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J.P. TALTY, SADDLER

SYDNEY (1910-72)

An Exercise in Oral History

by Barry Groom

University of Sydney 1981

Funded by Australian Heritage Commission

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Table of Contents

Preface to Industrial Site Series

1. History

2. The Making of a Saddle

3. Footnotes

4. Plates

5. An Early Catalogue

Preface to Industrial Sites Series

This paper is published as it stands without extensive

revision as one of a series of Working Student Papers.

While review ,and assessment is desirable and in many

cases will be carried out in due course, it seems most

useful to present the fieldwork as it is carried out.

In this way all those interested may share in this

research as it happens.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author would like to qcknowledge gratefully the assistance of Mr. Damien Strelein, Saddler, and his mother Mrs. Patricia Strelein, both descendants of J. P. Talty, for their help in the compilation of this paper.

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Plate 1

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1. HISTORY

The name of J. P. Talty is synonymous with the saddlery craft in New South Wales; and James Talty himself, though he died early in 19721 , is still rem­embered today as one of the most colourful figures of the trade - a legend in his own lifetime.

Born in Paddington, Sydney, in 1876, he was the second eldest of 13 children2 , the son of a grocer 3 • Cars were of-course unknown at that time, it being truly the heyday of the horse and the horse-drawn vehicle; and for young ~im, son of a grocer, the attainment of a pos­ition in the saddlery trade would have promised as secure a future as any lad could hope for.

In 1890 therefore, at the age of 14, his meagre formal education behind him, James Patrick Talty began the first year of a seven ~ear apprenticeship with John Brush, Saddlers, of Sydney .

Talty completed his long period of training with John Brush, and it seems that he remained with that firm for a number of years after it also, at least until 1903, since nearly all who knew him, friends and relatives alike, remember well his tales of how he was put to work there making saddles for the Boer War (1899-1902), and also how he, as a young man, had taken time off from work to watch the Boer War contingent march through the streets of Sydney.

In the main however, the events of his life during the first decade of this century are mostly unknown, since this author has been unable to locate any documents or records giving credence to anyone of, the many-and varied tales of his doings and whereabouts for these years.

Surviving relatives of Talty's5 are adamant that he spent some of these years living in New Zealand, and the remainder (until 1910) working up and down the N.S.W. coast as a travelling saddler6 • Exhaustive research and correspondence has failed to verify either story.

However, he first appears on-the official register in 1910, when he is listed in the Country Alphabetical Section of the John Sands Directory as 'J.P. Talty, Saddler, Tamworth7 '. This then is the date which would seem to mark the actual founding of the firm of J. P. Talty, Saddlers, at Tamworth, in the year 1910, and, it is to be hoped that a now lost photograph of Talty and his first saddlery (see note 7), taken in 1910, is soon uncovered.

It appears that Talty did not maintain his saddlery at Tamworth for very long, since it is not registered in the Sands Directory for the following year, 1911, and it would therefore, be safe to assume that it either closed down or changed hands early in that year; in any case, Talty himself then moved back to Sydney.

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By 1912, the firm is registered under the name of 'J. P. Talty, Manufacturing Saddler', with its business premises listed as being at 388-390 Sussex Street, Sydney 8. The building in which his 'shop' was situated (it still stands today, see plate 2) was shared with a number of other small business concerns, among them one 'Albert Chandler, Coach Iron-Monger and Importer9 " with whom Talty must have maintained a close working relationship.

Plate 3 shows Sussex Street in the same year that Talty set up his saddlery there, 1912.

1914 saw the outbreak of World War One, and Talty, despite his age (he was then 38 years old), and despite the fact that his saddlery was classified as an essential industry, necessary for the war effort, immediately rushed to enlist, serving with distinction in the 3rd Machi£U Gun Regiment, which fought in France for most of the war . Plate 4 shows James Talty in military uniform at the time of the Great War.

Whilst in the army, he left his business in the care of an old and relii~le saddler, one M. A. Rowland, until his return in 1919 , and by 1920 the saddlery is listed in the Sands Directory as being located in the "Barlow Chambers", 388 Sussex Street12 , a 'slightly' different address to the one mentioned previously, and this would seem to indicate a change of workshop premises, still however, within the same building; perhaps the shop was moved onto a different floor.

In 1922, the saddlery was moved to 350 Kent Street, City, on the third floor of Burnell House13 , a building which had been occupied prior to this date by the 'General Motors Export Company14,. Although it is not known exactly how many tradesmen .and workmen' ',Tal ty had in his employ at this time, jUdging by 'the relatively small sizes of his business premises to this date, it would certainly not have exceeded a total of 15. However, business cannot have been all that slow. Despite the onslaught of mechanical transport, the saddlery, as well as producing saddlery, harness and saddle 'furniture', and ironmongery, was also maintaining very close links with the 'Empire', Collar Making factory at Alexandria, (see Plate ), and in fact, it is vefY probable that Talty himself owned shares in this company15.

