The 1950s

During the 1950s, a refurbished grocery and hardware department was also added along with the store’s first coolroom.

The cheese store, which started in 1950, was one of Roy Hodgson’s obsessions, and it rapidly developed a reputation as the best vintage cheese store outside of Adelaide. Cheeses came from Murray Bridge, Mount Compass, Lobethal, and other small dairying towns through the Adelaide Hills, and were stored in a cellar where they had to be carefully turned every day and monitored as they matured. Two to three hundred cheeses were matured on the premises, largely as a result of demands from local winemakers who wanted the ripe cheddar for entertaining clients and for their vintage celebrations.

In 1949, a staff social club was formed and a community Christmas celebration was planned to revive community spirit. It received the sanction of the Board and local wine personality Bill Seppelt also backed the idea with a donation of £100. A district choir was formed by Ron Schulz, the park was hired, and sideshows were set up to raise money for the next year. A big Christmas tree was also decorated. It was one of the many events which have focused statewide interest in the Barossa over the years, with Adelaide radio personality Mel Cameron from 5DN compering the first show, then broadcasting the recording on 5DN on Sunday evening. More than 300 children were given presents and it grew each year until the entire Barossa community would roll up for a night of free fun.

The early 1950s was also the time when several major fashion parades were held by the Co-operative Store in the Nuriootpa Institute in aid of the Mothers and Babies Health Association. Mannequins from Adelaide were booked and more than 300 people attended the first event, a cabaret style parade using a Middle Eastern Arabic theme, complete with sheik’s tents.