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1896
24 October 1986
24 October 1896
Messrs. A. E. Thomas and Company's Australian Tannery was established by the present proprietor some forty years ago. In 1880 a boot factory, in which twenty-five hands are regularly employed, was added to the business, and later on the now well-known Boot Palace stepped into the current of Mudgee commerce. All told, this firm employs about thirty-eight hands, and is a very large purchaser of all kinds of skins. An average of ninety-five hides pass through the tannery every week, and large quantities of kip, tweed, yearling, calf, and kangaroo leathers are manufactured. The machinery, which is complete throughout, is driven by an 8 h.p. engine, and includes a large steamroller for hardening and finishing heavy leathers. This was recently erected by Pullin and Company, of Melbourne, at very heavy expense, and has exercised a very beneficial influence on the trade. Indeed, so highly are the products of this tannery estimated, the proprietors invariably command the topmost figures in the metropolitan market, some of the heavy buyers even asking to be informed of the dispatch of consignments. In the boot factory nothing but local leathers are used, and a ready sale is found for all the goods turned out. In this department many orders to measure are fulfilled, Mr. Thomas even receiving letters from former patrons, now resident in other colonies, requesting to be supplied1
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1905
6 September 1905
6 September 1905
MESSRS. A. E. THOMAS AND COMPANY, MUDGEE BOOT PALACE.
The retail establishment of Messrs. A. E. Thomas and Company, tanners, boot manufacturers and Importers, is situated in Market-street, Mudgee. The firm has been closely associated with the commercial development of Mudgee, having been established half a century. At the tannery 90 hides a week are treated, and the leather meets with ready sale in Sydney, it being seldom necessary to place it at auction, as it has the reputation of being tanned solely by bark, and no weight-giving material is added. About 250 pairs of boots are turned out of the factory each week, and are distributed to retailers in the immediate district, and as far afield as Cowra, Coonamble, Gilgandra, Coolah, Cassilis, and Gulgong. The firm constantly employs 25 hand's, including 12 at the factory, 9 at the tannery, and 4 at the Boot Palace, where a large stock is carried, including goods of the firm's own manufacture, and the products of leading British, American, and Continental factories. Messrs. A. E. Thomas and Company's manufactures received the honour of admittal at the Sydney International Exhibition, the certificate of the Royal Agricultural Society, and many local prizes and certificates2
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