It would be worthwhile he-re to digress for a short while to discuss James Talty, the man, as mentioned above perhaps the most colourful figure in N.S.W. saddlery history, and a most likeable eccentric. Though he.lived to be 96 years of age16 he never married, seemingly preferring the bachelors existence to the secure comforts of married life. In spite of his trade, he was a great lover and collector of motor vehicles; and, made possible by the wealth he attained from' his business, a passionate collector of rare books, manuscripts and other such paraphernalia. This author has been told by a number of James Talty's old friends of the time when, in the early 1950s, he journeyed to Adelaide especially to be present at the auction of some ancient Greek manuscripts, which he then promptly purchased for 2,000. These, along with his many other valuable yet most unlikely possessions, such as early handwritten journals, death masks of famous people, expensive musical instruments, rare books and documents, and even the elaborate saddle upon which the Japanese emperor Hirohito was

•. 3.

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seated when he formally surrendered to the allies at the end of World War 11, he bequeathed to relatives and the Catholic Church. Talty was in fact a devout Catholic, attending Church every Sunday throughout all of his life17 •

He was also a noted authority on Australian Bush Poets, and throughout his long life he would often travel far and wide in order to meet and talk with most of them18 He was also an accomplished violinist, an instrument which he played in a number of orchestras19 .

An extremely likeable and friendly character, his sur­viving friends remember his favourite pastime being sitting with visiting friends in his little office at the Saddlery, drinking a Scotch and discussing business, the world, the old times, and telling innumerable. 'yarns' •

. The Saddlery remained at Burnell House, 350 Kent Street, Sydney, to where it had been moved in 1922, until 1926, when the whole business was shifted once again to a larger premises located at No. 6 Cunningham Street, Sydney (between Goulburn and pitt Streets) 20. The building here was also occupied by another saddler, 'E. O. Erickson', formerly of 449 Pitt Street21, and the two were to develop and maintain a very close business relationship lasting nearly 50 years, this being the period of occupancy of this building for both saddleries.

During the years around 1930, those of the Great Depression, the Talty saddlery suffered in much the same way as did other small industrial concerns in Sydney. Money was scarce, new orders almost ceased, and the majority of the Company's workforce was laid off. Talty, however, by now quite a wealthy man, was able to keep his business going by instit­uting a generous 'deferred payments' plan, whereby customers, both, regular'and irregular, were able to purchase goods more or less on loan with the money repayable whenever possible; and with Talty himself making up the temporary shortfall.

When World War 11 broke out, in September 1939, James Talty was 63 years of age, and his firm, founded almost 30 years previously, was once again classified as an industry essential to the country's war ef'fort, with more workmen being employed in order to fulfil the many government contracts for saddles and harnesses, supply packs and general military leather goods which then flowed into the company office.

By 1948 the Saddlery was employing 15 tradesmen as well as a greater number of other workmen, with the firm selling their wares 'over the counter' at the workshop itself, as is still the case tOday23. It should be pointed out to the reader here that, as one would expect with a 20th century saddlery, the company did not, throughout the course of its history, ever really show any t'rue signs of expansion. On the other hand however, it could Well be said that it was no minor feat of ~ames Talty to keep his saddlery open throughout all these years, in the face of the almost totally over­whelming tide of mass mechanisation. For of all Sydney's early saddleries; which were as common as used-car lots only 70 years ago, only three or four are still operating today, and the Talty Saddlery is amongst them.

• • 4.

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The 1950s and 1960s saw the market for saddles being constricted even more than it had been previously, with farmers, riding schools and riding enthusiasts as the firm's only customers; so much had the horse been eclipsed by the automobile as this country's everyday mode of transport. Despite these inevitable major set­backs however, the firm was still managing to employ up to 23 men in the early 1970s 24 , a feat accomplished in part by a market diversification, such as the firm winning government contracts to supply the N.S.W. Police Force with leather 'back-packs' for its motorcycles 25 , saddles for its horses, and by the production of saddles and leather 'props' for some major film ventures, such as 'The Sundowners' in 1960, and in later years, the stage performances of'Jesus Christ - Superstar,26.

James Talty himself was to continue working at his saddlery up until two weeks before his death, early in 1972 27 , at the age of 96. His name had by then become a byword in the N.S.W. saddlery trade. His passing however, did not force the closure of the company' which bore his name, and it continues to this day making and supplying saddles and associated 'furniture' and ironmongery to the public from its business premises at 76 Parramatta Road, Camperdown, to where it was moved late in 1978 following a successful takeover bid by the Winchcombe-Carson Industrial Group28.

