Dookie Emporium

01/10/2026

That makes you think doesn't it..
Art is supposed to do that ..

01/10/2026

Walk through the Dookie Emporium surplus and antiques Fantastic military history for sale or do you call it retro fashion

01/10/2026

Around the Dookie Emporium surplus this week..better visit soon as you only sell history once.. or one bit at a time

29/09/2026

Military history group event..
DOOKIE MILITARY VEHICLE RALLY
SATURDAY
10TH OCTOBER
CFA PARK...FREE EVENT
MAIN STREET DOOKIE

29/09/2026

Some history about the ww1 German cruiser Emden a big bit of Cocos Island and Australian military history

25/09/2026

Bannerman surplus in new York an amazing surplus store in the past...published a large catalogue of the amazing range going back to the american civil war..ww1 ww2 just tons of it...Dookie Emporium surplus North Victoria also offers genuine military surplus ..2 hours north of Melbourne in the Dookie Hills

Bannerman's own stock of ri**es and bayonets grew so large it swallowed his Manhattan storefront floor to ceiling, years before any of it made it out to Pollepel Island.

Racks like these ran the length of his store, canvas duffel bags and cartridge boxes stacked wherever floor space allowed, because Francis Bannerman VI had turned decommissioned military surplus into an entire retail category most Americans had never imagined buying from a storefront. He advertised his business as the world's largest dealer in military surplus, and by the time his stock reached close to 30 million cartridges and barrels of black powder, no single Manhattan building could hold it all.

So in November 1900 he bought Pollepel Island in the Hudson River and began building a castle style arsenal there the following spring, purpose built storage disguised as a private fortress. Construction ran until his death in 1918, and the powder he moved out there eventually did what overcrowded storage always risks doing: some of it went off, on August 15, 1920.

Everything racked along this wall still had to survive a boat trip up the Hudson before it ever reached the island. Keep that in mind next time someone tells you an entire arsenal could disappear onto a private island without anyone noticing: would you have believed it if you hadn't seen the storefront it started from?



Sources:
- Bannerman Castle Trust, https://bannermancastle.org/history/
- Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollepel_Island
- National Park Service (NRHP nomination), https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/51ef6721-d1c6-4559-9cf1-818db9902853
AI Disclaimer: This image was generated with AI for creative and artistic purposes.

25/09/2026

2 weeks to go.. Dookie Military Vehicle rally 26
Get ready for displays of military history in Dookie 25km east of Shepparton 2 hours north of Melbourne in the Dookie Hills..free event free to display free to sell at swap meet 0427538667