Shamrock Trail: The man behind the J.J. Cummins Building

Stop eight on the Shamrock Trail carries the name of a man who spent 44 years building much of Boorowa with his own hands, before leaving to build a fortune from it. Mr John "Jack" Cummins was born in Elizabeth Street, Sydney, not far from where Toohey's Brewery once stood. He first arrived in Boorowa in 1908, aged in his twenties, to help finish the Boorowa Court House Hotel. From there he travelled to England for 12 months before returning to work for a contractor building houses for George Hudson Pty Ltd in towns across country New South Wales, including Mulgoa, Michelago, Wallacia, Wahroonga, Manly, Scone, Murrurundi, Werris Creek and Quirindi. It was during this stretch on the road that Cummins decided he could, and should, work for himself. In 1909 he went to the Kangiara mine to erect elevator equipment, where about 70 men were employed at the time. The following year he returned to Boorowa for good, renting a shop in Market Street and beginning work as a building contractor in the district. When the rent grew too steep, he built his own home and shop in Pudman Street in 1912, opposite the Boorowa News, later adding a joinery factory at the rear. From there, Cummins built across the district almost without pause: homes and business premises from Narrawa to Rye Park, Reid's Flat to Cowra, and Binalong to Galong, including the Rye Park Police Station. Locals of the day credited him with constructing "a very large proportion of the homes and business houses of Boorowa." He was not just a tradesman. Cummins served six years as an alderman of the Boorowa Municipal Council from 1920, and later spent a number of years as president of the Boorowa Football Club, having followed his old Sydney club, South Sydney, most weekends until 1929. In 1921 he married Katy Murphy at St Patrick's Church; she died in 1945, and Cummins later remarried. Cummins financed much of his building and property work through Starr-Bowkett advances, a form of interest-free building society lending, drawing an estimated £17,000 free of interest over the years through financing, rentals and purchases for other people. During the Depression he built nine modern brick cottages complete with built-in cupboards, and he is credited with introducing rubble drains to Boorowa for the disposal of household waste. After more than four decades in business, and following a 1951 fire that destroyed his home and part of his premises, Cummins sold up. The business was bought by a company of four men and became known as J.J. Cummins Pty Ltd, under the management of Mr Mervyn Wood. Cummins and his wife left for Vaucluse, Sydney, the following Sunday to begin their retirement. The JJ Cummins building sits at the corner of Marsden and Pudman streets and houses the Boorowa Co-op Op Shop, the St Vincent de Paul drop-in centre, Elders, Corkhill Ag and a solicitors' office. The joinery factory he built at the rear of his Pudman Street property is now owned by Dean Allen.