52Photos: Week 06—Mystery Restuarant
While I think this is a Golden Fleece restaurant sign from many years ago, I am not sure of this. In fact, the more I think about it the less confident I become in my thinking.
EDIT 11/2/2024: It has been pointed out to me that the symbol around the chef on the sign is the Shell Oil logo. And it is. How did I miss this so obvious clue? I blame the prostate cancer drugs. So my new thinking is that this is a Shell Service Station restaurant sign. [End Edit] Thanks Noel.
This sign is still standing at Grumpy’s Garage at Brookton. I am surprise it has not been souvenired by someone but the last time I drove through Brookton it was still there.
I have spent the better part of two hours looking around on the Web trying to find this signage, including scrolling through the Facebook page “Old Service Station Photographs – Australia” which is actually quite interesting and can be found here (you will need a Facebook account). But I have not been able to confirm it is associated with Golden Fleece. I have put this question on the previously mentioned Facebook page (after joining the group) so I might be able to share something from them if they provide any feedback.
This is from Wikipedia:
Golden Fleece was an Australian brand of petroleum products and service stations operated by Harold Sleigh and Company. A partnership was founded in Melbourne, Australia in 1893 by shipowner and merchant Harold Crofton Sleigh (1867–1933) and manufacturer and shipowner John McIlwraith (1828–1902). In 1913 the company took delivery of its first consignment of motor spirit from the United States and marketed it in Australia as "Golden Fleece".
Initially, motor spirit was sold in drums only—the first Golden Fleece pump being installed in 1920. Golden Fleece was a pioneer of single-branded service stations (as opposed to the more common multi-brand offerings of the era), and its distinctive "golden merino" trademark was soon a common sight for Australian motorists.
According to the Wikipedia article about Golden Fleece, Golden Fleece was acquired by Caltex in 1981. I guess that was when all the Golden Fleece servos started to get rebranded.
The following picture of a more modern Golden Fleece service station is featured in the Wikipedia entry for Golden Fleece.
According to the information about this picture on Wikipedia this picture was taken of a Golden Fleece servo in Kondinin in 2014. While not impossible, 2014 does seem somewhat unlikely. Unlikely but not impossible.
But, as you can see, there is no restaurant signage here that looks anything like the picture I took.
