Edwin Street

Edwin ‘Ted’ Street, brother of Charles Edward Street was born in Wollongong on August 8, 1891, to parents James & Delia; he was the tenth and the last child of the family. He grew up in Corrimal helping his family on their small farm where they grew fruit, vegetables and flowers, which Edwin delivered roundabouts in a horse drawn cart. He later had a small shop selling his family's produce on Main Road, Corrimal (now the Princes Highway).

When Charles was home visiting, he and Edwin enlisted together at the Corrimal enlistment office on the 22nd of June, 1916 (service #2725); he was 24 years old. On the 29th of June the brothers were sworn in at Barroul House, Kiama. They sailed from Sydney on October 7, 1916 as part of the 45th Battalion, 6th Reinforcements. They disembarked at Plymouth, England on November 21, 1919.

For the next few months, he trained at Codford Training Camp in Wiltshire, near the Salisbury Plains. Edwin, along with most of the battalion, left for France in January 1917, though his brother Charles did not as they were not always assigned together.

Edwin was shot in the shoulder and abdomen, most likely at the Battle of Messines, on the 12th of June, 1917, and sent to the Ontario Military Hospital. It was here, at the end of September, that he received news of his brother, Charles's death.

Edwin returned to his battalion in November 1917. He was again wounded, this time a gunshot wound to the left hand, on the 11th of April, 1918, most likely during the second attack of the German Spring Offensive, which centered on Lys in Flanders. He was taken to Colchester Military Hospital. Red Cross records show that on the 20th of November, 1918, his parents received 2 letters, one telling them of Edwin's wounding, another stating that he had been killed. 

He returned to Australia on the 12th of July, 1919, on the City of Exeter, after nearly three years overseas, and was officially discharged on the 10th of October that year. He received the total of 337 pounds , 11 shillings and 10 pence.

Like many soldiers, he was unsettled on his return; he accepted an Army land grant in the Yanco/Leeton area where some of his older brothers also had farms. In June 1921 he married 18 year old Daisy Olive Grigg at Leeton.

Farming was not for him so he and Daisy moved back to Corrimal, where he tried many different ventures. Eventually, with Daisy at his side, he became a successful businessman by improving, refining & promoting  a product one of his older brothers  had experimented with in the past. Edwin decided to take up that project and subsequently laid the foundation of Streets ice cream. He worked on the ice cream in his back shed and would sell it to neighbours along with sweets, cakes and lemonade. He and his wife worked together making and promoting the product which was marketed as ‘The Cream of the Coast.’ Streets is a renowned brand in Australia and Australia’s leading manufacturer of ice cream. 

Edwin and his wife had no children but regularly donated to charities and community facilities, often anonymously. Their contributions resulted in the building of five swimming pools on the South Coast: Corrimal, Batemans Bay, Dapto, Moruya and Narooma.

He and Daisy retired to Narooma where he loved to fish. Their family home was willed to become a retirement home/village after they had both passed away.

Edwin was appointed an OBE on the 13th of June, 1970. He died on August 11th 1975 at the age of 83.