Rochdale consumer co-operatives in Australia: Decline and survival

Abstract

The Rochdale co-operative model was imported from the United Kingdom to Australia in the mid-nineteenth century. Prior to 1945, the Australian Rochdale movement experienced waves of interest largely related to economic conditions and British immigration. While many Rochdales successfully traded for many decades, the movement failed to consolidate, experiencing internal and external political tensions and problems with wholesaling. In the post-war period, the movement went into permanent decline as individual co-operatives faced a range of challenges including competition from capitalist retailers, incompetent management and poor credit control. Defying these trends, a number of Rochdales continue to prosper in rural Australia today.

Keywords:

• Rochdales
• consumer co-operatives
• retail, wholesaling
• rural Australia

Notes

 1. Birchall, Co-op: The People's Business, 54, 59; Cole, Century of Co-operation, 402–13.

 2. The four are found in Denmark (Western Australia), Junee (New South Wales), Nuriootpa (South Australia) and Tullibigeal (New South Wales).

 3. The Albany Advertiser, 29 November 1968, 11, 14, 16. The Mt Barker Co-op was initially established in 1918 to serve the interests of fruit growers with the provision of a packing shed. It built and operated a power station from 1929 to 1934 and did not enter the retail trade until 1934 when it took over a struggling local store.

 4. Horace Plunkett Foundation, A Survey, 10–17.

 5. For a historiographical overview of Rochdale consumer's co-operatives in Australia see Balnave and Patmore, ‘The Politics of Consumption and Labour History’, 147–50.

 6. Lewis, A Middle Way, xvii.

 7. Kidston, 100 Years of Co-operation in Queensland, 3; The Moreton Bay Courier, 23 November 1859, 3.

 8. The Moreton Bay Courier, 26 January 1860, 3.

 9. Heaton, Modern Economic History, 305; Lewis, A Middle Way, 133; McConnell, ‘Consumers’ Co-operation in New South Wales’, 263–4; O'Neil, ‘History of the Co-operative Wholesale Society of NSW’, 22.

10. Balnave and Patmore, ‘Practical Utopians’.

11. Adelaide Co-operative Society, Practical Co-operation; Balnave and Patmore, ‘Rochdale Consumer Co-operatives in Australia’, 18; Heaton, Modern Economic History, 305–6; Lewis, A Middle Way, 135, 145; McConnell, ‘Consumers’ Co-operation’, 269; Webber and Hoskins, What’s in Store?, 29.

12. Balnave and Patmore, ‘Rochdale Consumer Co-operatives in Australia’, 19; Jensen, Barossan Foundations, 157–70; McConnell, ‘Consumers’ Co-operation’, 267–9; Lewis, The Democracy Principle, 74; Smith, Fruits of Frugality, 19.

13. Lewis, A Middle Way, 108–9, 135–7, 170–1; Lithgow Co-operative Society, Report of the Secretary to the President and the Board of Directors, 4 January 1932, 8 August 1932, Lithgow City Library, NSW, Australia; Adelaide Co-operative Stores, 1933 Cookery Book; The Advertiser, 24 November 1938, 2, 4 June 1941, 6.

14. Purvis, ‘Stocking the Store’.

15. O’Neil, ‘History of the Co-operative Wholesale Society of NSW’, 19–23.

16. Co-operative News (Australia), 1 April 1950, 18.

17. Letter from B. Arrowsmith to A. Clint, 12 December 1966. Alf Clint Papers, Tranby Aboriginal College Archives, Glebe, Sydney, ACP/105.

18. Lewis, A Middle Way, 218–19; Webber and Hoskins, What’s in Store?, 29.

19. The Community Co-operative Store (Nuriootpa) Ltd., Notice of Annual General Meeting, 3–4, 29; idem, 2010–2011 Annual Report, 2, 9.

20. Lewis, A Middle Way, xviii, 178–9; O’Neil, ‘History of the Co-operative Wholesale Society’, 29–30, 49.

21. Lewis, A Middle Way, 108–9, 135–7, 170–1.

22. Ibid., 94, 167, 182–5.

23. International Co-operative Women's Guild, Report of the Committee, 17–18; Lewis, A Middle Way, 105–6; Radi, Spearitt and Hinton, Biographical Register of the NSW Parliament, 21.

24. The Co-operative News (Australia), 1 January 1931, 1.

25. Heaton, Modern Economic History, 305; Lewis, A Middle Way, 167; The Advertiser, 7 April 1937, 27.

26. Balnave and Patmore, ‘Practical Utopians’, 105; Lewis, The Democracy Principle, 158–62.

27. Lewis, A Middle Way, 93–8; idem, The Democracy Principle, 98–108.

28. Loos and Keast, ‘The Radical Promise’, 290; Morris, ‘Clint, William Alfred (1906–1980)’.

29. Clint, ‘Aboriginal Co-operatives’, 1.

30. NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change, Aboriginal Women's Heritage, 48.

31. Letter from A. Clint to J. Trotter, 20 December 1971. Alf Clint Papers, Tranby Aboriginal College Archives, Glebe, Sydney, ACP/132.

