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

Five newspaper articles overing "The Gillies Story"; the articles are unattributed to any newspaper (but likely from the local Bendigo newspapers). Articles headed:
11305.10A "Gillies to offer a slice of their pie". The public soon will be able to buy shares in Gillies Food Industries Ltd, dated 6 July 1985.
11305.10B "Gillies job fears". Slice of the pie for sale. part two: "Gillies' factory may be sold soon". This article is adhered to light card.
11305.10C "End of an era as local icon sold". The landmark original Gillies Pie Shop has been sold, marked the end of an era for a Bendigo Icon.
11305.10D "Our Pie in the sky". Gillies pies are nearly as well known as the Bendigo dragon and the Bendigo Fountain.
11305.10E "if it's Gillies it's Good". Mention the Gillies report in Bendigo and one thing springs to mind - progress on the fortunes of Les Gillies, the man who is about to put "pie technology onto the second board.