Tractor Tales — Story Stop 2: A Store That Kept Moving

Follow the orange tractor trail

A Store
that kept moving.

Story Stop 02 featuring Chug on the orange tractor trail

The official opening of Beaconsfield-Emerald Road in 1935, with the General Store on the left — Beaconsfield–Emerald Road officially opens in 1935. The General Store is already there on the left, ready for a new age of travel.

Pick a story to open

This site was already a hubThe Shorthouses connected the Hills by carriage.

Before the General Store moved here to our current location, the Shorthouse family ran a horse-and-carriage depot on this site, carrying passengers and supplies between Upper Beaconsfield and the railway station below.

The place was already doing what it still does today: connecting and supplying the Hills. Horseshoes are still found in the yard—a trace of the old stables beneath today’s Store.

The Shorthouse transport depot — Where we stand today: this was the Shorthouse Transport Depot—home to horses, then cars, before making way for today’s General Store.

A bustling scene at the General Store — The General Store on McBride Street became a bustling place to trade, travel and meet.

The Store outgrew itselfMail and telegraph moved across the road.

The early Store included the post and telegraph office. By 1914, owner James Hopkins needed more room for retail, so he built a separate Post Office across the road.

His 18-year-old daughter, Gladys Hopkins, became its first postmistress. The old Post Office still stands today as a private home.

The Store and Post Office across the road from each other — The General Store and the separate Post Office across the road.

Gladys Hopkins at the Post and Telegraph Office — Gladys Hopkins took charge at just 18 years old.

Fire forced Store No. 2The business rebuilt—but travel was changing.

A bushfire destroyed the original McBride Road Store in 1920. It rebuilt on Salisbury Road, where the Community Centre garden and car park are today.

John Nathan later ran this second Store while horses quickly gave way to motor cars—and people’s routes through town began to change.

John Nathan's second General Store with a horse outside — Store No. 2, operated by John Nathan as horse travel began to decline.

Nathan followed the trafficA new road led the Store to its present home.

Nathan saw that the future was on Beaconsfield–Emerald Road. He bought the old Shorthouse property in 1928 and moved the Store here in 1929, adapting a coach house and reusing material from the stables.

When the road officially opened in 1935, the Store was already beside the route carrying people through the Hills. The way people travelled changed—so Nathan moved the Store to meet them.

Officials open Beaconsfield-Emerald Road in 1935 — The 1935 road opening. Look left to find the General Store.

The Store found its homeBuses arrived—and the Loveridge era began.

Transport kept evolving. Buses gathered passengers at the site now occupied by Over the Road, directly opposite the Store.

Ford Loveridge purchased the General Store in 1938. The Loveridge family remained associated with it for around four decades—the longest-serving custodians in its history. The Store had stopped moving, but the world around it had not.