THE QUAKER SHOP TURNS 50

THE QUAKER SHOP TURNS 50 

Kerry O’Regan 


The Quaker Shop is celebrating its fiftieth birthday
this year. I’ve just been reading a report written in 1982 by
Ngaire Thorp, the first Quaker Shop manager. In it she talks about the promptings which led to the shop’s establishment. This was 1967 and the Vietnam War and its human consequences were very much part of Quaker consciousness. She says, of reports from

Ngaire Thorp Vietnam:
As we listened to the letters from Quaker workers in that country … we knew that our normal methods of raising money had to change. So the Adelaide meeting resolved to find a way other than “our normal methods” to
raise money specifically for “the relief of Civilian War Victims in Vietnam”. Initially, they thought in terms of some kind of jumble sale of second-hand goods. There was a system at the time whereby various charities left donation tubs at the Adelaide Railway Station. The local Quakers gained permission to be part of this scheme and installed a collection tub of their own. They subsequently sold the donated goods at a stall they ran at a Baptist church, for three hours per week. The work involved in setting up and dismantling the stall was significant, with limited outcome in terms of money actually raised, so when Ngaire saw a To Rent sign in a shop on Kensington Road, Norwood, she jumped at the opportunity. Quaker ways are notoriously slow and ponderous, but this was an opportunity which required an immediate decision. Fortunately there was a business meeting scheduled for just about then, and at it a decision was made to go ahead and rent the property, I imagine, not without considerable misgivings and trepidation. But go ahead they did, at a rental of $10 per week. This rented property was not the current shop, but one a couple of doors down, but renting was just the beginning. Friends had to deal with the bureaucracy involved in obtaining a second hand dealer’s licence, and that took a while – finding out what needed to be done and then finding out how to do it. In the meantime, an optimistic sign was placed in the window: Opening soon – The Quaker Shop to aid civilians wounded in Vietnam

And the doors finally opened on 1st July, 1968.
It wasn’t until four years later, in 1972, that the current shop premises became available for purchase, and Adelaide Meeting managed to raise enough funds to buy the current site (including the shop and flat next door), the meeting presumably going through even more anxious discernment than they had with merely renting. But the proposal was agreed to and the purchase made. Over the fifty years there have been things that have changed and things that have
remained the same. While Adelaide Local Meeting still owns the shop premises, Regional Meeting has taken over the management of the shop and has entrusted that responsibility to the QSSANT (Quaker Service South Australia and Northern Territory) Committee who appoint the shop manager, oversee the general running of the shop, and make decisions about disbursement of funds.

These funds, of course, no longer go to the civilian wounded in Vietnam. There was a period when the shop sent clothing and books to several Aboriginal communities in Central Australia, and a large dot painting which takes pride of place in the shop is testament to the gratitude with which these donations were received, but the main recipient currently is QSA (Quaker Service Australia). 

Last year, the shop contributed $74 000 to the work of QSA. We also contribute regularly to the Australian Refugee Association, and on an ad hoc basis to the Refugee Advocacy Service of South Australia. The premises were “old” at the time of purchase in 1972 and have needed the care and
consideration associated with that fact. A major improvement was undertaken in 2015/16 with renovations and extensions undertaken under the able stewardship of the then manager Topsy Evans. These gave the place and its occupants a whole new lease of life. We are giving it another spruce-up in recognition of this fifty-year occasion. The front façade has been repainted and the large signs above the awning (which were there since 1972, and looked it) have been replaced with identical but bright shiny new ones. 

Despite the extensions, it would be impossible to fit all the fifty-year-celebration
participants into the shop itself, so the event will of necessity be, at least in part, out in the open. We thought that might not be very pleasant in July, so are planning to have the big event on 1st October, the Monday of the long weekend, when the weather should be much more conducive to outdoor activity. I had been working as a volunteer at the shop for seven years before I took over as
manager at the beginning of last year, but had no idea of the complexity of the operation before I assumed responsibility for managing it (which is maybe just as well). There are currently fifty-five volunteers on our books and they do so much more than sell stuff in the shop. Which brings me to a little commercial. People have a life outside the shop and are sometimes not available for their regular three-hour shifts. I do have a few people who fill in occasionally, but could really do with several more. (The more there are, the less any one individual is called upon). Of course, people who would like to volunteer on a regular basis are most welcome as well, but if your time and energy are limited… 

To quote again from Ngaire’s article:

One has really to work at the Quaker Shop to realise for oneself its vitality. 

Come check it out.