Who is Pivot

Who is Pivot?

Pivot Stove and Heating is Australia’s oldest heating store – established in 1876 by James Alexander Parker, back when Geelong was called Pivot City.

Pivot Stove & Heating has been handed down generation to generation, now owned and operated by Greg Parker-Hill (Sixth Generation Owner) and his wife Tammie Parker-Hill.

 

What Pivot is, is six generations of passion – in fire

We have three locations

Geelong CBD (Retail Showroom)

North Geelong (Warehouse, Wholesale, and Retail Showroom)

Dandenong South (Retail Showroom)

Plus a dealer network right across Australia with over 90 locations!

 

Pivot Stove & Heating is a wholesale and retail business, specializing in heating that has the best technology, performance, and back up service possible.

 

We are based in Geelong, Victoria, just one hour from Melbourne; but it’s our Australia-wide Dealer Network that makes what we do work.

 

We started back in 1876 with the first Australian made Slow Combustion Wood Stove.

 

“We don’t sell average wood heating, we sell fires that burn less wood, burn longer, and are built to last”

 

We do it ourselves...

  • Pivot Wholesale looks after all our brands and supports our dealer network
  • Pivot Retail keeps our three showrooms in check, being face to face with customers
  • Pivot Logistics runs four of our own trucks, delivering our products to our dealers right across Australia UNDAMAGED
  • Pivot Marketing produces our videos and marketing, so what you get is the truth
  • Pivot Technical is there to support you with all things after market
  • Pivot Online is our online spare parts website
  • Pivot Training is on the road training our dealers with our two full time support reps, ensuring our dealers have the best and most accurate information
  • Pivot Production is our new assembly line, assembling products right here in Geelong, Australia

 

Our own brands include:

  • Pacific Energy from Canada
    • This range of Wood Heaters are the most efficient on the market
    • Designed for customers who require performance, clean burning, and long burn times
  • Charnwood from England
    • Traditional, high quality English made wood heaters
    • Designed for customers who want a fire that not only works well, but looks good
  • Yunca from New Zealand
    • Wood heaters that do more than just heat, they also heat hot water
    • Designed for customers who want a reliable, quality product with the option for hot water
  • Pyro Fires from New Zealand
    • The cleanest burning wood heater in the world
    • Designed for customers who are environmentally conscious, want to burn less wood, reduce smoke
  • Pivot’s Insulated Room Sealed Flue Kit from Australia
    • Perfect high quality flue for any wood heater, made by us!
    • Designed for customers who want to keep heat in the room, want a clean line install, and a high quality stainless steel produce – which is everybody!

 

Pivot Stove – Geelong

238 Moorabool Street, Geelong

Monday to Friday 9am to 5:30pm

Saturday 9am to 1pm

Full range of Wood Heaters and Gas Log Fires on display

1300 4 74 868  /  03 5221 4485

 

Pivot Dandenong

1/10 South Link, Dandenong South

Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm

Saturday 10am to 3pm

Full range of Wood Heaters and Gas Log Fires on display

1300 4 74 868  /  03 8787 5482

 

Pivot Stove Wholesale

120 Victoria Street, North Geelong

Monday to Friday 8:30am to 4:30pm

Full range of Wood Heaters on display

1300 4 74 868  /  035277 3903

 

Pivot Stove Australia Wide Stockists

Click here to find your closest stockist

 

Pivot Stove Spare Parts

For all the spares you will ever need – you can buy online at pivotonline.com.au

 

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As well as hundreds of videos to help you get the best from your purchase!

The original Pivot City – Geelong

The city now called Geelong, was originally called Pivot City when settlers landed here in the early 1800s.

When settlers first settled in Pivot City, it was mainly due to Corio Bay being naturally deep that allowed tall ships from England to arrive closer to land.

A long pier was constructed (now Cunningham Pier) to allow these tall ships to arrive, and with a train line on the pier, they could unload the tall ships onto the trains with ease.

