Davey & Olsen, Dungog: an interwar garage
Adaptive Re-use · Aesthetics · Architecture · Attachment to place · Built heritag · Business History · Community identity · Cultural Heritage · Cultural icon · Dairying · Dungog · Farming · Heritage · Historical consciousness · History · Interwar · Local History · Memory · Modernism · Motoring History · Place making · Retailing · Sense of place · Streetscapes · Tourism · Transport · Urbanism

Davey & Olsen, Dungog: an interwar garage

camdenhistorynotes

A fine example of early motoring

The sleepy little town of Dungog is located in the upper reaches of the Williams River valley, nestled between the ridges that run through the town centre. A picturesque country setting for a local motor garage with an exciting history.

Landscape Dungog view from LO 2018
The little town of Dungog on the Williams River lies in a picturesque valley in the Hunter region of NSW (DSC)

The town is characterised by its wide streets, a legacy from the colonial days when it was necessary to be able to turn around a bullock wagon.

An exciting and colourful collection of Colonial, Edwardian and Interwar buildings dot the town centre that makes the commercial precinct of the town.

Dungog Dowling Street 1910 MWilliams
This postcard shows Dowling Street Dungog around 1910. The view today has many similarities with this picture. (M Williams)

The blacksmith was one of the key trades in Dungog as it was in most rural settlements in colonial Australia and in the homeland of rural England. Dungog’s 300 dairy farmers certainly made use of the local smithy.

The motor car appeared in the early 20th century and the local blacksmiths turned their hand to car maintenance. The smithy repaired farmer’s wagons and ploughs, then moved to look after motor cars.

Dungog Davey&Olsen Garage Front 2018
This is the front street view of the Davey & Olsen Garage. Established in 1920, it replaced a blacksmith shop and has many features of the Interwar period. There is a street location of the petrol bowser and the rear workshop retains many features of the period. (I Willis, 2018)

Some blacksmith’s shops turned into the local garage with a petrol pump on the footpath and service workshop out the back.  Dungog has several garages, and one of these is the Ford dealership and NRMA representative at Davey and Olsen.

The Davey and Olsen garage is located at 160-168 Dowling Street Dungog and is part of the 19th-century commercial precinct of traditional trades and services along Dowling Street.

Dungog Davey&Olsen Garage 1920s 2018
A view of the Davey and Olsen garage from the Interwar period. The building is incorporated into the 2018 building when the images are compared. (Davey & Olsen)

The family business acquired the Ford dealership in 1925 and the garage grew to serve the growing number of car owners, which was encouraged by the construction of the Chichester Dam (op. 1926).

As the number of dairy farmers in the area declined, the pressures of development passed the town and the local garages and other buildings in the town centre have retained many of their original features.

Dungog Davey&Olsen Historic Plaque 2018
A history plaque is located on the street frontage of the Davey and Olsen garage building. The Dungog Historical Society placed the plaque on the building in 2008. Several other historic buildings also have history plaques. (I Willis, 2018)

The morphology of the Dowling Street business precinct is similar to the town of the early 20th century.  The streetscape has changed little in over 80 years.

Learn more about the history of Dungog NSW

Dungog Heritage Study Review 2014

Michael Williams, A History in Three Rivers: Dungog Shire Heritage Study Thematic History. (NSW Office of Environment & Heritage, Heritage Council of NSW, Dungog Shire Council,  2014)

Dungog Royal Hotel

Updated 27 April 2023. Originally posted 1 January 2019.

Published by camdenhistorynotes