History of Bursill's Shop
Don Topham and Pat McGoldrick behind the counter of Bursills Shop in 1950 CAHS.
Location: 215 Queen Street, Campbelltown NSW 2560
Samuel Bursill opened his store in about 1892.
His son Samuel, Mayor of Campbelltown from 1909-1913, later took over the store in partnership with Fred Rider and George King in 1918. Samuel Junior's son, William, joined him in the business at the age of eighteen. When his father retired in 1945, William took over the business.
The shop had a residence upstairs, lived in by Samuel until 1940 and then William.
The Bursill family have been associated with retail in Campbelltown since the town's early days.
Their first shop was opened in 1842 by William Bursill as a general store. A two-storey sandstone building done in the Georgian Style, it was sold to William Fowler in 1850, who added space for a Post Office. The building still stands in Queen Street and is one of the four iconic colonial terraces at the southern end of town.
Demonstrating the Bursill's commercial ambitions, later generations opened a produce store in Queen Street, almost opposite their later general store built in 1892.
Besides produce, this store also sold builder's hardware and was agent for Chrysler cars and Plymouth trucks.
The produce store was famous for a carpet snake that the Bursill's used to keep rodent numbers under control. To some people it was a source of excitement, but brought terror to those not fond of these legless reptiles!
Oral history of Bursill's Shop
Excerpt of: oral histories about early Campbelltown with Susan Chandler and the infamous carpet snake at Bursill's.
Campbelltown Library · Susan Chandler remembers the infamous carpet snake
Image gallery of Bursill's Shop