Ada Cummings arrived at Bagtown with two children in 1916. Her son Stan would later recall he had his first ride in a motor car that day, when Micky Cush drove them in his Model T Ford from the train stop in Willbriggie.
The family had not seen Mr William Cummings for a year, since he found work with the Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission in 1915.
The photograph shown was taken in Rutherglen circa 1915 and prior to her move to Bagtown.
Stan recalled that his mother Ada saw the front window of the house they were to live in and thought it would make a little shop. Fifty pounds worth of stock was ordered from Melbourne, taking three weeks to arrive via Cootamundra and Temora.
A former Bagtown resident commented of the shop, “It was unexpected to find it contained such nice things.”
Around a century later it is difficult to imagine how few women ran their own business.
William Cummings would build the shop that was located in Griffith's Banna Avenue in 1920. This shop was enlarged in 1922 to accommodate fitting and dressmaking rooms. Mrs Cummings sold about 90% of the wedding dresses worn at ceremonies.
The photograph shown was taken in 1947.
