Opening a shop

In the 1950s, Bertha and Elmer bought a block of land on the highway at Coomera and built a shop there (view the property deed).

"Mad me, made a rod for my own back," says Bertha.

"I don't know really, whether it was greed, or wanting to make more money.

"Right on the highway we were, I thought it'd be a great opportunity.

"And it was too but my God you worked; you didn't get it for nothing.

"Worse than dairy farming, and I'd tried that."

The shop was originally a bait and tackle shop but after a few years it expanded to include groceries, take away food and boat hire for the nearby Coomera River.

They ran the shop more than 20 years and Bertha would even make her own pies to sell.

But in 1973, Elmer became very sick and Bertha stopped work to care for him full-time.

The shop building was sold for removal and they continued to live in the house behind it until Elmer's death in 1980.

Bertha and Elmer's shop on the highway at Coomera during extensions c1955.

(Image: Bertha Skjonnemand's personal collection)