Grace Brothers

Grace Bros was an Australian department store chain, founded in 1885. Grace Bros. joined Myer in 1989 to become the largest department store group in Australia. All the departmental stores were operating under Grace Bros. until they were re-branded under the Myer name in 2004.


The Grace Brothers, Albert Edward and Joseph Neal Grace decided to leave England in 1880 to go to America and Australia. Joseph Neal arrived in Australia in 1883 and shortly after in 1885, Albert Edward arrived in Sydney. Grace Brothers had a long and rich history of retailing in Sydney following its founding by the Grace Brothers, Albert Edward and Joseph Neal Grace.

In 1885, brothers purchased 15x60 store front at 203 George Street near Railway Square terminus. They stocked the store with $1000 merchandise. They moved to the new location, Broadway in 1887 with the expansion of the store. By 1906, they had opened a five-story building at Broadway, now the site of the Broadway Shopping Centre. A full page announcement appeared in Sydney morning Herald about the Grace Bros. Company Policy in 1911. In 1917 the company was registered as Grace Bros Ltd. with the motto – Sure to get it at Grace Bros. Under the NSW Companies Act Grace Bros Ltd changed its name to Grace Bros. Pty. Ltd.

In 1926, the Grace Brothers, Albert Edward and Joseph Neal Grace, purchased a block of land on the corner of York, Clarence and King Streets in Sydney, on which they would build the "Grace Building". Both brothers believed that the site was perfectly positioned for the building as a "The Showpiece of the Company".  New public transport routes were opened and even Company letterhead showed the building as being "...on the Harbour Bridge Highway." The Grace Building was officially opened by Sydney Lord Mayor Ernest Marks on 3 July 1930.

In 1931, Joseph Neal Grace died and Albert Grace became Managing Director of Grace Bros Ltd. In 1933 Albert took his first step towards the expansion of Grace Bros stores from City to suburban Parramatta and Bondi. Prior to his death in 1938, Albert Grace planned suburban expansion of the Grace Bros stores from the City, a move which is considered the reason Grace Bros survived when many of their contemporaries perished such as Anthony Hordern’s and Mark Foy's. Isabel Grace died in 1970 at age of 86 years.

Over the years, grace Bros. opened many suburban and country stores. Parramatta and Bondi Junction stores were opened in 1933. Parramatta store was the first suburban Grace Bros. stores. In 1961 Chatswood Grace Bros. was opened followed by Roselands on October 1965. In August 2001, the final grace bros. store was opened in Castle Hill. In 2004, Sydney retailing icon Grace Bros. replaced its 109 year old name to Myer. 

Norman Mackay Field - World War One – Parramatta Soldiers

World War One – Parramatta Soldiers – Norman Mackay Field

Private Norman Mackay Field lived in Inkerman Street Granville, NSW when he enlisted on the 17 March 1916. He was 32 years old, single and worked as a cement worker at Goodlet and Smith’s in Merrylands. He had previously served 18 months with the Scottish Rifles. Norman was Methodist and his next of kin, his sister Ethel May Field, lived in North Sydney.

On the 22 August 1916 he embarked from Sydney on the HMAT Wiltshire A18, and disembarked at Plymouth England on the 13 October 1916. He proceeded to France on the 8 January 1917 on the "Princess Henrietta" and on the 18 January 1917 was transferred to the 4 Division of the Australian Division Base Depot.                                                                                                     

Private Norman Field was killed in action in the field in France on the 7 June 1917 at 34 years of age, and was posthumously awarded the Victory Medal.