A century of memories

Winter's Camera Store in Burnie has a unique place in the Australian retail photo industry having just celebrated its 100th anniversary. Story Glynn Lavender.

Over the last 100 years a lot has happened in Burnie, Tasmania.

The building of a paper mill saw the small town grow tenfold.

There were also two world wars, the Great Depression, the Vietnam War, and Australia changing from a small country with a little over four million people to a regional power with over 21 million people ? all watched over and captured by Australia?s oldest camera store, Winters Camera Centre.

In 1909, Ernest Winter bought land in Burnie and built the first photographic store in the town and set out to photograph every public function in the surrounding district.

These included weddings, church openings, christenings and all new buildings of note. The studio also produced postcards of local scenes which were always in demand from locals and tourists alike.

So successful was Ernest and future generations at recording the town?s development, it took six years for local historians to catalogue the 330,000 piece Winter Collection when it was donated to the local Pioneer Village Museum.

It is an amazing collection of images covering the development of Burnie from a small rural town to Australia?s fifth-largest container port.

Over the ensuing 100 years, Winter?s store has seen three generations of family running the business.

Ernest?s sons Keith, Bert and Wilfred steered the company through World War II and through the dramatic post-war changes.

During World War II, Keith and Bert joined the RAAF as official photographers and Bert was given the incredible honour of being the official photographer at the formal surrender of the Japanese forces.

The Winter family had now photographically recorded not only the history of Burnie but events of worldwide importance.

In 1965, current owner Colin Winter joined the family business and during his time has overseen many changes in the business including setting up the first 24-hour lab in Tasmania and the installation of one of the first one-hour photo labs in the state.

Colin has also taken the company through the rapid transition from analogue to digital.

Winters Camera Centre has been an important part of the lives of many people in Burnie over its 100-year history.

Colin Winter credits their success to having ?wonderful? local staff, a community that has always valued their business and a constant re-evaluation of their product and service mix.

Today, Winters Camera Centre is a modern, well-stocked photographic store that is always looking for the next challenge and the next new product or service to offer its customers.