No Nobbs In Old Store Now

kFTER being run by the Nobbs family for more than 80 years, Norfolk Island’s oldest store has passed into other hands—for the time being, at least. From January 13, the store was leased to Mr. A. J.

Graham, former manager of R. Hopkins Limited on Norfolk.

The business was previously run by Miss V. A. (Val) Nobbs and Mrs. C. L. (Kit) Donkin, who will now devote their time to a flourishing catering business they have built up.

The Nobbs’ store was founded in 1886 by Charles Chase Ray Nobbs in a convict building (now in ruins) under a large banyan tree on the corner of Bumboras and New Farm Roads. The store became known as CCR’s and sold everything from tacks to food, cement to women’s under clothing.

In 1902 the store was moved to its present site in New Farm Road, near Longridge Corner. The store, with its variegated supplies, was vital to the island’s early whaling ventures.

Today CCR’s still sells everything and will retain its name under the new management.

FOOTNOTE: The Nobbs families of Norfolk are all descended from George Hunn Nobbs, an Irish-born adventurer, who settled on Pitcairn in 1828 after a colourful career in the British and Chilean navies. He became an ordained pastor and was a leader of the Pitcairn community when it moved to Norfolk in 1856. He died in 1884—two years before CCR’s was opened.