Australian History 📜

Inge and Andrew Grinke’s travelling shop…
Inge started work as an “honorary receptionist” at Elliot and Elliot Optometrists in Nedlands, Western Australia, working her way up to Manageress.
She met her husband, Andrew, when he came to have his eyes examined. “We went out and had a few drinks… not alcoholic drinks, just light drinks.” He told her that by trade, he had been an engineer but that times in the world were tough, so he’d decided to take a new direction… a travelling shop in northern Western Australia.
He told Inge how his niece had gone with him on the road for two or three years, then “dropped him like a hot cake” for a fellow in Wittenoom. And that realising that he couldn’t go on with the travelling shop on his own, he’d returned to Perth to find a wife willing to share his ups and downs and help him in the business.
Andrew proposed to Inge on her birthday, and she accepted despite the 26-year age gap. They were married in 1957 and, for the next four months, brought an enormous variety of goods to cater for the vast array of people up north. According to Inge, they made a “wonderful team”.
Goods for the travelling shop included underwear, shoes, clothing, leather and sheep skin coats, jewellery, ribbons, stock whips, knives, spurs, torches, batteries and basically “anything handy”. Nothing is breakable or perishable. About 45 big suitcases filled in all.
The shop always opened first in Mullewa. The bush telegraph worked a treat when people spotted their big orange truck. “Oh, Mrs So-and-so, do you know the travelling shop is coming.” “Oh, is it? Are the Grinkes on the way?” There was always a crowd to meet them.
Overall, people took the Grinkes into the fold, knowing they were “carrying quality goods and not shoddy stuff”. The shop often opened on stations (generally for two days), and the goodwill of the managers and owners was significant. Items were shown in a big tent (in which Inge and Andrew also slept). Everything was on display and very well received. Goods were replenished in townships such as Meekatharra and Wittenoom.
Inge always loved to feel feminine no matter where she went. She and Andrew took meals on a little table with a tablecloth and flowers.
Overall, Inge found people up north most friendly and ready to help…
“We were long enough there not to burden them and short enough there to do them a good turn.”

Below:

Andrew and Inge Grinke with their travelling shop about to head north, 1957.

Aboriginal customers shopping at the Grinke travelling shop on Woolleen Station, W.A. 1957.

Inge and Andrew Grinke pausing for a quick meal by the roadside, 1957.

An Aboriginal family shopping at the Grinke travelling shop on Woolleen Station, Murchison, Western Australia 1957.

Andrew Grinke cooking a meal outside Erong Springs with the travelling shop in the background, 1957.

Inge and Andrew Grinke having tea somewhere in the bush, 1957.

Story courtesy of Inge Grinke, 1918-2004.