32. Letter from Western Australian Registrar of Friendly Societies to W.C. Balmford, 25 September 1940. State Records Office of Western Australia, AN 141/5, File 1939/85; Lewis, A Middle Way, 178; idem, The Democracy Principle, 99–102; The Register, 2 February 1924, 14; The West Australian, 20 February 1932, 13.

33. Commonwealth Consumers’ Co-operative Conference, Report of Proceedings, 3–7, 13–22.

34. Ibid., 21.

35. Ibid., 24–6.

36. Lewis, A Middle Way, 181–5.

37. Balnave and Patmore, ‘Localism and Rochdale Co-operation’, 64–5.

38. O’Neil, ‘History of the Co-operative Wholesale Society’, 19.

39. Mary Hatch, Harold Hoffman and Bert Schulz (former Community Co-operative Store Employees), interview by Greg Patmore, Nuriootpa, 16 March 2010.

40. Trevor Mandry (former assistant manager, Collie Co-operative), interview by Greg Patmore, Collie, 20 June 2007; Australian Financial Review, 8 March 1993, 20; Balnave and Patmore, ‘Localism and Rochdale Co-operation’, 64–5; Sydney Morning Herald, 11 March 1993, 4.

41. Balnave and Patmore, ‘Localism and Rochdale Co-operation’, 64; The Community Co-operative Store (Nuriootpa) Ltd., Notice of Annual General Meeting, 3–4, 29; idem, 2010–2011 Annual Report, 2, 9.

42. Shaw and Alexander, ‘British Co-operative Societies as Retail Innovators’, 62–7.

43. The Area News, 15 September 1950, 1, 18 May 1958, 5, 5 September 1958, 4; File titled ‘Griffith Co-operative Society’, Griffith City Library, H334.5 Gri.

44. Shaw and Alexander, ‘British Co-operative Societies as Retail Innovators’, 65.

45. Community Co-operative Store (Nuriootpa) Committee of Management minutes, 24 March 1952, 16 April 1952, 15 October 1952 (these minutes are in the possession of the Co-operative); Sheard's Service Stores Limited, Shareholders Extraordinary Meeting, 14 November 1952 (these minutes are in the possession of the Community Co-operative Store at Nuriootpa); The Barossa News, 4 March 1948, 6; The Barossa and Light Herald, 3 July 1952, 1, 2 October 1952, 9.

46. The Barossa and Light Herald, 2 October 1952, 9.

47. Community Co-operative Store (Nuriootpa) Committee of Management minutes, 16 August 1956, 9 May 1957, 30 January 1958; The Advertiser, 10 October 1952, 15.

48. Community Co-operative Store (Nuriootpa) Committee of Management minutes, 16 February 1966; Nuriootpa Self Service Stores AGM minutes, 24 June 1966; The Barossa and Light Herald, 13 December 1962, 4, 2 December 1965, special edition.

49. Community Co-operative Store (Nuriootpa) Committee of Management minutes, 17 January 1968.

50. Community Co-operative Store (Nuriootpa) Committee of Management minutes, 16 February 1966; Nuriootpa Self Service Stores AGM minutes, 24 June 1966; The Barossa and Light Herald, 2 December 1965, special edition.

51. Balnave and Patmore, ‘Localism and Rochdale Co-operation’, 59.

52. Col Patterson (former manager and employee of Coolamon Co-operative), interview by Greg Patmore, Coolamon, 6 July 2008.

53. Smith, Fruits of Frugality, 53.

54. Community Co-operative Store (Nuriootpa) Committee of Management minutes, 21 July 1948, 15 June 1949, 21 June 1950, 23 November 1950, 21 March 1951, 18 April 1951, 21 January 1970, 15 August 1973, 21 November 1979, 21 May 1980, 12 October 1983; The Barossa and Light Herald, 1 July 1981, 5, 27 February 1985, 38.

55. David McArthur and Trevor Schmidt (CEO and Secretary of the Community Co-operative Store), interview by Greg Patmore, Nuriootpa, 17 September 2009; Community Co-operative Store (Nuriootpa) AGM minutes, 21 June 1995, 16 June 2004; The Leader, 14 July 2004, 1–2; The Community Co-operative Store (Nuriootpa) Ltd., Concise Annual Report 2010, 3.

56. Balnave and Patmore, ‘Marketing Community and Democracy’, 72; Mandry, interview; Lewis, A Middle Way, 218–19; idem, The Democracy Principle, 234; Webber and Hoskins, What’s in Store?, 29.

57. Balnave and Patmore, ‘Marketing Community and Democracy’, 73–4.

58. Ibid., 74–5.

59. Balnave and Patmore, ‘Localism and Rochdale Co-operation’, 61.

60. Ibid., 63.

61. Balnave and Patmore, ‘Localism and Rochdale Co-operation’, 64; http://www.foundationbarossa.org.au (accessed 25 August 25 2011); Nuriootpa Community Co-op Store Board of Management minutes, 21 April 1999, 27 September 2000, 25 October 2000, 28 March 2001, 30 January 2007, 22 August 2007, 26 September 2007, 25 November 2009; The Leader, 29 March 2002, 9, 14 December 2005, 2, 22 April 2009, 5.