PART TWO – CATALOGUE EXTRACTS This 40-page catalogue is a time capsule of household products sold in the late 1960s. That the idea of the hardware ‘general catalogue’ would survive into the late 1960s is remarkable in itself.
The Australian mainland abandoned this advertising delivery method a decade before.
By this time, the large hardware stores gave way to department stores and specialist appliance stores. Those stores favoured targeted advertising in newsprint and magazines. I guess Tasmania was always ‘a bit behind’ in that regard …
Isn’t it quaint how, today, we have come full circle – with conglomerate hardware stores [like Bunnings] recapturing the original hardware market that existed in the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th century.
My interest here, of course, is in the lawnmowers The Cleavers offered in this catalogue.
They were selling Victa, Sunbeam, Simpson, Webb, Qualcast and Pace.
