ACT Heritage Library Manuscript Collections

HMSS 0468 ADAMS, Richard (Dick) Henry Talbot Papers 

This collection contains the personal papers of Dick Adams that were found in the book Our Darlings' Treasure House edited by Alexander Watson,1936. According to the inscriptions in the front cover, the book was a gift from Dicks parents at Christmas time in 1939.

Inscription in the front cover of the Cover of Our Darlings' Treasure House edited by Alexander Watson,1936 : To Dick From Dad & Mum Xmas 1939.

On the next page, under the heading "This book belongs to" the following was written:  Richard Henry Talbot "Grevilla" Waratah Pathway Kingston Canberra Christmas 1939.  

Details inscribed on the first page of Our Darlings' Treasure House edited by Alexander Watson,1936.

Waratah Pathway or Parkway became Telopea Parkway, no 20. Telopea Parkway, (20 Telopea Park, Kingston). It was a private residence and the home of Talbot (Tom) Leonard Adams, master butcher, his first wife Jessie (Eileen) Sophia Adams (deceased 28 April 1949, aged 41) and then later his second wife Jean Briged (deceased March 1971). Tom had four children with his first wife: Richard (Dick) Henry Talbot, Francis (Frank) Leonard, John Talbot and Mary Burke (nee Adams).

Dick's father, Tom, was a butcher and business man, supplying meat to early construction camps in Canberra out of his business in Queanbeyan. He and his three brothers opened one of the first butchers in the Kingston shops precinct (then known as Eastlake) in the mid 1920s. Later Tom took over a shop in Flinders Way, Manuka  and expanded his business to O'Connor Shopping Centre, Garema Place, Civic, Bungendore and then back to Kingston in which T.L. Adams Pty Ltd commissioned the Adams Building (Jardine St, Kingston), also known as Adams Arcade. Tom also erected and named two buildings using his first and second names: Talbot House at Sargood St, O'Connor, in 1953, and in 1955, Leonard Chambers, Kingston. 

In 1962, Dick took over the family business T. L. Adams Pty Ltd; however, a few years later, in 1965, the company dissolved.

Dick lived in Red Hill in the 1960s and then moved to Main Beach, QLD in the late 1970s. Sadly he passed away on 8 February 2017.

The papers donated give a little insight into Dick's boyhood interests and schooling.

Bibliography

1956 'New Kingston Shopping Block Ready', The Canberra Times, 16 March, page 2.

1965, 'In the A.C.T. Courts', The Canberra Times, 5 June, page 8.

http://www.deathnoticesaustralia.com.au/notices/2219/adams/, Australian Daily Funeral and Death Notices.

Australian Government, 'ABN Lookup' Australian Business Register, http://abr.business.gov.au/SearchByAbnHistory.aspx?SearchText=48022087638

Australian Government, 'File 1965GN33', Federal Register of Legislation https://www.legislation.gov.au/file/1965GN33

Australian Government, 'File 1977GN45', Federal Register of Legislation https://www.legislation.gov.au/file/1965GN33