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2. THE MAKING OF A SADDLE

Sadd1emaking is principally a leather trade, and the craft was.estab1ished as a separate trade in England in the thirteenth century, when the London Saddlers' Company received its charter from Edward I29.

The basic framework, or skeleton, of the saddle is the 'tree', which is made of either wood or, in these more modern times, of plastic. After iron and steel plates have been rivetted onto its head and cantle (Fig .. 1), the tFee then has linen webbing fastened lengthwise and across it.s frame which is tacked into position. After suitable 10cationing: these cross w~bs are strained, and as necessary, the tacks removed and repositioned. Additional tacks are placed at the head, and when the straining is completed, are hammered home. Surplus material is trimmed off at the cantle, and the webs at the head glued together. A piece of saddle linen is then placed, tacked and strained over the whole seat area, the strain being distributed evenly.

The next stage in the production of the saddle is the so-called making and fitting of the 'bellies'. These are made by cutting two pieces of leather, on average about 1~ inches wide and 6 inches long, which are then placed under the tree seat, the outline marked and so cut into a 'D' shape. This process if repeated, thus making two more pieces the same shape. One of each of these are then paired, and the outside edges tacked together to form a wedge. These are then tacked into position on ,the tree, parallel with the curve and about 1~ inches from the edge. When completed, this forms a sho~lder against which the inside seams of the skirt and seat will fit, giving the edge a good shape. Roll linings too are added, of leather or felt, and tacked into position.

The seat is now ready to be 'snowed'; that is, covered with cloth' (serge) and stuffed with cowhair, thus making the 'cushion' of the saddle. The 'seat' is next seamed in. This is done by cutting a piece of pigskin or bag leather roughly to shape; allowing sufficient to wrap over the head and cantle, which is then stretched over the tree in the same way as the linen and serge cloth, working from the cantle to the waist alternatively, one side and then the other.

Once the seat has been 'blocked' (i.e. blocked into shape), the skirt is then placed next to the seat so as a pattern can be made up. Once this has been done, the seat is removed and cut into the desired shape. Then the 'skirt­backs' (lightweight pieces of leather attached to the skirt, which are pulled by the saddler and so used to locate the skirt) are machined onto the skirt, as are tail pieces, which are subsequently 'skived' (i.e. bevelled).

Leather piping, or 'welt' is also added, being whipped on in between the seat, skirt and tail pieces - both to strengthen the joins and to give a pleasing aesthetic effect.

Once the' ,we1 ts have been "whipped" into place, the saddle is then 'seamed in' (i. e. hand-sewn). A' draw-down', used as an aid for locating the seat upon the tree is then seamed in onto the underside of the seat, which has now been turned inside out. It is then turned out, the joins flattened and placed, and so fitted to the tree with the help of the draw­downs.

Fig. 1. Parts of the saddle.

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Taking the strain, the seat is tacked to the under­side of the tree, the surplus material cut away and the edges stitched together.

Besides the seat, the other principal parts of the saddle are the flaps, and the knee and thigh pads, as well as the panel; the latter being the bearing surface between horse and the underside of the saddle - in effect, a form of padding. It consists of a panel-top, i.e. two pieces of leather, pre-cut to the desired, shape and sewn together at either end. 'Sweat-flaps', also pieces of leather, are then sewn together onto the lower edge of the panel top. Front and back facings are also added, thus providing a clear edge and correct shaping. Serge is next machined onto the inside of the panel, and the panel is then 'turned out' and the front facing filled with either rope or rolled hessian. A channel running up the spine of the panel is left unfilled so as not to rub on the horses back. In effect, the burden is so placed upon the horses flanks and not his spine. The serge is then machined onto the sweat flap, and the panel is stuffed firmly around the front and back facings.

Once this has been done, the panel is located onto the tree (i.e. tacked on) and the flaps, and knee pads are fitted.

The forepart'of the saddle is then added (the forepart being a small rise of leather nailed onto the front of the tree) which provides a suitable join for the saddle and panel. The panel itself is then hand-sewn to the front of the saddle, and its rear is 'laced in'. The saddle is then turned over and the stuffing completed using various stuffing irons (Plate , front left), and the cowhair used in the stuffing is then curled out, i.e.'positioned.

The knee and thigh pads, the panel etc., are firstly cut into shape with the aid of press knives, and then fitted into their relative positions, their edges having of-course firstly been finished and stitched. This 'fitting' involves making a series of marks on the top edge of say, the skirt, using an awl, and the same number of marks in the corresponding position of the seat, thereby enabling the skirt to be 'set', in to the correct curve for lacing.' The lacing is done with the aid of a large curved, needle, with some of the parts of the saddle having firstly been stitched, either by hand as in the case of the thigh pads, or by machine as in the case of the knee pads.

