{{Short description|General merchants firm in Western Australia}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2019}} {{Infobox company | name = J. & W. Bateman Ltd. | logo = | logo_caption = | image = | image_caption = | trading_name = <!-- d/b/a/, doing business as - if different from legal name above --> | type = | traded_as = | industry = Hardware | fate = | predecessor = | successor = | foundation = Fremantle ({{start date|1834}}) | founder = John Bateman | defunct = <!-- {{End date|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> | location_city = | location_country = | locations = <!-- Number of locations, stores, offices, etc. --> | area_served = Western Australia | key_people = John Bateman<br />John Wesley Bateman<br />Walter Bateman | products = | production = | services = | revenue = | operating_income = | net_income = | assets = | equity = | owner = | num_employees = | parent = | divisions = | subsid = | footnotes = | intl = }} '''Bateman Hardware''' was the earliest hardware shop established in Western Australia (and the second-oldest commercial enterprise of any sort),<ref name=henderson>{{citation|url=https://archive.org/details/BatemanHardware1981 |title=The Bateman hardware enterprise in Western Australia |first=Charles W. |last=Henderson |year=1981 |access-date=18 March 2014 }}</ref> and until its demise in the 1980s was the longest-running.
The business was founded by John Bateman in 1834 on property that he bought in the second round of land sales in the nascent Swan River Colony.<ref name=henderson /> This land on Henry Street was to be the home of J. & W. Bateman Ltd. for the next 150 years. Initially it was a shipping and warehousing business (including lighterage and river transport), and 1840 is given (in a 1951 company prospectus) as the "early start of trading, with the help of his young sons, John and Walter".<ref name=henderson /> The first item had been sold in 1834, a grindstone possibly belonging to "the implements valued at £55" that Bateman brought to the colony on board {{Ship||Medina|1811 ship|2}}.<ref>{{cite book | url = https://archive.org/download/BatemanHardware1981/Bateman_essay_05.png | chapter = Foundation years, 1830 to 1837 | title = The Bateman hardware enterprise in Western Australia |page=5 }}</ref>
In 1895 the company built a new warehouse and office building (the Union Stores Building<ref name=gillard>{{cite web |url=https://fremantlestuff.info/people/davis.html |title=Fremantle Stuff > People > Herbert Nathaniel Davis |author=Garry Gillard |date=11 February 2016 |access-date=20 March 2016 }}</ref>) on the corner of High and Henry Streets.<ref name=NewBuildings1895>{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4540273 |title=NEW BUILDINGS AT FREMANTLE. |newspaper=The West Australian |volume=11 |issue=2,887 |location=Western Australia |date=20 May 1895 |access-date=20 March 2016 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> This extended {{convert|120|feet}} along High Street and {{convert|104|feet}} along Henry Street. It was designed by local architect Herbert Nathaniel Davis.
== Notes == {{reflist}}
== Further reading== * {{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/BatemanHardware1981 |title=The Bateman hardware enterprise in Western Australia |first=Charles W. |last=Henderson |year=1981}} * {{cite web|url = http://inherit.stateheritage.wa.gov.au/Public/Inventory/Details/00fce811-fdcc-4f51-9816-dbc00a78153a|title = Former Batemans's warehouse, 34 Mouat Street |work=Inherit |publisher=State Heritage Office |id=Place number 22562}}
Category:Hardware stores Category:Henry Street, Fremantle Category:Australian companies established in 1834 Category:Masonic buildings in Australia