ANOTHER of the Bathurst District Historical Society's many images is featured this week. It shows William Evans' shoe and boot store and dwelling at Kelso behind the King William Inn in Lee Street on the road to O'Connell. He is seen posing with his granddaughter, wife Sarah and their son and daughter-in-law holding their new baby.
In Mr Evans' front display window we can see a number of pairs of leather shoes and boots for young and old.
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Somewhere in the building, likely in the front room, was his workroom, where he had a supply of leather, probably purchased from tanneries in Kelso and Bathurst.
The photo of the single-storey building with a single entrance and a corrugated iron roof was taken or copied by the Austral Photo Company of Alice Street in Newtown.
Mr Evans occupied one side of the premises, while the other side was occupied by a tobacco and cigar store (the Evans family possibly owned that business as well).
The photo shows the display window has a full array of items.
Having a corrugated roof does not assist much in dating this photo.
The well-known, ubiquitous corrugated iron began to be made in England during 1829. Within 12 to 30 months, it was being unloaded from sailing ships at Australian wharves.
The idea was patented immediately.
With the discovery of gold in the 1850s, the iron imports increased as the need for shelter increased substantially.
In fact, one could purchase a portable corrugated iron house kit.
Mr Evans made most of the men's shoes and boots. Customers could have them made to measure.
Some of his boots had a canvas lining.
Typically, he would put a groove around the sole of his boots and the stitching went into it, thus protecting the stitches.
The uppers of these boots were usually hand-sewn together, but at some time he purchased a leather sewing machine.
Mr Evans would have imported some of his boots and shoes from England, using an agent in Sydney, though his imported lines would have been mainly for women and girls.
He probably would have supplemented sales by purchasing some lines within the colony.
A pair of normal William Evans-made boots sold at 6/- (60 cents), while his extra strong boots sold for 7/6 (75 cents).
In the 1860s and 1870s, it usually took five pieces of leather to make the uppers - the heel, two lacing panels, the toe cap and the front.
Boots and shoes were quite a complicated item to make, requiring Mr Evans to have on hand quite an array of hand tools.
His workshop would have tools needed to cut, stitch and shape the leather. These would include several types of peg and double ended hammers, awls, knives, rasps, needles, hole punches, a seat breaker, seat wheel, fudge wheel, boot-stretching pliers, waste iron, stabbing and sewing awls as well as shoe lasts and shoe trees.
Another piece of equipment was a selection of foot or boot lasts, an item shaped like a human foot and made from wood or metal. They were made in numerous sizes and styles.
They were required by shoemakers for the repair and fabrication of shoes.
He would also have a selection of tiny tacks and an assortment of nails.
Mr Evans, when he started in business, would have had to implant eyelets and rivets manually, and import some of his toe caps, though later he would use hand-operated machinery to do these jobs.
He would measure the customers' feet himself.
All the leather had to be cut to shape with a variety of special knives, including some known as an upper cutter and a hawk bill, both of which had to be sharpened frequently.
The heel had to be finally trimmed with a heel shave.
Seat and fudge wheels were used to score the leather, which was moulded to the sole with a waist iron.
All this was done on a special stand known as a cobbler's last.
William Evans died, aged 68, on January 22, 1892 at Kelso.
