Stories Above the Street • Cue

J. S. Hince

Baker, businessman, Road Board member and Justice of the Peace — John Stockwell Hince spent decades supplying and serving communities of the Murchison.

The daily bread of a goldfields town

Before sunrise, someone had to fire the ovens.

Mining might have created Cue, but ordinary trades kept the town alive. Among the most essential was the baker — producing one of the basic foods required every day by families, workers, travellers and businesses.

The name above the restored Austin Street sign belongs to John Stockwell Hince, a baker whose connection with the Murchison stretched across decades and eventually extended well beyond the bakery itself into local civic life.

At a glance

Full name: John Stockwell Hince
Trade: Baker
On the Murchison: by 1905
Sandstone: recorded as a baker in 1921
Cue Bakery: takeover from 1 April 1924
Cue Road Board: elected 1934
Justice of the Peace: appointed 1935
Died: 1947

A Murchison baker

His story in Cue was part of a much longer life across the goldfields.

Independent records trace John Stockwell Hince through several Murchison communities before his later civic life in Cue. A newly located 1924 newspaper notice now provides the clearest bridge between his earlier Sandstone years and the Cue bakery.

1905

Lawlers

A surviving record identifies John Stockwell Hince as a baker at Lawlers, confirming that he was already established in the trade by the early twentieth century.

1921

Sandstone

The Western Australian Post Office Directory lists J. Hince at Sandstone under Bakers, placing the family firmly in the East Murchison during this period.

1923

Black Range

Government records name Hince as one of the holders of the Lucky Dip gold-mining lease in the Black Range district, showing that his interests extended beyond baking.

1 APRIL 1924

Cue Bakery

A newspaper notice announced that the Cue Bakery business had been sold to Hince of Sandstone, with the takeover effective from 1 April 1924.

1 April 1924

The newspaper finally puts Hince behind the Cue Bakery counter.

A newly located newspaper notice records the transfer of the Cue Bakery to Hince of Sandstone, with the new proprietor taking over from 1 April 1924.

The outgoing proprietor, Mr Leslie, thanked the district for the support given to the bakery during the previous 12 years and asked customers to continue that patronage with his successor.

This is important evidence because it moves Hince's directly documented Cue bakery story back from 1929 to 1924, while also showing that the Cue Bakery itself had already been serving the town for many years before he took over.

An essential trade

Gold might bring people to town. Bread helped keep them there.

A baker occupied a very different place in the community from many of the specialist businesses remembered above Austin Street.

Bread was not a luxury purchase. It was part of the everyday food supply of the town, meaning the bakery had to operate reliably regardless of heat, distance or the difficulties involved in bringing ingredients and fuel into an isolated district.

The baker therefore belonged to the ordinary infrastructure of community life — as necessary in his own way as the storekeeper, butcher, hotelkeeper or carrier.

Cue • historical photographs

The bakery survives in more than a painted name.

Several surviving photographs record Cue's bakery premises and the bakery delivery vehicle. The images shown here have been digitally enhanced from the historical originals for clarity; the scene and historical content have not been intentionally changed.

Historic Cue bakery frontage beside W R Diggins Commercial and Family Butcher

Cue bakery frontage beside W. R. Diggins, Commercial & Family Butcher. Digitally enhanced from the historical photograph.

Historic Cue bakery frontage with large Baker sign

Another view of the Cue bakery streetscape, with the trade marked boldly above the verandah. Digitally enhanced from the historical photograph.

J S Hince bakery delivery truck in Cue with dog

The bakery delivery truck carries the words BAKER — J. S. HINCE — CUE. Digitally enhanced from the historical photograph.

Bread on the road

The bakery had to reach beyond the shopfront.

The delivery vehicle gives the Hince business a much more tangible presence than a directory entry or government notice. His name was painted in enormous letters across the side, turning the truck itself into a travelling advertisement.

In an isolated district, a bakery vehicle was practical as well as promotional — carrying bread from the ovens to customers, businesses and outlying parts of the community.

A moment beside the truck

A working vehicle became part of people's lives.

Another photograph shows a group gathered around the bakery truck with a motorcycle in the foreground. It is the sort of informal image that brings the business back to life: not just a shop, but people, transport and everyday activity around Cue.

