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  By Mick Roberts 
Inside the Thirroul Co-op when Bill Roberts was manager. From left is: Unknown women, - Beggs, Gussy Hamilton, unknown women, Jenny Thirlaway (later Cracknell), Jeff Vardy, manager Bill Roberts and Vince Tobin.
THE Roberts family property was in the midst of the hive of activity that surrounded the Woonona Co-operative Society’s extensive warehouse facilities, bakery, stables shops and offices. It’s no surprise that a young Bill Roberts got his first job there in the 1920s. Long before supermarkets and 24 hour convenience stores shoppers relied on local co-ops for grocery needs. The idea of cooperative stores was inherited from Co-ops were a way to protect the interests of society’s less financially powerful - workers, consumers, farmers, producers and miners. The concept was adopted by Illawarra coal miners with the Helensburgh and Lilydale Cooperative Society in 1892. The principle was simple; members of the co-op bought shares entitling them to a dividend on fortnightly purchases. Every six months the dividend was paid by a credit purchase and a record kept in a pass book. The co-op’s directors were closely linked to the union movement and members were expected to have a union ticket. In times of hardship or strikes the co-op assisted through credit or extended payment periods. The Illawarra’s most successful co-op was the Woonona Industrial Cooperative Society which was established in 1897 and employed thousand of people during its 60 odd years of existence. With a head office in Woonona, branches operated in 
J Nicholson, Anastasia Sweeney, Jenny Thirlaway and Jim Tobin in the Thirroul Co op store
Bill Roberts was about five when his coal mining father William and mother Ethel moved into a humpy in what today is Ball Street Woonona. The co-op’s operations took up most of the western side of the Bill’s maternal grandfather had been killed in the 1887 Bulli mine disaster and his parents were thankful the teenager had gained safer employment at the co-op. Bill began as delivery boy taking small orders by horseback around the district or larger orders by horse and cart. Besides food, the Woonona Co-op sold everything from hardware to clothing and Seventy five year old Ken Roberts, Bill’s son, still lives in Balls Street Woonona and says working at the co-op was not just a job, but a way of life. The Woonona headquarters included a tea-room and large hall where members and employees held monthly dance socials. An annual Boxing Day sports carnival was held at Slacky Flat and Ken said his dad’s life revolved around the co-op.
With the advent of the motor vehicle Bill’s delivery duties were made from a Harley Davidson with butter-box side car. Ken said he had fond memories of his dad picking him up from school on the Harley. “I would sit in the side box that held the groceries,” Ken recalled. “Dad would be always giving someone a lift if he passed them on the street,” he recalled. “He always told us about the time he picked up this bloke to give him a ride and told him to sit on top of the box. When he stopped all of a sudden and asked the bloke to jump-off, the passenger asked why.” Bill already had a passenger inside the delivery box waiting to jump out! Bill became manager of the Thirroul Co-op branch store before his retirement in the 1960s. The co-op had been good to Bill. He had worked his way up from delivery boy in the 1920s to manager in the 1960s.
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