History of Huckell Radio and Ted Huckell

Edward (Ted) Dean Wallman Huckell (1897-1994) was born in London in 1897. Son of a costermonger (a fruit and vegetable seller operating on foot and with a hand pulled cart), he became a boy Scout in 1908 but his family moved frequently. The family moved to Sydney before World War One. He became a life saver and later beach inspector at North Steyne beach in 1914. He worked at a cattle station and spent some time in Murrurundi. His first major job was sheep shearing in Blackall in Queensland and was there during the general strike in 1917. He married his first wife in the 1930's.

Ted's interest in radio apparently began in 1918 when on a Sydney tram he overheard two friendsdiscussing crystal sets. The 1919 Census has him living in Capricornia in Queensland and later in 1930 Parkes. The Census (again from) 1930, to 1994 shows him living in Cremorne. His house was in Wycombe Rd and only a few hundred yards from his shop in Military Rd.

His two storey shop was on a corner and was part of about 5 similar independent shops. Over the years he trained several apprentices and one of these was John Lutch. John was still working withhim in the 1970's. The shop was well set up by 1926 with displays of radios and the like. A detailed account of the shop is given in the HRSA newsletter, April 1983. pages 3-6. The shop window also had many items in it including one of the model electric train 0-gauge carriages, which was about 60 cm in length.

He made mantle and console radios- Eureka - in small numbers in the mid 1930's and as a side interest before this, made several wood cased Morse code sets for the Boy Scouts. I found one of these in a local antique shop and it has a brass plaque on the lid stating Huckell Radio and the shop address. The 240/2 or 4 volt power supply for these was the Philips PPP power transformer.

A situation arose in the mid 1960's where a developer began to acquire the adjoining buildings for a "Strata Shopping Centre". But Ted refused to sell. He became known as the "Stayput Shopkeeper" and this received some newspaper interest over the following months. He partly lost the battle though and by mid 1967 the developer had decided to replace Ted's old shop with new two storey building which was of the same design as the bigger building. Ted remained there for a number of years before retiring.

In addition to the radio shop, Ted's interest in radio did not stop there. The first Radio Retailers Association was started in 1928 with Oswald Mingay as Secretary. Fifteen retailers were at the meeting, which was held at the Teachers Hall, Phillips Street, Sydney. Os (as he was known) movedon to other things but suggested to Ted that he keep the association going. Ted did this by visiting as many retailers as he could. The company "Radio Merchants Pty. Ltd.' was formed and Ted was chairman until 1939. By 1933 there were thirty-four members. The Radio Retailer magazine were full of all sorts of great material.

With the foundation of the Historical Radio Society in 1982, Ted was a foundation member, Member no. 18, and contributed several articles to the HRSA magazine over the 1980's (listed below). He came to many meetings before ill health stopped him.

 

HRSA articles written by Ted Huckell:

HRSA Newsletter #4 April 1983, Page 3: 1926 Radio Showroom.

HRSA Newsletter #4 April 1983, Page 4: 1935 Showroom, a modern acoustic radio salon.

HRSA Newsletter #6 October 1983, Page 6: Early Days of Wireless.

HRSA Newsletter #18 October 1986, Page 6: What about PA.

HRSA Newsletter #23 January 1988, Page 10: Conley-Lee.

HRSA Newsletter #25 July 1988, Page 4: Cross Modulation.

HRSA Newsletter #29 July 1989, Page 7: Classic Radios - HuckelI 'Eureka".

HRSA Newsletter #30 October 1989, Page 4: Huckell Radio Showroom 1935 Photo.

 

Other references:

Interview with Stephen Rapley, ABC 1987

Ancestry.com Census, E. D. W. Huckell

HRSA Radio Waves October 1994, page 27: Obituary by Ric. Havyatt. 

Spit Junction Memories 1950's-1960's

 

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