Pavement upgrade reveals old cellar

What he’d actually found was a long disused cellar.

While a surprise to many, the find did not come as a shock to some of those in the know.

Deniliquin & District Historical Society president Lindsay Renwick revealed he actually frequented the cellar while working for the McFaull brothers after school as a ‘supd boy’.

He took over the position from Frank White, after he moved up the ranks within the business.

“It was where they would hide the good stuff, like raisins and the iced vo vo biscuits,” Mr Renwick recalled.

“We would sneak down and eat them, until we got caught.”

Mr Renwick and the other researchers at the Historical Society are not certain when the cellar was built, but they say it could date back to when a grocery store was located on that corner.

One of the earliest grocers in the community, it was established in 1879 by Michael O’Loughlin.

After a fire in 1892, five shops were built in Napier St and Pollards grocery store continued on the corner until 1908 when the lease ran out.

Following Pollards, Jane and Jane (who also had a menswear store) also operated a grocery store there, as did J Robertson, then Charles Ross.

Mr Ross had the grocery store during World War I, and eventually handed the shop over to his stepson Rupe Jane.

After Jane’s death, brothers John and Robert McFaull moved in and continued business until 1975.

In more recent years, the building was home to Deniliquin Newsagency for an extended period, before its relocation to Cressy St.

It has housed the pharmacy since 2018.