The Next Chapter: Leaving Fyshwick After More Than 20 Years
The BrandNet story began almost 40 years ago.
In 1986, the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) commissioned our family jewellery business to create the very first ADFA graduation ring. What began as a single commission soon evolved into a long and privileged relationship with the Australian Defence community.
In the years that followed, our family had the honour of working with the Office of the Governor-General of Australia, the Chiefs of the Australian Defence Force, the Royal Australian Navy, the Australian Army and the Royal Australian Air Force to design and produce official insignia jewellery and commemorative products connected to service and military tradition.
These relationships opened the door to further opportunities throughout the Defence community and ultimately led to one of our proudest milestones at the time, being commissioned to manage the merchandise program for the Australian Army Centenary in 2001.
Since then, the BrandNet Group has had the privilege of contributing to many of Australia’s most significant military commemorations and milestones, including the Centenary of the Royal Australian Navy in 2011 and the Centenary of the Royal Australian Air Force in 2021, along with countless remembrance events, commemorative initiatives and military fundraising programs across the country.
Since 2007, BrandNet has also proudly operated Navy Shop, Army Shop and Air Force Shop on behalf of the services, helping generations of serving members, veterans and their families connect with military history, service pride and remembrance through products and commemorative merchandise.
In 2000, as online commerce was beginning to emerge in Australia, we launched www.militaryshop.com.au as one of Australia’s earliest online military stores. Built upon the relationships, history and experience developed through years of serving the military community, Military Shop quickly grew into what is now recognised as Australia’s leading military collectables, commemorative and service-related business.
Over the past 40 years, the BrandNet Group has had the privilege of designing, manufacturing and releasing thousands of products that have found homes with serving members, veterans, collectors, organisations and families throughout Australia and around the world.
From replica medals and commemorative collectables to military-themed artworks, tactical gear, framed displays and remembrance products, many of these creations have become deeply personal pieces connected to service, sacrifice, family history and national identity. Hundreds of thousands of Australians have supported our journey over the years, helping us build not only a business, but a community united by remembrance, history and respect for those who have served.
As our online business continued to grow, we opened our Fyshwick retail showroom in 2010 to better support our customers and provide a destination where people could explore the stories, products and history behind the brands. Before Fyshwick, the business operated from Mitchell, with the move to Fyshwick marking another important chapter in the continued growth of BrandNet and Military Shop.
Over the past 20 years, our Fyshwick premises have become far more than simply a warehouse and shopfront. They became home to one of Australia’s largest collections of military-themed collectables, commemorative products, artworks, archives and historical pieces assembled over more than 30 years.
Today, BrandNet operates from over 1,380 square metres in Fyshwick, in addition to leasing a neighbouring building to support our continued growth. However, the business has now reached a point where our future growth and operational needs are best served by transitioning to a more efficient high span warehouse facility focused on supporting our expanding online operations and national customer base.
As part of this next chapter, BrandNet will transition to a 100% online business model, with our Fyshwick retail showroom closing permanently in the coming months. While this marks the end of an important chapter in our history, it also represents an exciting step forward in the continued evolution of one of Australia’s most recognised military heritage and collectables businesses.
While our Fyshwick showroom will be closing, we remain deeply committed to serving customers throughout Canberra and the surrounding region.
Our new warehouse facility at Beard is located only minutes from our current Fyshwick premises, allowing us to continue offering fast local service, including a planned 2-hour Click & Collect service for many stocked items.
This means Canberra customers will continue to enjoy convenient local access to products while benefiting from the improved efficiency of our new online-focused operation.
Over the coming months, as we carefully pack, catalogue and prepare more than 30 years of accumulated history for relocation, we will begin uncovering an extraordinary collection of archived treasures, founder-held pieces, retired collectables, original artworks, prototypes, historical memorabilia and limited editions gathered throughout the journey of the BrandNet Group.
Many of these pieces were never intended to leave our archives. Some have been held back since the day they were created. Others have been displayed proudly in our showroom, offices and warehouse for decades. However, with the transition to a more operationally focused warehouse facility and significantly reduced office and display space, many of these historical pieces and treasured items will not be able to come with us into the next chapter.
Rather than allowing these items to remain hidden away in storage, we believe it is time to share them with the community that helped us build this journey in the first place.
Over the next 12 months, we will progressively release a carefully curated selection of archive pieces, retired collectables, original artworks, historical items and founder-held stock as part of what we are calling “The BrandNet Archives” a celebration of more than 30 years of military history, storytelling, design and remembrance.
This will not be a traditional clearance sale.
It will be an opportunity to preserve and pass on many unique pieces connected to the history of the business, the history of military collecting in Australia and the stories we have shared together over the past four decades.
Throughout this transition, one thing that will never change is our commitment to supporting the military and veteran community.
The BrandNet Group remains one of Australia’s largest private supporters of military and service-linked charities and organisations. Over the years, we have donated close to $2 million in direct funding, contributed thousands of volunteer hours and helped thousands of organisations raise millions of dollars in support of current and former serving members and their families.
We have also had the privilege of engaging millions of Australians in sharing and preserving our nation’s military history through commemorative products, collectables, education, storytelling and remembrance initiatives.
As we prepare to leave Fyshwick and enter the next chapter of the BrandNet story, we would like to sincerely thank every customer, collector, veteran, organisation, supplier and supporter who has been part of this remarkable journey.
The showroom may be closing, but our mission continues.
And in many ways, the next chapter is only just beginning.
