Carol and Richard Cannon

Story

Carol and I first met in August 1944 I was still at school and she was an apprentice hairdresser. I had a few jobs while waiting to be called for National Service which was to include eight months in India. We were married in June 1949.

When I was de-mobbed I took a training position on a large farm. After we were married I found work with housing accommodation including at different times two dairy farms that I managed. Carol was a full time mother and also assisted me in my work. In 1962 I made a big change and bought an Insurance agency. I moved on to a travelling position covering south west England and was extremely successful. One daughter was studying for her Queens Guide that involved studying a Commonwealth country. She chose Australia and read many books on the subject. Her parents read along with her and were fascinated by what Australia may have to offer us. Fortunately I found an advertisement for Insurance salesmen in Australia with the Temperance and General Insurance Company. I applied was interviewed in London; the job was mine. We sold our house, hired a caravan and travelled round saying our farewells to family and friends.

Many of these told us that we were taking a chance; our attitude was that we could make it a two year holiday with the help of some casual work, and return. Nothing ventured nothing gained. On the 29th November 1966 with our four children Peter, Denise, Michael, and Linda we boarded MV Fairsea which during WW2 had been an aircraft carrier. We were looking forward to a pleasant cruise with Christmas at sea. We were all seasick for a week followed by a period of food poisoning and wished we had taken the alternative of flying. We were fortunate in having two cabins between us, a big advantage over many where families were split up.

We landed in Fremantle on Boxing Day and enjoyed a fresh salad lunch after shipboard meals. The ship continued to Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney and we disembarked on 3rd January 1967. My employers as sponsor found us a house to rent; the man responsible had forgotten about it and by a stroke of luck found one three days before we arrived. The house made it easy to settle in as we had an ample three bedroom house. The work did not work out so well. By March it was agreed the job was not for me.

We had for a long time a plan to run a shop. An agent introduced us to a business in Chatswood, when we met the owner we found he had lived about ten miles from us in England; we were sold. We had brought our car from England and with the four children we set off to see at least a bit of our new country while we were waiting for the purchase to complete. We spent three weeks on the road and in motels.

This shop was close to a migrant hostel and many ‘poms\’ called in, this was great help in towards us settling in for it shows us how lucky we were.

The business was very successful, we outgrew it and in 1973 we sold up. We bought another place in Chatswood which the elder son would operate and that found the family a home while we were away paying a visit ‘back home’. On our return we decided to leave Peter in that shop and bought another at Willoughby. Shortly after Peter decided to marry and move on, we were left with a shop each. On top of that our wholesaler came with a proposition of a new much larger shop at Dapto. We sold both businesses and made the move. After three years we were approached to sell at the right price. We took a six month trip to Europe and the USA with our youngest daughter in tow.

On our return I was approached by the wholesaler to manage their warehouse in Canberra. While there Carol was at a loose end and found a large empty premise in nearby Fyshwick. We pursued that and in September 1979 opened it as a Food Barn. Our object was to provide the public of Canberra with cheaper groceries. We were successful managing to sell a basket of groceries costing 10% less than the closest competition.

In 1981 we achieved an ambition to introduce check-out scanning to Australia. Scanning met with considerable opposition and the governments were looking for ways to satisfy those concerned. We ourselves organized a petition in store to assess the public\’s feelings on the matter. In half an hour we had a few thousand signatures. Customers phoned friends and they came in just to sign. Finally it went ahead and proved of benefit to the community. Gradually the chain stores and many others were using a similar system. Shortly afterwards we became the second store in Australia to provide Electronic Funds Transfer facilities.

We retired in 1986 and spent seventeen years travelling Australia in motorhomes. We are now back living in Canberra.

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