Bateman Hardware was the earliest

hardware shop Hardware stores (in a number of countries, "shops"), sometimes known as DIY stores, sell household hardware for home improvement including: fasteners, building materials, hand tools, power tools, keys, locks, hinges, chains, plumbing supplies, ...

established in Western Australia (and the second-oldest commercial enterprise of any sort), and until its demise in the 1980s was the longest-running. The business was founded by John Bateman in 1834 on property that he bought in the second round of land sales in the nascent

Swan River Colony The Swan River Colony, also known as the Swan River Settlement, or just Swan River, was a British colony established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. This initial settlement place on the Swan River was soon named Perth, and it ...

. This land on Henry Street was to be the home of J. & W. Bateman Ltd. for the next 150 years. Initially it was a shipping and warehousing business (including

lighterage Lightering (also called lighterage) is the process of transferring cargo between vessels of different sizes, usually between a barge (lighter) and a bulker or oil tanker. Lightering is undertaken to reduce a vessel's draft so it can enter port facil ...

and river transport), and 1840 is given (in a 1951 company prospectus) as the "early start of trading, with the help of his young sons, John and Walter". The first item had been sold in 1834, a grindstone possibly belonging to "the implements valued at £55" that Bateman brought to the colony on board . In 1895 the company built a new warehouse and office building (the

Union Stores Building The former Union Stores Building is a heritage listed building located at 41–47 High Street, Fremantle, High Street on the corner with Henry Street, Fremantle, Henry Street in the Fremantle West End Heritage area. Construction of the buildin ...

) on the corner of High and Henry Streets. This extended along High Street and along Henry Street. It was designed by local architect

Herbert Nathaniel Davis Herbert Nathaniel Davis (20 December 1867 – 14 March 1900) was an Australian architect responsible for designing a number of the extant heritage buildings in Fremantle, Western Australia. He died at the age of 32, and was interred in the Jewi ...

Notes

Further reading