On 6th November 1934 Lockhart's new cafe "The Blue Bird" opened its doors. It had been trading since 1906 as "The Marathon Oyster Bar and Saloon", "The Marathon Stores" and "Peterson's Cafe". They were all precursors to the cultural icon of the Greek Cafe and were mixed businesses selling meals, fresh fruit and vegetables, grocery items such as tobacco and kerosene, confectionery, cold drinks and smallgoods. Peter Veneris and Tony Matis had operated "The Paragon Cafe" across the road in Green Street since the early 1920s. They took on the bigger cafe which had always been Greek run and decided to modernise.
Renovations and refurbishments were made to the building including new plate glass windows, a kitchen extension and realigning the roof. Painters and decorators were called in and the doors were opened on Saturday 6th November to "The Blue Bird" now selling American style ice creams, sodas, milkshakes and its very own orange ale. The Blue Bird quickly became Lockhart's premier cafe and sundae shop after its proprietors Peter Veneris (senior) and Tony Matis, offered first day's gross takings to the Wagga Hospital.
Eighty years on Roger and I are marking the date with a small celebration of our own. We are opening our doors between 2 and 4 pm on Thursday 6th November for a celebratory afternoon tea and in tribute to the original proprietors, we are donating the proceeds to our local branch of The Red Cross.
So if you can join us to mark this milestone, please join us for afternoon tea.
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