Robert Wade-Ferrell photographs and documents relating to his work as a hotel broker

fonds

approximately 1920s-1960s

Graphic Materials, Photographs, Textual Records, Ephemera

9651106

2 albums (1132 photographic prints), with 150 photographic prints, 12 postcards and six slides (3 boxes)
0.16 metres of textual material (1 box)

Robert (Bob) Wade-Ferrell was born in 1926 in Narrandera, NSW. Bob’s father, Robert Montgomery Wade-Ferrell, was working as a representative of A.M.P for the Riverina region of New South Wales. In 1928 Robert left A.M.P and established his own business, R. Wade-Ferrell & Co., specialising in insurance, real estate, and mortgage brokering. By 1949 four of his children worked in the office located at 56 Hunter Street, Sydney, including Bob.

Bob served in the Royal Australian Navy from June 1944 to July 1946 principally on the HMAS Warramunga and was in Tokyo Bay when the peace treaty with Japan was signed. He married Daphne Elizabeth Trott on 22 July 1950 with whom he had four children.

In August 1957 Bob, now a licensed real estate agent, registered Milsons Point Brokers Pty Limited at 9 Broughton Street, Milsons Point. His partner was Phillip L. Edwards, a licensed Hotel Broker. The Articles of Association included an objective to act a real estate agents, hotel brokers and business brokers. Bob and Phillip travelled extensively throughout NSW undertaking hotel and motel transactions and compiling an extensive library on licensed hotel premises including photography and marketing material.

In the early 1960s the partnership was dissolved and Bob relocated the business to his home office at 68 Fullers Road Chatswood. With increased competition from larger specialist corporations including the emergence of overseas English based firms, Bob transitioned the business to the sale of boarding houses and backpackers facilities before finally specialising in the amalgamation of sites for home unit development and medical facilities, with the Ramsay Health Care group being a major client. The company was wound up in 1986. Bob retired in 1987 and moved from Chatswood to Wyong, NSW.

Reference:
Library correspondence file, from information supplied by the Wade-Ferrell family

SERIES 1
Photographs of New South Wales hotels and motels

SERIES 2
Index cards, notebooks, and ephemera

Copyright restrictions may apply:
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

Title devised by cataloguer.