John Danks & Son Pty Ltd began as a plumbing business in 1859, established by brothers John and Samuel Danks. Occupying a prominent site in Bourke Street, Melbourne for 100 years, as well as factories in Melbourne and Sydney, the company manufactured and supplied a variety of plumbing and engineering products such as brassware, pumps, windmills and bells.
In 1951, Danks Holdings Limited was incorporated as a public company and John Danks & Son Pty Ltd became a wholly owned subsidiary.
After becoming a public company, Danks changed course to phase out manufacturing and direct retailing and concentrate on hardware distribution. This led to the construction of its Braeside Distribution Centre in Victoria where the company is still based.
In 1971, Danks created the Homestead brand to assist the increasing number of independent retailers, to which it was distributing products to grow their business through the provision of marketing and retail services.
Throughout the 1980s, Danks continued to purchase hardware businesses, acquiring the retail brands of Homesaver and Thrifty-Link.
The Homestead and Homesaver groups were ultimately merged in 1993 to form Home Timber & hardware.
Two years later, Danks launched Plants Plus Garden Centres with the aim of broadening the company’s customer and product base.
Danks became a truly national distributor in 1999 by expanding into Western Australia.
And what of the future? Our national distribution network infrastructure will continue to evolve to meet the needs of our customers supported by state of the art technology solutions across all areas of the business.
The soul of all Danks businesses continues to be its people and will continue to foster future leaders as it looks forward to the next 150 years.