As customers browse clothing racks, a reminder of yesteryear hangs above. The sound of it once whizzing overhead is now just a memory, replaced by the beeping of a touch-screen register.<\/p>\n
It’s a flying-fox change dispenser \u2014 the last in Queensland \u2014 and the relic is helping to keep history alive in a 103-year-old shop in Gayndah, four hours’ drive north of Brisbane.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The building is home to Queensland’s last flying-fox change dispenser. (ABC News: Grace Whiteside)<\/p>\n
After sitting empty for 18 months, the shop now has a new tenant \u2014 crisis support service Lifeline.<\/p>\n
“The building is heritage-listed, and we’ve tried to keep true to that in our styling and changes that we’ve made to the store,” Kylie Brogden, Lifeline’s regional business manager, said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Kylie Brogden and Wendy Canfyn from Lifeline opening the new shop in Gayndah. (Supplied: Lifeline)<\/p>\n
The flying-fox device was typically found in department stores from the 1940s to send cash and receipts between the front counter and back office.<\/p>\n
It ran on taut wires strung above the customers’ heads.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The flying fox ran between the front counter and cashier’s office. (ABC News: Grace Whiteside)<\/p>\n
When customers paid for their goods, a shop assistant packed their money and docket into a small wooden cup and attached it to the flying fox.<\/p>\n
They then pulled back a spring-loaded handle, which propelled it up to the cash desk.<\/p>\n
Staff in the cashier’s office then counted out the correct change and sent it back in the wooden cup along the wires.<\/p>\n
While it may have been superseded by EFTPOS machines and electronic registers, it represents a time when the retail space was a meeting ground for locals and bolstered the town’s economy.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
An old photo of the building and Gayndah’s main street hangs in John Mellor’s home. (ABC News: Grace Whiteside)<\/p>\n
The site had operated as a drapery for more than a century and was a staple in the small community which lays claim to being the oldest town in Queensland.<\/p>\n
Many residents have fond memories of the building, none more than John Mellor.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
John Mellor says the shop was his life. (ABC News: Grace Whiteside)<\/p>\n
The shop was in his family for 51 years, trading as Mellors Drapery and Haberdashery.<\/p>\n
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“It’s been my life,” he said.<\/p>\n
The flying fox was added to the Queensland Heritage Register in 1994 and holds a special place in Mr Mellor’s heart.<\/p>\n
“When we had a new girl start, I’d always get a frog or a mouse and put it in the cup \u2026 that’s one of my party tricks,” Mr Mellor laughed.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
John Mellor applied for the flying fox and the shop’s front windows to be heritage listed in the 1990s. (ABC News: Grace Whiteside)<\/p>\n
While it was not used for day-to-day trading, Mr Mellor operated the flying fox until his retirement in 2005.<\/p>\n
“I continued to use it because it was a good tourist attraction and people would bring their kids or grandkids back to have a look at the flying fox at Mellors,” he said.<\/p>\n
“It’s different. There’s nothing like that around these days.<\/p>\n
“I know it’s old-fashioned, but that’s what it was all about in those days.”<\/p>\n
Ms Brogden agreed.<\/p>\n
“The town know it really well \u2026 it’s a great attraction and something to add to our store for the tourists,” she said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
John Mellor says the shop’s heritage features attract visitors and locals. (ABC News: Grace Whiteside)<\/p>\n
A nod to the past<\/p>\n
The flying fox isn’t the only homage to history in the new store.<\/p>\n
“We wanted to bring the old and new together,” Lifeline state visual merchandising manager Wendy Canfyn said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The old register also features in the new shop. (ABC News: Grace Whiteside)<\/p>\n
“The counter that’s in there is a massive, long counter, obviously for when they measured the material, so we’ve kept that.<\/p>\n
“All the fixtures around the walls are these beautiful timber handmade fixtures, so we’ve utilised those for our own stock.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Shelves from the original drapery are being used in the new Lifeline store. (ABC News: Grace Whiteside)<\/p>\n
Breathing life back into the town<\/p>\n
Mr Mellor said it had been difficult to see the building sit empty in recent years.<\/p>\n
“There’s nothing worse in these little towns than to see four or five empty shops,” he said.<\/p>\n
“People say, ‘This place is dying,’ but I don’t think it’s dying.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
John Mellor and his wife, Francesca, with Lifeline staff Wendy Canfyn and Kylie Brogden. (Supplied: Lifeline)<\/p>\n
Residents and visitors are proving that.<\/p>\n
Ms Brogden said business had been “firing on all cylinders” since the store opened in July.<\/p>\n
“The Gayndah store’s been really well received since the day it was opened \u2026 which is really good for our fundraising efforts,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As customers browse clothing racks, a reminder of yesteryear hangs above. The sound of it once whizzing overhead…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,112007,10881,106176,112006,112005,12652,1571,112008,701,5216],"class_list":{"0":"post-171721","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-change-dispenser","12":"tag-charity","13":"tag-flying-fox","14":"tag-flying-fox-change-dispenser","15":"tag-gayndah","16":"tag-heritage","17":"tag-history","18":"tag-lifeline","19":"tag-queensland","20":"tag-retail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}