Ball & Welch

Ball & Welch Pty Ltd. was a prominent department store in Melbourne, Australia from the 19th century through to the 1970s.[6][7]

Ball & Welch Pty Ltd.
Foundedearly 1850s
FoundersCharles Ball[1]
William Henry Welch[2][3][4][5]
Defunct1976
ParentGeorges Australia Ltd

This drapery business was founded by Charles Ball (born c. 1818 Frome, Somerset, England - 2 September 1876 Melbourne, Australia)[1] and his nephew, William Henry Welch(born:c. 1828 - died:2 January 1896)[3][8][9] in the early 1850s. The company's first stores opened on the Goldfields at Forest Creek, at Vaughan Springs in 1861, then in 1882 at nearby Castlemaine.[10] In 1874 a branch was established in Melbourne in the suburb of Carlton. The large three-storied premises had frontages to Faraday, Drummond and University streets.

Eventually an emporium at 180 Flinders Street was designed by architects Reed Smart & Tappin and was completed in 1899 in an American Romanesque style. It was extended in 1911 with the purchase of the adjoining Commercial Travellers' Club. The store occupied around one third of the total block and stretched between Flinders Street and Flinders Lane. The Carlton premises were subsequently used as a warehouse, the original building there partly was destroyed by fire in 1928.

The Flinders Street store was one of the first in Melbourne to erect neon outdoor advertising, reportedly visible from the Dandenong Ranges. A Sydney branch operated between 1913 and 1924, and the Castlemaine store was finally closed in 1941.

With suburban retail expansion in the 1960s, branches were opened in Frankston, Camberwell, and at Eastland and Southland shopping centres. It also operated a 'Ball & Welch gift store' at the then Melbourne International airport landside terminal in Essendon.

In its heyday, the Ball & Welch department store was Melbourne's leading family draper, its A to Z departments including gloves, umbrellas and handkerchiefs, mantles, furniture, mercery, millinery, furs and corsets. At one time 26 assistants were devoted to the sale of lace alone.

The upscale department store company Georges Australia Ltd bought Ball & Welch in 1970, closing the stores in 1976 because of declining profits.[11][12]

The Flinders Street store was renovated as Flinders Fair shopping centre in the late 1970s, its façade (including the Commercial Travellers' Club frontage) were eventually incorporated into the Flindersgate carpark.

References
  1. "Family Notices : Deaths". The Argus (Melbourne) (9, 430). Victoria, Australia. 4 September 1876. p. 1. Retrieved 11 June 2019 – via National Library of Australia. , ...BALL. —On the 2nd inst., Charles Ball, of the firm of Ball and Welch, Drummond street, Melbourne, aged 58...
  2. "Advertising". Mount Alexander Mail (1253). Victoria, Australia. 17 March 1863. p. 3. Retrieved 11 June 2019 – via National Library of Australia. ,...THIS is to; Give Notice that the Partnership heretofore existing between the undersigned, carrying on business as Storekeepers at Vaughan, under , the name, style, or firm of "Ball and Welch" has been this day Dissolved by mutual consent. All debts owing by or due to this firm will be paid by the undersigned William Welch. As witness our hands, this ,16th day of March, 1863. (Signed)CHARLES BALL, WILLIAM WELCH. Witness— JOSEPH BALL 76 mr 17...
  3. "THE LATE W. H. WELCH". Mount Alexander Mail (11508). Victoria, Australia. 21 March 1896. p. 3. Retrieved 11 June 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. "WILL OF THE LATE MR. W. H. WELCH". The Age (12811). Victoria, Australia. 21 March 1896. p. 7. Retrieved 11 June 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. "DEATH OF MR. W. H. WELCH". The Age (12744). Victoria, Australia. 3 January 1896. p. 4. Retrieved 11 June 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. Among The Terraces - Work in Carlton, By Katie Holmes , 1987, Royal Historical Society of Victoria (RHSV), ISBN/ISSN 0958792218
  7. Who's who in the world of women, Victoria Australia (Volume II) (Centenary ed.), Reference Press Association, 1934, retrieved 11 June 2019
  8. "Family Notices :Deaths". The Argus (Melbourne) (15, 448). Victoria, Australia. 3 January 1896. p. 1. Retrieved 11 June 2019 – via National Library of Australia. , ...WELCH.–On the 2nd inst., at Shanghai-villa, St. Kilda road, William Henry Welch, of Ball and Welch Limited, aged 68 years...
  9. Name WELCH, WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES, Service Date:04-Jan-1896, Age:63, Grave Location: PRES B 1082, Section Name:Presbyterian, Boroondara General Cemetery
  10. "Crossed the Bar". Weekly Times (2, 421). Victoria, Australia. 1 January 1916. p. 24. Retrieved 11 June 2019 – via National Library of Australia. , ...The death occurred on December 24, at the residence of her sister, Mrs Ball, at Jolimont, of Mrs E. Welch, 71, widow of the late Mr William Henry Welch, one of the founders of the well-known drapery business of Ball and Welch Pty. Ltd. Starting about 1861 at Vaughan, then a flourishing mining township, the business was extended to Carlton in the early seventies, with a branch at Castlemaine. In 1882 the partnership was formed into a proprietary company, and ultimately opened in Flinders street in 1899...
  11. "BALL & WELCH PROFIT DOWN". The Herald (22, 543). Victoria, Australia. 23 August 1949. p. 6. Retrieved 11 June 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. Sievers, Wolfgang; H. W. & F. B. Tompkins (architects.) (1960), Ball & Welch store, Frankston, Victoria, retrieved 11 June 2019
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