This is an enlightening newspaper article from the Ovens & Murray Advertiser of the 20th January 1910 about a disastrous fire in Murphy Street the previous day. The fire occurred on a Wednesday afternoon which was a usual half-holiday before shops opened five days per week with a half-day on Saturday. The article explains several things: how the Wangaratta Turf Club lost all their records, where the Wangaratta Rifle Club operated from (or at least stored their equipment), when the Council Club Hotel was rebuilt or had one of its major renovations and what happened to the former St Georges Hall. It also gives an insight into the newly rebuilt Corrys Buildings where my great-grandfather Gordy Moore operated his bicycle shop from around the mid 1910s. Perhaps he bought out the ill-fated Mr. F. D. Taylor. Another family connection is that of A. H. Wohlers who lost his tailoring business in the conflagration. Albert Henry Wohlers was a long time friend of Gordy Moore and at one stage the family lived opposite my great-grandfather in Moore Street and one of Wohlers’ sons taught my grandmother to play the piano.

A destructive fire occurred in Murphy street, Wangaratta, at about 6 o’clock on Wednesday evening, when the auction mart (in which a large quantity of furniture was stored) and two offices occupied by Mr. H. M. [Henry] Cairnes, with the whole of the contents, Mr. J. [James] Clarke’s hairdressing saloon and Mr. A. H. [Albert Henry] Wohler’s tailor’s shop were all totally consumed, while considerable damage was done to Mr. S. [Sydney] Davidson’s drapery store and Mr. F. D. [Frederick Douglas] Taylor’s bicycle shop by water. The fire brigade, who were on the spot with commendable promptitude, had to confine their efforts to Messrs. Davidson’s and Taylor’s premises, as there was no chance of saving the other buildings. The fire, indeed, burst through two windows of an upstairs room used by Mr. Davidson as a bedroom, but the brigade succeeded in checking Its farther progress.