Kemp & Denning

Kemp & Denning Ltd, trading today as K&D Warehouse Mitre 10 Home & Trade, and K&D Bricks and Pavers, was founded in Hobart in 1902, as a partnership between Andrew Garrington Kemp and Victor Ernest Denning. Both were born in England and migrated to Tasmania. In 1917 Kemp purchased Denning's interest, and since then the Kemp family has run the business.

In 1908 Kemp & Denning bought an interest in the Hobart Brick Company, and gained control in 1936. Kemp & Denning started business as timber merchants, and gradually extended activities into selling building materials and hardware. Sawmillers from 1940 to 1989, the company built Tasmania's first tunnel kiln for the production of fired clay bricks and pavers in 1975, and Australia's first home and building retail warehouse (a new American concept) in 1986. Kemp & Denning became an unlisted public company in 1963, and in 2004 had over 600 shareholders, some of whom were fifth-generation Kemps.

Further reading: A Graeme-Evans & A Kemp, K&D, Hobart, 2002.

Andrew Kemp