History Notes - Cliftons Garage

26th January 2022

History Notes

 This week we have been asked an unusual question concerning one of the older buildings in Barraba.  Who built Clifton’s Garage?  If anyone knows please let us know.

Clifton’s started in Barraba dealing in push bikes and then cars from about 1912.  Most people in Barraba will have seen the photo of Goldman’s building with several cars parked in front and would know the history of this building site which was the site of one of Barraba’s worst fires in 1898.

Somewhere about 1915 Clifton’s decided to build their own garage – a building more suited to car repairing and servicing.  Several Barraba residents bought shares in the cost and some older residents remember their parents or grandparents having a few shares which were handed down to the next generation.

The original building was corrugated iron with wooden framework and I imagine that it was gradually extended to the size it is today.  The floor is/was very uneven and is cemented.  A couple of offices were added later to the southern side and I remember a show room at the front in the 1950’s.

In 1918 there was a fire on the southern side and that block still remains vacant today.  A few years later the electricity plant was set up at the back of the garage to supply some lights to the town.

Finally, probably in the late 1950s or early 1960s, Clifton’s sold most of their garages in the north/west including Barraba, which was taken over by Ross Campbell.  It was Ross Campbell who upgraded the building with a brick façade and some inside improvements.

Somewhere in the Society’s collection of photos there is a photo of Clifton’s with a wagon or two standing in front of the old building each loaded with a big wooden crate containing a car.  Out transport has come a long way since those days!!

Well, February is almost here and the society will be holding the markets on the second Saturday and the meeting on the third Wednesday – in short, the year is underway.  At this stage it looks as though the April market day will be just before the Country Music Festival.