centre and apartment building. The buildings occupy over an acre of land bound by Brunswick, Wickham, and Warner Streets.
context_section_description: The McWhirters department store, comprising 4 adjoining brick buildings of from three to five storeys in height, was erected in four stages on land acquired between 1899 and 1929, by Brisbane draper James McWhirter and the firm of McWhirter & Son Ltd (later McWhirters Ltd).
  On arrival in Australia in 1878 from Ayrshire, Scotland, James McWhirter worked for merchants DL Brown & Co. before entering into partnership with Mr Duncan Sinclair in a South Brisbane drapery business, c. 1883. After a few years the partnership was dissolved, and McWhirter returned to Brown & Co. before joining Thomas Charles Beirne in his Fortitude Valley drapery business c. 1894, firstly as manager, then in partnership for about 3 years. McWhirter sold out to Beirne in 1898, and in the same year purchased Michael David Pigott's drapery business, located in leased premises across the road at 292 Brunswick Street. Pigott had been TC Beirne's employer in Ireland, and his former partner in South Brisbane, but moved from Fortitude Valley in 1898 to concentrate on his Toowoomba business established in 1896 (which later relocated into his new purpose-built Pigott's Building). When McWhirter took over Pigott's Brunswick Street business, the new firm of McWhirter and Son, drapers, was established, opening in September 1898 with a staff of 30.
  James McWhirter was an experienced manager and astute businessman who established his drapery business just as the Queensland economy was recovering from the severe economic depression of the 1890s. Despite the slowing of the economy engendered by the widespread drought of 1900–1902, McWhirter was in a position to capitalise on Queensland's economic boom of the early 20th century, and within three decades the firm he established in 1898 had expanded from a small drapery business to one of Brisbane's largest and most sophisticated department stores, with a principal store occupying over an acre of land bounded by Brunswick, Wickham and Warner Streets, Fortitude Valley, at the well-known Valley Corner.
  In the early years of the 20th century, Fortitude Valley, centred around the intersection of Wickham and Brunswick Streets (the Valley Corner), became one of the most important shopping centres in Brisbane. This is explained partly by the ready availability of efficient public transport – train from the late 1880s and electric tram from the late 1890s; partly by a rising population in the surrounding suburbs of New Farm, Bowen Hills and Newstead; but most importantly by the healthy spirit of competition between the Valley's principal retail stores – TC Beirne Department Store, McWhirters, Overells and later the ACB Company and Waltons as well – which attracted customers from all over Brisbane.
  From its establishment in 1898, McWhirter & Son expanded rapidly. In 1899 McWhirter purchased the allotments at the northeast corner of the busy intersection of Wickham and Brunswick Streets, although these were not occupied by McWhirters for another three decades. In 1902 the firm also acquired land at 48 Warner Street, at the rear of their Brunswick Street shop, and extended the Brunswick Street building the depth of the block between Brunswick and Warner Streets. In 1905 they secured an adjoining allotment in Warner Street, on which they erected another warehouse, which appears to be an extension of the c. 1902 building. In 1905 the firm was registered as a private company, McWhirter & Son Ltd, and by 1907 was listed at 292-298 Brunswick Street, having expanded into several adjacent shops east of the original building. By 1909 the firm employed 270 staff, had established a London office, directly imported many lines, and had developed an extensive mail-order department servicing all parts of rural Queensland, as well as clients in New South Wales, South Australia and British New Guinea. The firm pioneered the free carriage of mail-orders, and attracted a wide custom. The majority of their clientele were women, so besides drapery and a particularly fine millinery department, the firm stocked medicines, perfumes, silks, and home fu
caption: James McWhirter, 1923
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