After some final trimming and finishing, the saddle is completed, much of the process having been performed either by hand or with the aid of antiquated machinery.

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3. FOOTNOTES

1. An obituary was published in the trade magazine 'Hoofs and Horns', June 1972, p.lB.

2. Oral Testimony of Mrs. Patricia Strelein, confirmed in obituary, 'Hoofs and Horns', June 1972.

3. ibid

4. Oral Testimony Mrs. Patricia Strelein.

5. The Strelein family, of Five Dock, Sydney.

6. Talty was a great lover of the bush and especially bush poetry; see note 16.

7. See Sands Directory, 1910. The Strelein family presented a "photograph of Talty himself standing in front of his Tamworth Saddlery in 1910,to the Tamworth Historical Society, in the early 1970s. This author made repeated enquiries to represent­atives of the Tamworth Historical Society in an attempt to locate the photograph, but it has apparently been lost.

B. Sands Directory, 1912.

10. 'Hoofs and Horns', June 1972, p.lB.

11. Oral testimony of Mrs. Patricia Strelein, confirmed by the evidence of Sands Directory.

12. Sands Directory, 1920.

13. Sands Directory, 1922.

14. lbid, see previous years.

15. Oral testimony of Strelein family.

16. Article in "The Bulletin", September 24, 195B; p.14 headed 'Personal Items'.

17. Information supplied by long time friend of Talty's, Mr. L. M. Cummings, Sales Director for R. M. Williams Pty. Ltd.

lB. The Bulletin, Sept. 24, 195B, p.14.

19. Oral testimony of Mrs. Patricia Strelein.

20. Sands Directory, 1926.

21. Ibid, and oral testimony of Strelein family.

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Footnotes ( continued)

22. Oral testimony of Strelein family.

23. Ibid

24. Ibid

25. Ibid

26. Ibid

27. See note 1

28. It has since been closed down, February 1981 (ed.)

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4. PLATES

Plate 1

Tamworth 1910, where Talty established his very first Saddlery

Stinson Copyright. Peel Street Tamworth.

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Plate 2

No. 388-390 Sussex Street, Sydney - the site of Talty's first Sydney Saddlery (founded 1912)

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Plate 3

Sussex Street, Sydney, circa 1912

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Plate 4

James Talty the soldier -First World War.

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Plate 5

A team of collarmakers and their wares, circa 1919: The 'Empire Collar Makers', Alexandria.

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Plate 6

J. P. Talty, from 'The Bulletin', September 1958.

and an advertisement

CHAMPION POLEY THIS SADDLE IS BUILT

ON HILL'S PATENT UNBREAKABLE TREE

• Best Kip all over with long flaps and narrow waist. 4; in. knee-pads, set high up and well back. 3 in. thigh-pads, 4; to 5 in. dip in seat. It is a great saddle for buckjump riding.

Mounted with Leathers, Irons, Girth and Surcingle.

Price £13/13/­Freight Paid.

J. P. TALTY Manufacturer of SADDLERY. HARNESS. CANVAS GOODS

6 CUNNINGHAM STREET, SYDNEY Off Goulburn Street. between Pitt and George Streets

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Plate 7

James Talty, aged 94 (taken in -1970)

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Plate 8

A Saddler at his work bench. Note the large array of work tools.

Plate 9

'Trees' - the skeleton of a saddle.

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Plate 10

The Tree, after having been strained and had the bellies and roll linings put on.

Plate 11

A completed 'Northern Poley' or work saddle.

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Plate 12

A variety of Leather Press Knives

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Plate 13

A 'Pearson' (maker) No. 6 Industrial Sewing Machine

plate 14

Same, rear view

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Plate 15

'The Talty workroom', showing a Pearson No. 6 in use. The large bellow-shaped object in the left foreground is a clamp used to hold leather in place whilst being hand-stitched.

Plate 16

Detail

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Plate 17

Diagram showing the use of the awl for stitch-'fitting'.

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Plate 18

Lacing in a panel, using a large curved needle.

Plate 19

Hand-stitching a thigh-pad.

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Plate 20

Machine-stitching the knee pads

Plate 21

Detail

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Plate 22

View of general workroom area of the Talty Saddlery showing the row of saddlers sewing machines. In the immediate right foreground is a foot-operated riveter, used for punching rivets into leather.

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Plate 23

Antiquated revolving 'punches'. The wheel is turned and so a punch comes down.

Plate 24

Detail of bench saddlery machinery.

Left to right: A creasing machine, used for creasing leather; splitters; and a hand riveter.

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5. AN EARLY CATALOGUE

j