F.S. Goetz

F.S. (Frederick Simon) Goetz (1880-1968)

F.S. Goetz (pronounced ‘Gates’) was once a well-known businessman in Bega - his name prominently displayed above several shopfronts in different locations around town.

Here’s how Hedley Lawry Yelland, who compiled a short history of the Goetz family, described his uncle who - when Hedley was growing up - lived with the Yelland family in Parker Street, Bega (a street in which the well-to-do had their homes):

‘Uncle Fred was the dandy of the family and knew it. He dressed smartly and drove a handsome horse and buggy outfit. With flowered waistcoat and crisp Panama hat, he was irresistible to the girls. The only big quarrel I ever experienced in the Bega home was when he announced his engagement to the prettiest girl in the town, who was considered ‘too fast’. Normally grandma had her way but, this time her wishes were disobeyed and uncle married the girl, giving me an aunt Edna who captured my boyish heart.

With no education beyond primary school, uncle Fred mastered the intricacies of commerce and became a successful business-man, opening a shop in Bega and amassing considerable wealth. He was also the agent for the Illawarra and South Coast Steam Navigation Company whose ships, plying between Sydney and the port of Tathra, served the transport needs of Bega for many years. I was greatly attached to this man because I was always with him when he went on pleasure outings, particularly fishing. He also gave me one of the chief delights of my life when he introduced me to his excellent tool kit. Like all farm-trained men, he was a good amateur carpenter and taught me woodworking skills that have helped renovate and decorate the fourteen homes that Eileen and I made together.

Uncle Fred took it for granted that, with grandfather dead, he was the man of the house and, until he married and set up home for himself, rather lorded it in Parker Street. The superior status of men characteristic of the time ensured that he enjoyed certain privileges. I remember how he occupied the best place by the fireside in winter and stretched out his long legs in masculine assurance. He was given steak when the rest of us ate the boiled meat left over from the soup. I did not mind his having butter when I had dripping, because I liked dripping on my bread (with pepper and salt), but I had a slight boyish resentment at the fact that he used a perfumed soap (Starlight was the brand) when the rest of us laboured to produce a lather with the home-made bar. But I loved and admired the man who gave me the only fathering I ever had.’

Fred Goetz’s grandparents, Simon and Dorothea, and their family arrived in Eden with a number of other German immigrants on the ‘Caesar’ in March 1855. ‘It then took the bullocks no less than 13 days to bring us (the family) from Eden to Bombala’, where Simon Goetz worked as a shepherd, then as a stonemason, then as a gold prospector (his miners licence spelling ‘Goetz’ as ‘Getts’), then as a farmer. His son (Fred’s father) married Mary Spindler (the Spindlers are a well-known Bega family), who he had met as a child on the ‘Caesar’, before moving to Bega where the couple took up farming and became parents to a large family. Fred was the fifth child and the second son in their family of seven children.

In 1903 Fred purchased a single-storey, weatherboard produce store at 210 Carp Street, Bega (the location now occupied by Café Evolve), from a Mr Edward Watson. In 1912 the well-known Bega builders Thatcher and Underhill erected ‘probably the most advanced and attractive commercial building in Carp Street’ for Fred Goetz – his produce store occupying the right hand side of the building and the ‘Sydney Oyster Saloon’ occupying the left hand side.

A 1915 tourist brochure provides an insight into Fred Goetz’s business:

‘Mr F. S. GOETZ, who has been established as a produce merchant and grocer at Carp Street, Bega, during the past 12 years, holds large stocks of tourists’ requisites, such as bags and billy-cans and camp delicacies; and sportsmen may obtain from him all they require in fishing tackle, cartridges, etc. Mr Goetz is the agent for the Illawarra and South Coast S.N. Co., Ltd., and is assiduous in attending to his duties and imparting information to visitors and tourists.’

Fred Goetz was also an active community member. At various times he was Secretary to the Bega District Tourist Association, St John’s Church Parish Council, the Trustees of the Church of England Portion of Bega Cemetery, and was a member of the Bega Dramatic and Minstrel Company (in 1906 performing, for example, a locally-written (and, today, viewed as racially offensive) ‘The Coons Serenade’).

World War I, however, was to have a devastating impact on Goetz’s business. Strong anti-German sentiment among the local population caused the business to struggle and eventually, in 1922, he was forced to sell his business to the Bega Co-operative Society. When the Co-op opened a new store on the nearby corner of Auckland Street, Fred Goetz became its Manager. He remained the Co-Op’s Manager for 19 years.

After retiring as Manager of the Co-Operative Store, F S Goetz set up an agency of the Illawarra & South Coast Steamship Navigation Company (until it ceased operating in 1954) across the road in what is now Kristy McBain’s office. He remained in business there, as an agent for an insurance company and as an agent for Arthur Love who had a daily mail contract between Bega and Towamba, until retiring around 1958-59.

Sources: The Goetz Story by Hedley Lawry Yelland; Notes on 210 Carp Street, Bega, compiled by Kevin Tetley.

Can You Help? Surprisingly, for a man who was so well-known to the local community, Bega Pioneers’ Museum does not have a photograph of F.S. Goetz. If you have one and would be prepared for the Museum to take a copy, they would be pleased to hear from you.