Kandos a Rare 20th Century Town
According to the Mudgee Guardian Kandos Stores had “a distinct air of progressiveness”. Double-fronted, two-story, with overhead balcony and paved entrance, it was built with CCCs locally manufactured ash and cement concrete blocks, 9 inches by 18 inches.
A copper industry would add to the industrial impact of Kandos, increase the workforce by 90, grow the town and make it more commercially viable. What’s not to like?
The Greeks in Australia learnt by osmosis that a café was a good way to earn a living and give them financial security – a café, that is, that served Australian cuisine, not Greek.
Concerns were raised which led to an archaeological survey. It revealed the fragile remains of the first government house - the only in situ remains from the first year of British settlement.
The Depression had a devastating impact on Kandos property. At the second mortgagee sale in 1934 seven “fine” Kandos properties sold for a total of £135 (one property worth an estimated £800).
On 15 July 1933 Kandos Talkies would treat you to a double-bill, Beauty and the Boss, a “radiant romance, spicy and snappy – She had ‘IT’ but she hid it”; and “a sparkling satire Once in a Lifetime which reveals what goes on in the private offices of Hollywood film studios”!
What could be more mood-altering than a dance hall that suggested a glittering French palace.
