Hobart is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania
Brownells established Hobart’s first department store in 1888 in Liverpool Street, and it became a public
company in 1902. It offered a successful mail-order service from inception, and
in 1912, it introduced a unique and free service for remote female customers:
Brownell's Famous Lady Shopper, known as Aunt Edna. Naturally most of the
shopping was done in-house, but Aunt Edna also undertook other commissions and
purchased outside goods, which she dispatched with one of her much-prized
'homely, womanly, and sympathetic' letters.
Remodelled in the 1950s using the latest American techniques, Brownells
became Tasmania's largest departmental store. It was taken over by Myer in 1959.
