Ebisu Laundry

Denham Street

Portrait photograph of Isobe Jinzaburo, who was the proprietor of Ebisu Laundry in 1916.

'The best laundry in town'

Another of Townsville’s long-running Japanese businesses was the Ebisu Laundry. Operating from 1909 until the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1941, it was a familiar sight in the city centre for over 30 years.

Unlike other businesses run by a single family, Ebisu had a series of different owners and locations, moving between their location on Denham Street and just around the corner on Flinders Street.

The laundry’s story came to an abrupt end with the start of the Pacific War. It was advertised for lease on 11 December 1941, just three days after the owner’s internment.

One of its final proprietors, Magozo Wada, was interned as an "enemy alien." His official record tells some of his story in Australia: at 61 years old, after having lived in Australia for over 40 years since his arrival in 1899, and he was deported to Japan in 1946. His story is a powerful reminder of the impact the Pacific War had on local Japanese residents and how this uprooted their lives in Australia.

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