John Williams, Treasures of Nhill & District Facebook page 29 May 2026, Nhill Free Press & Kaniva Times

The prominent corner of Victoria and MacPherson Streets has worn many names over nearly 150 years: Butcher’s Corner, Buzz’s Corner, McLennan’s Corner, and a few since including Clohesy and Gurry.

Its story begins in the 1880s, when Richard Rigewell built Nhill’s first butchery on the site.

Disaster struck in 1903. Under the ownership of Owen Edwards, the weatherboard shop was obliterated in a midnight explosion when two large ammonia tubes from the refrigeration plant detonated. The blast was heard 20 miles away. Windows shattered across the neighbourhood, and sparks were hurled hundreds of feet into the air. By morning, the corner was a charred shell.

Arnold & Barnes rebuilt the premises the same year, adding two adjoining shops facing Victoria Street and butting the new structure against the single-story Union Hotel. These included Edwards shoe shop and a “Fruit Palace”. The corner building itself was clad in Opalite, a pigmented structural glass that gave it a distinctive modern sheen – much of which survives today after recent restoration.

After Edwards came Rodda & Patterson, who continued trading under the long used name Nhill Refrigerating Works. Their butchery was widely known as “The Corner Shop”, and period photographs show the trade name painted boldly on the right hand façade.

A later owner, Paddy Wilson, earned a glowing write up in the Nhill Free Press for an elaborate window display:

“…beautifully dressed carcases, prime roasts, sheep’s heads, brawn, pressed meats, pork gorman, lamb’s fry, tripe, lamb, roasts of pork, legs of mutton, cow’s heel, trotters and all kinds of small goods… artistically arranged amongst pot plants and foliage…”

Wilson sold to Norman Comrie, who then sold to the Pannan Brothers (trading as the Lowan Butchery). But the era of meat on the corner was drawing to a close. A new chapter – and a new trade – was about to take over.

In December 1943, M.P. Bussau (Max senior) purchased the property from James Rintoule. Max had been in the newsagency trade in Victoria Street since 1925, taking over a business from A.J.E. Welsch who had followed earlier proprietors including Morris, McLachlan and O’Callaghan. Max announced major internal renovations over the Christmas break, ready for a 1944 reopening.

With the move came a shift in tone. Advertising became friendlier, more casual, and the business immediately adopted the name “Buzz’s”. This is almost certainly when the iconic “Buzz’s Service” bellboys were painted onto the building – cheerful mascots that survived only narrowly after ill considered overpainting in recent years. Even the Opalite cladding was painted over during the “Nhill Mart” era, though much has since been uncovered and restored.

The decorative concrete finials that once crowned the corner façade have long disappeared, victims of the same slow crumbling that claimed many ornamental features on Nhill’s early shops.

Despite explosions, fires, repainting, renovations, and the occasional act of architectural vandalism, Butcher’s Corner still stands. It has been butchered, rebuilt, repurposed and reimagined – yet it remains one of Nhill’s most recognisable and enduring retail landmarks once featured on a post card and a Bill Walls painting when it was a “colourful” newsagency.

See all the photos in the issue.
This article appeared in the Nhill Free Press & Kaniva Times, 10 June 2026.