Across Australia, many businesses proudly celebrate their longevity. Family-owned shops reaching their centenary, pastoral stations entering their fourth or fifth generation, and major retailers marking over 100 years of trade are often framed as success stories. Proof of durability, tradition, and community presence.

These milestones matter. They show commitment, investment, and the ability to adapt across decades of change.

But the landscape these businesses occupy holds deeper histories. Any enterprise that has been standing for a century or longer has also stood through some of the most violent and exclusionary chapters of Australian life. Celebrating endurance means also recognising the realities that were unfolding for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people at the same time these businesses were establishing their foundations.

When many of Australia’s oldest shops and stations first opened their doors, this was a country still very much shaped by frontier conflict. Massacres were still being recorded well into the twentieth century, long after the mythic “frontier era” was said to have ended. Families were being displaced, communities pushed off their Country, and government policies worked to control nearly every aspect of Aboriginal life. These events were not distant history, they were taking place at the very moment some of our most enduring businesses were beginning their stories. 

The reality is that they still aren't distant history.

It was also a time marked by legal and social restrictions that profoundly limited Aboriginal access to towns, services, and stores. Throughout the early to mid/late-1900s, protectionist legislation and localised discriminatory practices meant that Aboriginal people were often prevented from entering shops, cafes, pubs, cinemas, and many workplaces. Curfews existed in towns across the country. In some regions, Aboriginal people needed permits to be in town at all. I

When major retailers like Coles and Woolworths began trading over a century ago, they did so in an environment where many Aboriginal people were not legally or socially permitted to be customers. Smaller family-run stores in rural and regional areas often served Aboriginal people only through back doors or not at all. To acknowledge this is not to assign blame to the businesses of today, but to recognise the wider system in which they grew, one that advantaged some and excluded others.

One where opportunities came easy to the right person, and are now reflected on as only the result of hard work and dedication.

The same can be said for farms and pastoral properties celebrating 100-year milestones. These anniversaries often coincide with periods when land was being taken, allocated, or transferred in the wake of dispossession. Many properties that now mark generations of continuous ownership were established during times when Aboriginal people were denied the right to own land, move freely, or retain connection to Country. Some even worked on these farms and stations as slaves.

Their continuity is real and meaningful. But it exists alongside the disruption, displacement, and forced labour experienced by the Traditional Owners of those same places.

Understanding legacy in this context does not diminish the value of what businesses have built. Rather, it enriches it. Longevity takes on new meaning when viewed through a wider lens. One that includes not only economic resilience but also historical responsibility. A business that has been here for a hundred years has lived through profound change; acknowledging the full story of that period honours both the achievements and the truths of the land on which they stand.

Today, many longstanding businesses are beginning to reflect on their place in this broader narrative. Through truth-telling, reconciliation commitments, community partnerships, cultural training, or return-to-Country support, they are recognising that their story is woven into much larger histories. By embracing that complexity rather than avoiding it, they help shape a legacy that is honest, accountable, and forward-looking.