MERRICKS General Store started with a love story. The story of Alf and Tilly. Matilda Joyner, ‘Tilly’, grew up on a farm in Merricks, Albert Weston, ‘Alf’, was from Queensland. After joining the navy, he was posted to HMAS Cerberus.
Alf met Tilly at a naval dance, and romance blossomed. In 1922 they got engaged, and he gave his salary to Tilly and the Joyner family, so they could build a shop at Merricks.
In the early days, it was called the Merricks Post Office Store, and sold farm supplies. The galvanized iron building got very hot in summer and had no refrigeration.
It had a wind-up petrol pump and housed the biggest telephone exchange on the peninsula before the war.
In 2022, Merricks General Wine Store is still an important part of the local community. The store is a restaurant, a cellar door, and a purveyor of local produce.
Proprietors, Charlie and Samantha Baillieu, together with the Myer family, are planning to mark the occasion with events planned during October.
With people congregating at Merricks General Store for 100 years, there are many tales to be shared and they would love to include as many as possible.
To capture the essence of the store and to form part of the celebration, they are inviting everybody to come forward with any photographs or paintings, personal stories or experiences (written or recorded) or newspaper cuttings they may have that form the rich history of the Merricks General Store.
Content can be dropped into or posted to the store directly; attention of Summa Tickell, or e-mailed to history@mgwinestore.com.au
Please include your contact details so all documents can be scanned and returned to you. Please submit all content before 16 September 2022.
The collation will be available to view during October’s celebration weekend in Merricks House.
First published in the Western Port News – 24 August 2022
