2011 April business for sale $295,000 + SAV
Located in the centre of the town and operating successfully for 30 years, this gallery is well known for a high quality and eclectic range of fine art and gifts. The Gallery stages 8 solo exhibitions throughout the year, plus a summer group exhibition. The exhibitions change regularly every 4-5 weeks. There are confirmed bookings for exhibitions through to the end of 2012. The Gallery's Gift shop offers a wide variety of quality works, sourced from both local and international artists. The works include Moroccan hand woven kilms, rugs and carpets, Indian hand spun raw silk yarn, alpaca shawls from Peru and hand-crafted natural soaps from Provence. The business has well-established contacts, suppliers, systems and procedures and intellectual property set in place to enable immediate trading upon settlement.
Six photos from First National Real Estate, Braidwood.

2013 March photos by John Ness:
1. 1888 Bank entrance,
2. From the street, with "String" antique shop,
3. From the rear, with coffee shop,
4. From the right side.

2014 photo of plaque attached to the building by Frank Maundrell.

2019 May 4 photos of notes scrawled on the strongroom door and one of the interior taken by Kevin Greenaway who says:  Here are a few photos taken inside the old Braidwood branch
There were a lot of pencil notes 100 years old written on the wall relating to their Balance records,
they were protected by glass which accounts for the poor quality photos.
 

1920

1946

1950s





1960s





1975

Located 810 km NW from Sydney and 98 km E from Bourke, Brewarrina is 119 metres above sea level.
No one knows exactly what the word 'Brewarrina' means. There are five versions all of which have some claim to accuracy. The most common is 'clumps of acacias' then there is 'where the gooseberry grows', 'fishing', 'acacia clumps' and, perhaps the most plausible, 'place of gooseberries' coming from 'warrina' meaning 'place of' and 'bre' or 'burie' or 'biree' meaning 'gooseberries'.
There can be few more charming outback towns in Australia than Brewarrina. With a town population of about 1500 and a further 1500 living on properties around the town it has just the right number of people to give it a sense of purpose and stability without losing the lazy rural character which hasn't changed for decades. The wide main street, the old style pubs, the easy lifestyle, the beautiful parks by the Darling - Barwon River, the local newspaper produced fortnightly by the local Chamber of Commerce and the historic court house and Anglican Church make it much more than just another country town.
The first settlers arrived in the district around 1839-40. The first people to own land where the town now stands were the Lawson brothers who had two holdings - one called 'Walcha' and another called 'Moona'. The first name given to the settlement was 'Walcha Hut' but this later changed to 'Fishery' and finally to 'Brewarrina'. In 1859 a riverboat called Gemini skippered by William Randell reached the town. This opened up the possibility of the town developing as a port and by the early 1860s it was recognised as the head of navigation on the Darling River. The town was formally surveyed and laid out in 1861 and proclaimed on 28 April 1863.
The 1870s were something of a boom time for the town. In 1873 the Mechanics Institute was formed. The following year two hotels, two stores and the Commercial Bank all opened and in 1875 a public school was established. All this development was largely due to Cobb & Co. who had a number of coach services passing through the town. There was a service from Byrock, one from Dubbo via Warren and, in 1874, a direct service from Brewarrina to Enngonia north of Bourke. The number of people moving through the town at this time would have been considerable and would have given rise to the increase in stores and hotels.
1874 CBC Opened (53rd Report);
1874 On 28th November a Memorandum of Agreement was signed between the Bank and Richard Keely, proprietor of the Brewarrina Hotel for the lease at $80 p.a. for one room attached to the hotel.
1875 on 28th November a second Agreement was signed between Kelly and the Bank and the premises then consisted of 2 rooms and the use of a passageway (from Current Accounts July 1975).
1879 In July Kelly gave the Bank notice to vacate. Leased premises were then occupied until 1899.
1893 January Listed in 89th Report;
1899 premises were built which were demolished in 1940.
1934 Listed in Century of Banking.
1940 new premises built.

1946 'studio' photo forwarded in November 2012 by Jane Reardon, whose grandfather, IC Woolley was  Manager.

1950s photo when Bruce Ryan's father was Manager.
1960s photo by John Beer who stated: "I first worked at Bre about 1960 just after Commonwealth opened.  Mr Proctor was Manager CBC 'Bre' at that time.
1974 January John Beer Relieving Manager had to drive his car out of town to avoid approaching floodwaters caused by cyclone activity in Brisbane area. John caught the last train to Bre because the line was not rebuilt after the floods which were the highest on record. People worked around the clock to build the levee banks and fill sandbags.
1975 photo from Current Accounts July issue1981 June 10 2nd in charge position had become Accountant (from Audit).

1982 Address from Canberra Times ad June 8
1982 July 1 Audit when Mgr was N C Coombs, Acct C J South, premises had problems with foundations in areas of toilet, tellers area and southern wall.
c.1994 John Beer understands that:-
1. Brewarrina Council asked NAB if Council's business went to Commonwealth Brewarrina would NAB remain open?
2. NAB said they would remain if Council business stayed with NAB.
3. Council remained with NAB.
4. NAB then closed Brewarrina around 1994 with massive loss of business.
The above was referred to a previous Brewarrina Manager who did not disagree with above comments.
2007 No NAB services in Brewarrina.

2008 November correspondence from Bill Frost:

I relieved Owen Young as manager in 1968 and George Hyatt in 1970 and on both occasions it was a seven handed branch. The Commonwealth had only been opened a few years but had taken a lot of business in that time during the period of tidying up by Ross Williams There was one difficult customer who had not gone. I asked Ross why he had not got rid of him and he said that he had tried without success. This period was after the wool boom of the fifties and a lot of the graziers were finding it hard to readjust to more normal times. I was still surprised that a branch of this size could have shrunk so much that by 1981 it had the 2 i/c raised to accountant.
Incidentally, the Bank of NSW had closed during rationalisation of banking in 1942/3. Their premises were diagonally opposite our branch and occupied by Elders Stock Agency.
During one relief I was asked to play bowls at the President's Day at Cunnamulla. A plane was hired for the trip and my opposite number in the first match was Alan Lowe. Cannot remember the results.

2012 November Jane Woolley, granddaughter of IC "Chas" Woolley advised:   you might have noticed on the building in the 1946 photo it appeared that graffiti had been removed from the brickwork.  And that’s exactly what that was and IC Woolley, the manager was furious about it.  It occurred over Christmas or New Year about 1946 when the family was away staying with good friends, the Pearsons. Dick Pearson was manager of the Quantambo Station, a massive concern.  The property was known locally as ‘Quanny’ and someone had painted on the bank building ‘Little Quanny’, meaning somehow how to denigrate the bank/manager and its connection with the property.  Who knows?  When built it was the most modern of banks.  The residence at the rear, set back from the street, to the left of the photo even included fully self-contained servants quarters.  [Those were the days!]  My father’s recollection is that prior to IC Woolley being manager there, that Mr McLaughlin was manager.  Mr McLaughlin had moved on to manage the Warren Branch.
2012 December John Beer forwarded the 1920 photo with the comment: "did 1920s image come from NAB Archives Melbourne?  These 1920s premises seem to be on a corner so were these demolished to enable existing c.1939 building to be erected?  1942 approx BNSW diagonally opposite closed.  1960 Commonwealth Bank opened".