South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
n business, for many years one of Australia's major live stock salesmen, wool and produce brokers, and land and insurance agents.
History
Stock and cattle salesman and auctioneer Gabriel Bennett and accountant Benjamin Fisher went into partnership in July 1889, in Bennett's office in
Currie Street, Adelaide
Currie Street is a main street in the Adelaide city centre, South Australia.Map of the
Alfred S. Cheadle and T. S. Cheadle, A. G. Rymill (chairman of directors), K. D. Bowman and A. A. Scarfe.
Branches were opened in Broken Hill, Burra, Peterborough, Quorn and Strathalbyn. New wheat and wool stores were erected at Port Adelaide.
In 1920 the company took over Alfred C. Catt & Son, and moved their headquarters from King William Street to 54 Currie Street on the corner of Currie and Leigh Streets. In 1960 Bennett and Fisher commissioned a new Georgian style building to be built one block away on the corner of Currie Street and Gilbert Place. The building's front door was flanked by columns each side and arched ground floor windows. They moved into this building in 1961.
Bennett & Fisher purchased Anchor Foods and Ditters' fruit and nut business and in 1988 the
R. M. Williams
Reginald Murray "R.M." Williams AO CMG (24 May 19084 November 2003) was an Australian bushman and entrepreneur who rose from a swagman to a millionaire. He was born at Belalie North near Jamestown in the Mid North of South Australia, north ...
clothing and footwear company for $14 million. They sold the highly profitable Anchor Foods to
CSR Limited
CSR may refer to:
Biology
* Central serous retinopathy, a visual impairment
* Cheyne–Stokes respiration, an abnormal respiration pattern
* Child sex ratio, ratio between female and male births
* Class switch recombination, a process that chan ...
in 1987.
In 1992 the company sacked managing director Tony Summers, and spent $214,000 investigating his affairs. Among the losses sustained during his directorship was some $4 million in overvaluation of a property purchased by the company from Summers' wife.
After large and increasing losses each year from 1990 to 1993 the company was placed in receivership by a consortium of creditor banks.
Bennett & Fisher Limited was purchased by a company headed by
Kerry Stokes
Kerry Matthew Stokes (born John Patrick Alford on 13 September 1940) is an Australian businessman. He holds business interests in a diverse range of industries including electronic and print media, property, mining, and construction equipment. ...
and Ken Cowley, and restructured as R. M. Williams Holdings Ltd. in 1995.