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Burrell's Laundry

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Collection SummaryBurrell’s Laundry was owned and managed by the Burrell family of Woolooware for several decades from the late-1920s.HistoryThe original steam laundry was located in an old coach house which adjoined the Burrell family home on the Kingsway near Woolooware Road; the family later moved to the other side of the Kingsway. In operation, the laundry produced significant smoke emissions and this increasingly became a source of complaint amongst those living in nearby homes. In 1937, a petition signed by more than one thousand residents was presented to Sutherland Shire Council with a request that positive action be taken on the matter. Although negotiations between the Burrells and Council did take place, a resolution remained elusive; proceedings were therefore taken in the Equity Court for an injunction to restrain the laundry from operating in a residential area.

When the Equity action commenced in February 1937, Mrs Olive Burrell was the registered owner of the laundry. By the date of the Court’s decree on 28th May, however, the business had been transferred to her husband, Mr Douglas Burrell. Eventually at a conference in 1938 the Burrells and Council came to an agreement: the laundry would relocate to a new site. In 1939, Douglas Burrell became the successful tenderer of a residue portion of land on Denman Avenue – known as Lots 19 and 25, D.P. 5345 – which had been created when construction of the Cronulla Railway had severed Gannons Road Oval. In 1940 the new laundry was completed and occupied, and activities at the old site ceased.

During World War II, Sutherland Shire residents and authorities prepared for the perceived threat of invasion in a variety of ways. Not only did air raid shelters, patrolling wardens and block-out blinds become a part of everyday life, but searchlights, gun emplacements and barbed wire defences sprang up along Cronulla’s coastline. Local businesses also took on additional responsibilities during the war. In addition to his contract to launder army blankets, Douglas Burrell applied to the Defence Department for their cooperation in building a factory which, in the event of emergency, could be instantly converted into a gas attack and air raid victim cleansing station. Fortunately, these services were never required.

In 1954, Dun’s Gazette for New South Wales reported the transfer of license of Burrell’s Launderers and Dry Cleaners Pty. Ltd. from the Burrell family to Archibald Law and Margaret White. The business remained in operation for several more years and was utilised by NSW railways to ‘clean linen from the sleeping compartments of country and intercity trains’. The laundry buildings were removed from the Denman Avenue site in the late-1970s.

Photograph

Fire at Burrell's Laundry, Woolooware

Staff of Burrell's Laundry, Woolooware

Burrell's Laundry, Woolooware, ca. 1940s

Christmas party at Burrell's Laundry, Woolooware, 1950

Burrell's Laundry, Woolooware, ca. 1940s

Christmas party at Burrell's Laundry, Woolooware, 1950

Burrell's Laundry, Woolooware, ca. 1940s

Person

Douglas Burrell

Map

Sutherland. 69 : A Riding, Parish of Sutherland, County of Cumberland

Oral History

Jim Cutbush Oral History

Vertical File

[Letter] Sutherland Shire Women's Hockey History Project

Details

CategoryPropertyGeolocation^[1]

Connections

PeopleDouglas BurrellPlacesWooloowareSubjectsBurrell's Laundry (Woolooware, N.S.W.)Burrell, DouglasLaundries -- New South Wales -- WooloowareDenman Avenue (Woolooware, N.S.W.)Gannons Road (Woolooware, N.S.W.)Woolooware (N.S.W.)

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