John Danks & Son

John Danks & Son was a major manufacturing company in Melbourne, Victoria.

John Danks (January 1828 – 28 February 1902) was born in Wednesbury, Staffordshire, England. He served an apprenticeship with his father, also named John Danks, a manufacturer of wrought iron tubing, then joined his brothers Samuel and Thomas, who were setting up a similar factory. In 1857 the brothers emigrated to Melbourne in the Shaftesbury, and started manufacturing iron pipes and plumbing fittings; one of their first major contracts was to manufacture connectors for Melbourne's pioneering Yan Yean Reservoir.

Thomas and Samuel Danks retired from business in 1860 and 1871 respectively; under John's management the company steadily grew; he brought in as a partner his son Aaron Turner Danks, who made a speciality of brass casting, and opened a subsidiary business in Staffordshire. The payroll grew from 35 to 150, aided by import tariffs of from 12½% to 20%. The business was hard hit by the Depression of the 1890s, but they opened a factory in Sydney, and won a major contract associated with expansion of the Melbourne sewerage network; by 1900 the payroll had reached 200. Aaron followed his father as managing director of John Danks & Son in 1902.

They cast and installed the eight bells of St Bartholomew's Church, Burnley 1927–1929.

In the Depression years of the 1930s, the company's manufacturing business shrank, and its fortunes depended on retail trade from its stores at 391 Bourke Street, Melbourne, and elsewhere.

John Danks & Son was floated as a public company in 1950.

In 1970 John Danks Holdings Ltd. became part of an Australia-wide chain of hardware retailers Australian Hardware Distributors Pty. Ltd., which comprised John Danks & Son, Pty. Ltd. of Sydney and Melbourne; Sandovers Ltd. of Western Australia; Colton, Palmer and Preston of South Australia, W. Hart & Sons, Launceston, Tasmania; Homecrafts (Tasmania), Hobart, Tasmania; and Brett and Co. Pty. Ltd., Queensland.

John Danks (January 1828 – 28 February 1902) was elected to the Emerald Hill Council in 1871 and served until 1880, including two years as mayor 1874-1876. In 1877 he stood, unsuccessfully, for the Emerald Hill seat in the Legislative Assembly. He was, like his Adelaide contemporary Samuel Perry, an active supporter of the Methodist Church and was for many years a Sunday school-teacher. He donated £3000 to the Cecil Street Wesleyan Church, and gave generously to other charitable institutions. He was married to Ann, née Turner (ca.1828 – 2 February 1910); they lived at "Vermont", Merton Crescent, South Melbourne, where he died in 1902 after a short illness.

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