Pat Molloy Jewellers to shut after 85 years of trading in Flinders St

A part of Townsville’s business and horse racing history will soon be gone when this jeweller and watchmaker closes his shop for the last time.

Paul Molloy in his Flinders St shop.

A part of Townsville’s business and horse racing history will soon be gone when jeweller and watchmaker Paul Molloy closes his shop for the last time.

As best as he can tell, the business first started by his uncle, Pat Molloy, and still named Pat Molloy Jewellers, has operated from premises at 283 Flinders St since at least 1937.

That is the year listed in a framed receipt which stands in his shop from Rydge’s Business Journal recording the payment of two guineas — one pound one shilling — for a “merchandising course”.

The receipt carries the Rydge’s motto: “Business News for Business Men”.

“I worked for (Pat Molloy) for many years but I never thought to say, what date did you start, but it wouldn’t have been much longer than that,” Mr Molloy said.

Paul Molloy in his Flinders St shop.

For decades up until a few years ago Pat Molloy Jewellers sponsored a two-year-old handicap horse racing event at the Townsville Turf Club.

The Pat Molloy Jewellers building at 283 Flinders St.

Also, Pat Molloy was an alderman on Townsville City Council. A framed photograph of Pat Molloy with other aldermen led by then mayor Angus Smith dated 1963 is in the shop.

A park opposite Central State School in Eyre St, North Ward, is name after Pat Molloy.

The grand facade on 283 Flinders St in the 1920s.

Mr Molloy said they were a longstanding Townsville family. But he is unsure if the teamster Patrick Molloy, who found the copper outcrop in the 1880s after which Mount Molloy is named, is any relation.

The receipt to Molloy & Parry, Jeweller, from 1937

Paul Molloy started as an apprentice jeweller and watchmaker with his uncle 62 years ago.

Now 76, he started “straight out of school”.

Pat Molloy was an alderman on Townsville City Council in 1963.

“I did my apprenticeship, it was a five-year apprenticeship in those days. I was in the workshop for quite a few years when (Pat Molloy) ran the shop. A favourite saying Pat had was, get big or get out,” Mr Molloy said.

“When it came time for him to retire I slowly took on the business.”

Mr Molloy remembers his uncle working in an alcove behind the shop’s front window doing repairs to jewellery and watches.

“You’d be able to see him working as you walked up and down the street,” he said.

Mr Molloy said he had seen great change, both in the city and in his profession, since he started. Changes to technology and to the city where retailers have fled to the shopping complexes in the suburbs.

Now he has sold the family property at 283 Flinders St to another Townsville business Milford Planning which plans to convert it into offices for its business.

The sale, negotiated by Greg Banks of NQ Realty, is due to settle shortly. What is remaning of jewellery, watches, crystal and porcelain is being sold at discounted rates.

“It’s surprised me the number of people who have come to the door, wishing me a happy retirement. It blows you away. To my many customers over the years, from my wife Rita and myself, I’d like to thank them for their support,” Mr Molloy said.

The shop is due to close at the end of the month.

Originally published as Pat Molloy Jewellers to shut after 85 years of trading in Flinders St