Group gathered beside the Cue bakery delivery truck and motorcycle

A group with the bakery truck and motorcycle. Digitally enhanced from the historical photograph.

Beyond the bakery

The town trusted its baker with more than bread.

By the end of the 1920s John Stockwell Hince had already been operating the Cue Bakery for several years and had become more than a local businessman.

In May 1929 the Western Australian Government appointed him to the Cue Hospital Board. On 8 September 1934 he was then elected unopposed to the Cue Road Board, with the official record still listing his occupation simply as Baker.

Only months later, in March 1935, Hince was appointed a Justice of the Peace for the Murchison Magisterial District — a position reflecting standing and trust within the wider community.

Businessman & community representative

The initials above the shop belonged to a man involved in running the district.

1929

Cue Hospital Board

In May 1929 Hince was appointed as a member of the Cue Hospital Board, the earliest firm government record so far located placing him in Cue, following the newly identified 1924 newspaper evidence.

1934

Cue Road Board

Hince was elected to represent the Cue Ward following the death of F. E. Pead. He was returned unopposed, and the Government Gazette recorded his occupation as baker.

1935

Justice of the Peace

On 28 March 1935 the Western Australian Government announced Hince's appointment as a Justice of the Peace for the Murchison Magisterial District.

The next generation

Baking continued in the Hince family.

John and his wife Elizabeth's son Charles Henry Hince was born at Sandstone in 1913.

Charles later married in Cue and also worked as a baker while living in Austin Street, suggesting that the trade became part of a second generation of Hince family life in the district.

Later electoral information records Charles still working as a baker in Cue during the 1950s — decades after his father's name first became associated with the trade.

LATER YEARS

From Cue to Mosman Park

By the end of his life Hince had left Cue and was living at 115 Monument Street, Mosman Park. His occupation in the probate record was given as Retired Baker.

1947

Remembered as a baker of Cue

His probate notice described him formally as “John Stockwell Hince, formerly of Cue … Baker” — preserving the association between his name, his trade and the town even after he had retired to the metropolitan area.

A life on the Murchison

John Stockwell Hince.

1905

Recorded as a baker at Lawlers in the East Murchison.

1921

Listed at Sandstone under Bakers in the Western Australian Post Office Directory.

1923

Named as a holder of the Lucky Dip gold-mining lease in the Black Range district.

1924

Takes over the Cue Bakery from 1 April after purchasing the business from Mr Leslie.

1929

Appointed to the Cue Hospital Board.

1934

Elected unopposed to the Cue Road Board.

1935

Appointed Justice of the Peace for the Murchison Magisterial District.

1947

His probate record describes him as formerly of Cue, baker, and later a retired baker of Mosman Park.

Modern J S Hince Baker heritage sign above Austin Street Cue

Stories Above the Street

The baker's name is above Cue once again.

The restored sign carries the simple wording “1907 — J. S. Hince — Baker.” The date is retained as part of the recreated sign. The newly located newspaper notice now directly documents Hince taking over the Cue Bakery from 1 April 1924; the sign's 1907 date still awaits independent confirmation.

What those few words do not reveal is that the baker behind them became a member of the Cue Road Board, a Justice of the Peace and part of a family whose connection with baking in Cue continued into another generation.

The sign now restores one small but important name to the streetscape: a working baker who went on to serve the hospital, the Road Board and the wider Murchison community.

Historical note

Official Western Australian records identify J. S. Hince as John Stockwell Hince. Independent records place him as a baker at Lawlers by 1905 and at Sandstone in 1921, while a 1923 Government Gazette records his interest in the Lucky Dip gold-mining lease in the Black Range district. A 1924 newspaper notice documents Hince of Sandstone taking over the Cue Bakery from 1 April 1924. He is then independently confirmed in government records at Cue by May 1929, when he was appointed to the Cue Hospital Board. Government Gazette records then confirm his election to the Cue Road Board in 1934, with his occupation recorded as baker, and his appointment as a Justice of the Peace in 1935. His 1947 probate notice describes him as formerly of Cue, baker, and later a retired baker of Mosman Park. The restored sign carries the date 1907; that date is preserved here as part of the heritage sign itself, but has not yet been independently verified as the year Hince established a bakery in Cue. The strongest direct evidence currently located for his takeover of the Cue Bakery is the newspaper notice effective 1 April 1924.