Naturally the intersections at either end have been our busiest.

While the Kinghorne Street corners were dominated by the now disappeared hotels and banks, the Berry Street end was constant for a good deal of the 20^th century, with the post office, church, theatre and bank occupying the respective corners.

Today's historical column takes a look at the north-west corner.

The Bank of Australasia bought this block of land in 1911, and its double-storey premises were completed during 1913 at a cost of 3,419 pounds ($6178 today).

Manager of the branch from 1921 until his retirement in 1937 was Charles Reynolds who tried to be sympathetic to his customers during the years of the Great Depression.

He had a unique way of interviewing people who came seeking a house loan, when among his standard questions he asked, "Do you have chooks" and "Do you grow vegetables?"

The Bank of Australasia and the Union Bank both ceased their Nowra operations during World War 2 when the Australian Government requested banks to rationalise their branch networks.

However the bank of Australasia building was immediately snapped up in 1943 by the ES & A Bank which was seeking larger premises, and it operated until its merger with the ANZ Bank in 1971.

There was little change to the appearance of the old building over the next 20 years but it gained further use mainly as a temporary premises, and was occupied for a time by the electricity department when it was under the control of council.

The park between it and the School of Arts was a popular lunchtime spot. Across the road Nowra Post Office had been operating from its premises for more than a century and there was no room for expansion.

It was handling more than 12 million articles of mail annually. This led to Australia Post purchasing the site diagonally opposite for a more modern post office.

The old bank was demolished and Nowra became the first country post office in the state to embrace the "retail post" concept and a new era began with the opening on March 28, 1991.

However with the opening of the mail sorting facility at South Nowra, the post office didn't require the same volume of space and opted for a section away from the corner.

This provided an opportunity for The Colannade Cafe and Restaurant to become established in the front part of the building in 2001 for many years.

Today, the space is home to the South Coast Register newspaper.

Information provided by Shoalhaven Historical Society.