Historical information

Gillies Bros Timeline
1929 Leslie Graham Gillies is born on July 12, 1929 in Charlton, Victoria, son of Donald John and Agnes Maud Gillies.
1943 At age 14, Les Gillies goes to work at the Aunt Sally Milk Bar. His employer is Les McClure of Dad’n’Dave Café and Four’n’Twenty pie fame.
1950 Les Gillies, with brothers Alan and Norm, opens a bakery and the Rosebud Tea Rooms in Mitchell Street, Bendigo.
1951 The Gillies brothers. open on the corner of Hargreaves and Mitchell Streets. Over fifty six years of trading this corner becomes known as the Gillies Pie corner. The brothers also run the Kentucky Café from this site.
1954 Les Gillies marries 3CV radio announcer, Yvonne Smith.
1958 The Gillies brothers purchase the Black Swan Hotel in McCrae Street and turn it into a factory and retail outlet.
1976 The Gillies brothers open up a new factory in Garsed Street, Bendigo.
1985 The Gillies brothers purchase Kay’s Cakes in Geelong and the pie making part of the business relocates to Geelong. The Garsed Street factory is used for packaging and distribution.
2007- The Gillies business is sold. The Pie corner changes hands and the Garsed Street factory becomes empty.
2015- Les Gillies passes away at the age of 86 years.
2026 The Garsed Street factory is empty and derelict. The pie window in Hargreaves Street is still operating under the banner of the ‘Bendigo Original Pie Shop’.

Physical description

Black and white photograph taken in the Decorating and Finishing Room. In the foreground is table covered with baked fruit cakes. A male staff member is operating a commercial mixer. Two female staff members are working on baked goods on a bench at the back of the room. All staff members are dressed in white uniforms, including head wear.

Inscriptions & markings

Written on the mounting board below the photograph.
"Decorating and Finishng Room.
L.Matthews, Sandra Steen, L. Woodward.
GILLIES BROS.
BENDIGO."