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THE HISTORY OF REXONOLA TALKING MACHINES
From a typewritten hard copy dated 31/3/1986 by Ken Macdonald, son of David.S.Macdonald. Kindly supplied by John Meyers, nephew of the author.
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Information and photographs below kindly supplied by GARY SOMERVILLE of the Mosman-Neutral Bay Rifle Club:
S.J. Jackson, D.S. Macdonald and F.W.L. (Fred) Travers (their Salesman) were members of the Mosman-Neutral Bay Rifle Club. All three were considered particularly fine shots. Jackson won the Western Australian King's Prize in 1922 while there as a member of the NSW State Team competing at the Commonwealth Teams Shoot and Macdonald won his King's prize in Queensland (1932).
The King's or Queen's prize is, as the name implies, the reigning sovereigns prize for rifle shooting and was instituted at Bisley in the UK in 1860 by Queen Victoria. The prize she gave was then £250, nearly enough to buy a house. Each Australian State holds its own Queen's Prize as its annual Championship Prize Shoot.
F.W.L. Travers (originally from Broken Hill) did not win a King's Prize (he did come second to another Mosman-Neutral Bay Club-mate, Fred Harrison in 1928 at the NSW King's) but often represented in State Teams as a shooter as well as in the position of State Team Coach.
Jackson is in the middle in vest and sleeves rolled up. Macdonald is sitting on the porch front, second from left in overalls and pipe in hand. Travers is standing in the back row and has the door frame emerging from behind his head. This photo is circa completed.1927 when the Club Hut was just completed.
The photograph below came from the NSW State Library website. It shows the scoreboard from the 1928 NSW King’s Prize Shoot. Note that at upper right a ‘Rexonola’ seems to have been won by H. Taylor. D.S. Macdonald’s name is on the board in the Longfield Aggregate prize list (6th).
Two views of Jackson &
Macdonald’s Rexonola Warehouse: the November 1926 heyday & April, 2004.
The building now houses diverse businesses, the Australian Holiday Centre, a
Medical Centre, etc...
Created: Michael Chapman, March 2003
Last edit: Wednesday, 11 September 2024, 16:07 hrs
