Page 17 - Built on Integrity

Formation The 1920s and 1930s

The A W Edwards “office”
at the back of his home in
Karnak Street, Eastwood, 1934.

“Austin barely had selling houses. In the early days Austin would take finished up and a young apprentice, Bob Trotter,
enough to keep the money out of the bank to pay his workers. was kept on, even though work often meant
himself occupied let Whatever was left in his pocket was what he and mowing lawns and weeding the garden.”
alone all his workers. Margaret had to live on—and sometimes that Austin took any job which was offered and
Blood being thicker was nothing. when something came along he couldn’t handle
than water, I was By 1929 A W Edwards had a reputation for he’d call in Silas, Sid Mobbs or Bush Hunt and
the last carpenter high-quality building work and he had expanded they’d cost the job together. The profit, if there
to be paid off.” his cottage construction business, employing was any, would be shared. A contract to build
a staff of forty and operating a small joinery shop. a house in Wollstonecraft kept Austin and a few
others going through late 1929 but work had dried
The trials of the 1930s up by late 1930. Austin clung fast to well‑trained
The Depression years were extraordinarily difficult men and managed to retain four or five of the
for everyone. As Silas recalled: “Austin barely had best, sharing with them reduced earnings, part
enough to keep himself occupied let alone all his employment and sometimes no work at all.
workers. Blood being thicker than water, I was the
last carpenter to be paid off. Stan Ward had also

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