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1899
23 September 1899
MR. E. D. DEANE. COACH AND BUGGY BUILDER.
Among the business successes of Mudgee there are, perhaps, none more pronouced than that which has attended the efforts of Mr. E. D. Deane, coach and buggy builder, Percy-street, Mudgee. Mr. Deane has been in Mudgee since 1873. He started in 1881 in a small shop. In those days very few hands were employed, but, being master of his trade, and having made a strict resolve to turn out only first-grade work, it has grown year by year, and to-day the number of orders received at the factory is evidence of the merit and popularity which the firm has won. There are some nineteen hands employed in the factory all the year round. The fine brick carriage factory has a frontage of 66 feet to Percy street, and a depth of 110 feet. Mr. Deane devotes himself exclusively to the manufacture of coaches, buggies, and sulkies of various descriptions - a line of goods than which none made are better, and of which an enormous number are in use by the big landowners and farmers of the district, as well as the prominent business men of Mudgee. Of course, Mr. Deane does a large outside trade in sulkies and buggies, these being very popular on account of price, usefulness, and durability, as well as general attractiveness of appearance. Mr. Deane has a big stock in the timber shed at the rear, including well seasoned English oak. American ash, hickory, Tasmanian black wood, Queensland sulky oak, cedar, spotted gum, various kinds of pines, and a large reserve of axles and wheels, &c, for various kinds of vehicles. There are few Agricultural Shows in these parts where the name of Mr. E. D. Deane is not familiar. In four years he has carried off 24 first and special prices at the Agricultural Shows. He was first at the Metropolitan Show in 1898; in the same year he obtained champion prize in Bathurst against all-comers. This is a remarkable record. Mr. Deane wishes it to be distinctly understood that he is strenuously opposed to building cheap and shoddy work for any person; he does high-class work, with the result that his reputation for solidity and fair dealing is quite as widely extended as is the knowledge of his trade.
He does most of the building for stationowners between Mudgee and Coonabarabran, and his vehicles are eagerly sought after in Moree, Coonamble, Merriwa, and Bathurst. One of the latest orders for a buggy he has received is from Mr. E. J. Bridge, of Sydney. In short, the dealings of Mr. Deane have gone far and wide, and wherever his work has gone it has enhanced his reputation. He has just built a fine trap, known as "The Hyde Park," for Mr. J. M'Master. Binna Downs station, Coolah. It is a private vehicle, with three seats, and made to accommodate nine persons, and in such a way that no difficulty is experienced at getting into it at the back. Disinterested persons capable of giving an opinion pronounce this to be one of the finest vehicles so far turned out in New South Wales. I should mention that whilst Mr. Deane turns out large quantities of sulkies and buggies of a kind, it must not be understood that he builds only a few kinds of vehicles. The varieties are almost numberless, and the catalogues show such a multitude of style as to be well-nigh bewildering. Buggies and sulkies, for instance, are widely different in their get-up and general appearance. Some are long-bodied, some are short-bodied, some have whole-panel sides, and some spindle sides. In the matter of painting and varnishing much taste and skill are displayed to suit the purchaser. Mr. Deane is a popular, broad-minded man; he is an officer of the Agricultural Show and hospital committee. The foreman of works is Mr. James Keegan. He worked for several years at Messrs. Angus and Sons' Newtown, which employs many hands. In Sydney he was an active figure in political circles, having filled the post of vice-president to the Trades and Labour Council for years, and occupied the post of president of the Mechanics' Union1
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