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Goetz gets a mention in 1963 U.S. International Commerce Journal

The U.S.A. trade journal ‘International Commerce’ ran a section in each monthly edition to advise US businesses of potential investment and general business opportunities in other countries.

One such entry for W. G. Goetz & Sons appeared in the 11th February 1963 edition
(Vol. 69, No. 6)

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Cover


 

Section heading, page 27

 

Goetz entry, in the ‘Australia’ listing, page 28

Jobs – Dutch-Australian Weekly 1960s

During the 1960s, W. G. Goetz & Sons advertised for workers in the Dutch Australian Weekly, published from Sydney.

Here are a couple of ads with translations from Google Translate… possibly not totally accurate, but hopefully you’ll get the idea of what Goetz was offering and the sort of workers the were seeking. Please contact us if you have a better translation than Google!

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Dutch-Australian Weekly (Sydney),18 Nov 1960. p.10
Original (left), Google Translate (right)

Dutch-Australian Weekly (Sydney), 8 Oct 1965. p.10
Original (left), Google Translate (right)

15C – new lease of life!

Goetz machinery just seems to keep going, on and on… a testament to the build quality.

Here’s a 15C 15 Ton Power Press about to get a new lease of life on the NSW central coast, as a press to make parts for an ingenious guttering system for houses and other buildings. Sections of the guttering can be swung down to empty the leaves.

Thanks to Michael Bell for the info and photos.

Unloaded: I-Beam attached to the base as a travel prop

 

Variable Frequency Drive inverter – how to run a 3-phase machine on 240V single-phase

 

The work table – can be tilted to enable pressed parts to slide off easily into a bin for increased productivity.

 

The cast lettering in the frame of the press shows W. G. Goetz & Sons Pty. Ltd. at West Melbourne – a reference to their Batman Street site. Goetz moved from West Melbourne to the Hall Street, Spotswood site in 1939. It was on 29th April 1939 that Goetz changed from being a Pty. Ltd. entity to a publicly listed company, becoming W. G. Goetz & Sons Limited. Further castings and ID plates showed their base of operation simply as “Spotswood Melbourne” or just “Melbourne”.

Iron Safe Tender 1880 – W. G. Goetz defends his tender

It seems that W. G. Goetz had a few disagreements with government institutions, including that of the Post Office Scandal where he was accused of inflating prices for supplying items to the post office and bribing a senior post office engineering employee.

In the letter below he sent to The Age (10th May 1880), Goetz defends his position regarding a tender he made to the Treasury Board. (See below for transcript and the Argus Tender advertisement.)

 

TENDERS FOR IRON SAFES.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE AGE.
Sir, — In answer to a charge brought against me by Messrs. M’Lean Bros. and Rigg, as to not having acted in a straightforward business like manner to the tender board, I charge the same tender board, of whomsoever it may consist, with not having dealt in a fair and business-like manner with me. I leave the public to decide. In the tender, as advertised in the Argus, there were no such conditions that the safes had to be tested beforehand and must have been in use in some public institution supplied by the tenderer. If these conditions had been stated beforehand I would never have come forward, and would not have lost my time with it for the last two months. I did not go to the Treasury as an unemployed begging for work but was invited to tender for iron safes ; and according to the tender rules this should have been settled after ten days, or my deposit returned, if the tender board did not want to accept my work. But, in place of this I was kept on week after week. I do not want to be humbugged like this by any man, not even by Mr. Service himself. I am no importer of safes, and cannot be expected to keep safes in stock, as nearly all pawnbrokers shops have them for sale. I submitted to the tender board patterns and a drawing, and told the secretary at the onset that I never made safes in the colony, but engage and stand good with my deposit to make a better and cheaper safe than any imported safe I lave seen in Melbourne, and I will submit any one of these safes to any test whatever, only asking that the safe be paid for if it stands the test, otherwise I will lose my deposit and pay the expense ; besides, I challenged Mr. Gain to open the safe he has in his office without any noise in one hour, which could not be done with my work. — Yours, &a,
W. G. Goetz, Engineer.
140 Queen-street, Melbourne, 9th May.

 

Below: Possibly the Tender advertisement Goetz’s letter was referring to, from The Argus, 6th March, 1880. See Schedule item 7: Ironmongery, fireproof safes, &c. For security, 10% deposit was required when tendering.

Unsuccessful tenderers were supposed to have their deposit returned within 10 days, but it seems that after 2 months, Goetz’s tender was undecided and his £30 deposit had not been returned. It seems that from his letter and other reports of the Post Office Scandal, that he was not fond of bureaucrats! Who is?

Goetz Dust Coats

These Goetz dust coats were a heavy navy blue cotton drill, supplied by Jones Workwear of West Footscray. Jones was established in 1893, later renamed Can’t Tear’em P/L. In November 1980, they again changed their name to CTE P/L. A recent web search failed to find any current presence of them. Click images  for larger views

Generic dust coat with embroidered Goetz pocket and visible buttons. 

Another design had hidden buttons and an iron-on Goetz logo, with embroidered employee name. 

Thanks to Terrence Linehan’s daughter Robyn for supplying the coats