Business 1987. Business 1987. Business 1987.
The year 1987, Bob Hawke was Prime Minister with Lionel Bowen his deputy and John Howard was Opposition Leader. The Premier of Western Australia was Brian Burke and the state opposition leader was Barry McKinnon. Our Governor General was Sir Ninian Stephen and the Governor of Western Australia was Gordon Reid.
The first mobile telephone call was made on 23 February of this year. Seven people are killed and 19 injured when 19-year-old Julian Knight went on a shooting rampage in Melbourne – the Hoddle St Massacre. On the 3rd October, Australia finally notes the contribution of the Vietnam War veterans with a Welcome Home parade held in Sydney – 15 years after the last soldiers and national service men have returned. October 20 was Black Monday. After the largest fall in the Dow Jones‘s history, stock markets nosedive around the world. Australia is no exception as the All Ordinaries falls 25%, making it the biggest one-day drop in the market’s history. December 8 saw the Queen Street Massacre: 22-year-old Frank Vitkovic kills eight and injures another five in an Australia Post office building in Queen Street, Melbourne before committing suicide by jumping from the 11th floor. And on December 29, 19-year-old Neighbours star Kylie Minogue enters the charts with her first single “I Should Be So Lucky“.
The F. & C. Piesse building would later become Richardson & Co. Robert Richardson sold his business to Foy & Gibson of Perth (which later became David Jones. When David Jones left Western Australia it became Western Family Stores as shown in a couple of the photos below:
Meantime, in Katanning, business continued on as normal. It was a time when all the shops were occupied and local people were supporting their local businesses. Below is a number of photographs taken in various businesses and displayed by The Katanning Historical Society in Katanning during 1987.
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