Obituaries Australia

By the death, in Melbourne, on Satur- day morning, of Mr. Charles Moore, Ade- laide has lost one who, though latterly not resident here, was still one of its chief business men. The deceased was 58 years of age and has left a widow and a family of seven - four sons and three daughters, the eldest of whom, Mr. Charles Moore, is now in camp in Victoria, having enlisted for the defence of his country. Up to within a few years ago Mr. Moore resided in Adelaide, where he personally superintended the well-known business in Gouger-street, which formed the nucleus of a number of similar establishments throughout Australia, and which latterly has been superseded by the palatial pre- mises fronting Victoria-square. Some time ago he removed to Melbourne, and it was at his residence, Toorak, that he died after an illness of eight days. The late Mr. Moore was essentially a self-made man, but it can be said with truth that good fortune never spoiled him. As he told his auditors at the opening ceremony of the Victoria square premises on August 29, he was born poor. An insignificant country town in the north of Ireland was his birthplace, but even at an early age his vision soared The Late Mr. Charles Moore. above the horizon of bog and fen that formed the ultimate prospect of most of his neighbors, and in 1878, when twenty years old, he made his first trip abroad, and visited the Paris Exhibition. The noble and palatial buildings of the French capital surprised and impressed him, and he went back home to Ireland resolved to do something for himself. A period of sheer hard work, early and late, followed, but the determination to succeed, backed up by ability, enabled him to win through, and he got out of the rut in which he might otherwise have remained. Coming to Adelaide 35 years ago, a stranger, he first obtained employment with the firm of John Martin & Co., and from there transferred after a short time to the warehouse of Matthew Goode and Co. Subsequently he set up in business for himself in Gouger-street, and from humble beginnings gradually built up an establish- ment that is now fittingly housed in the fine emporium in Victoria-square. For many years this area of the city was de- rided from a business standpoint, but the Central Traders' Association, in which the late Mr Moore was a prime mover, has demonstrated by its enterprise how fal- lacious was this view. The deceased took no part in public affairs, but he was an ideal employer, and a man much loved by all who knew him. In a quiet and un- ostentatious way he did a lot of valuable philanthropic work, and there will be many not least among whom are the staff at the Victoria-square premises, who will regret his death.