[1] The coming of the railway not only promoted the development of the town of Childers; it also proved the catalyst for the establishment of a sugar industry in the district in the late 1880s.

By 1895, at least three other mills had been established in the Isis, with another two under construction, and Childers had emerged as the flourishing centre of a substantial sugar-growing district.

[1] The land on which the shops are situated was originally granted as a selection to Ernest Dyne but changed hands before being extensively subdivided into town lots in 1892.

It is not known if he built on this land and subdivided and sold the section on which the butchers shop stands in 1905, before building the Federal Hotel on the corner of Churchill and North Streets in 1907.

His change to the signage of the building consisted simply of substituting his name for that of Wrench & Thompson and removing the New Zealand Insurance hoarding.

In 1928 it was purchased by Alexander Adie, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Isis Central Sugar Mill, who was to own five butchers shops.

[1] The shop is said to have been used as an iceworks and was empty for some time before being purchased in 1976 by Leonard and Cheryl Derley who used it to establish a leathergoods and pottery business and several government agencies.

It has a gabled roof clad with corrugated iron and concealed by a parapet featuring a raised central section with an arched top, similar to shops in Churchill street.

Beside the windows at each side of the shop front are inset white feature tiles painted with the images of a bull and a ram in blue.

[1] The adjoining shop is a simple timber building with an exposed stud frame and corrugated iron gabled roof.

As a handsome masonry commercial building in the commercial centre of Childers, the shop illustrates the change which took place in many Queensland towns as the simple timber and corrugated iron buildings of frontier settlement were replaced by more sophisticated premises as towns became stable and prosperous.

It is also an example of the fashion for building in brick in many country towns following the terrible fires which devastated commercial centres during the "King" drought of the early 1900s, caused by a combination of closely built timber structures and a water supply insufficient for fire-fighting.