However, steam trains in 1800s didn’t go backwards, so they needed to be tuned around to head back to Melbourne. A special turntable was constructed to turn these 300,000 pound steam trains around… thus “Pivot City” was named after this steam train turntable.

It wasn’t until mid 1800’s that Pivot City was officially re-named to Geelong from the local Aboriginal name Jillong meaning ‘land of hills and plains.’

 

The Pivotonians

The PIVOT name become iconic to our town, and even today locals call Geelong Pivot (even the Geelong Football Club membership are called the Pivotonians!)

 

Facts about Pivot City (Geelong)

Geelong is a beautiful town with city to surf only fifteen minutes drive.

We have access to the bay and the ocean, to country landscape and forests, and to the Great Ocean Road.

A lot of people made Pivot City home, among them true innovators who have started other iconic Geelong businesses such as:

  • RipCurl
  • Quicksilver
  • Pivot Fertilizer
  • Faggs Mitre 10
  • Home of James Harrison (inventor of the common day refrigerator)
  • Home of David Warren (inventor of the Black Box)
  • and of course Pivot Stove & Heating

As for Pivot Stove, we were started in 1876 when our founder James Alexander Parker, moved from Glenferrie Road, Malvern, and set up shop at Moorabool Street, Geelong, where he proceeded to manufacture the first Australian made slow combustion wood stove, the Pivot Stove.

Naming the business after his new home town, the Pivot Stove was born, and in our Moorabool Street showroom, still at the same location, you can still see one of the first ever Pivot Stoves made.

History of Pivot

1854 - 1876

John Parker, a bricklayer from Kent in England arrived in Port Phillip with his family on board the Grand Trianon in 1854.

John moved to Melbourne Victoria and purchased a building in Glenferrie Road, Malvern and set up Parker & Co.

Parker & Co. retail showroom supplied cast iron fires and cookers imported from England.

1876 - 1901

James Alexander Parker (son of John Parker) and wife Eliza moved to Geelong and formed Pivot Stove Co., Australia’s first manufacturer of Wood Stoves.

The location James founded Pivot Stove Co., at 238 Moorabool Street Geelong, is the very same building that Pivot Stove & Heating still trades in today.

James also went on to design and manufacture the first Australian made Wood Stove with incorporated water heating.

The Pivot Stove was Australia’s first designed and manufactured Slow Combustion Wood Stove, and from this, Australia’s Wood Stove industry has developed.

Brands such as the Carmichael Wood Stove, the IXL Wood Stove, LUX Wood Stove; all these were birthed out of the work James Parker began.

1901 - 1957

Charles Parker (son of James Alexander Parker) and wife Margarite continued manufacturing The Pivot Stove up to 1930.

Charles Parker expanded Pivot Stove’s steel works for local constructions including the stunning fence at St Mary of the Angels Basilica on Yarra Street in Geelong – that is still there today!

Towards the end of World War One, Charles closed down both the steel works and the manufacturing of the Pivot Stove due to the difficulty in securing raw materials post war. He focused the business on the supply and installation of briquette heaters as well as wood stoves.

John Parker had a passion to see new ventures begin and was an adjudicator at the first ever draw of Australia’s TattsLotto.

1957 - 1985

Lindsay Charles Parker (son of Charles) and his wife Joy took over Pivot Stove and introduced the latest Oil Heaters to the market, including the Vulcan Burwood Oil Heater.

Joy passed away in 1964 after a long battle with MS. Lindsay remarried to Margery in the early 1970s.

The passing of Joy left Lindsay with a passion for local charities and he raised many thousands of dollars to support the MS Society.

Lindsay was also instrumental in the business community in Geelong and supported local commerce through his involvement with the Geelong community and Church groups.

Lindsay’s daughter, Merril married Peter Hill, who became an integral part of Pivot Stove.

Peter became the service manager for Pivot Stove and managed the company alongside Lindsay up till 1985 when Lindsay retired.

1985 - 2006

Merril Parker (daughter of Lindsay) and husband Peter Hill married and joined surnames to Parker-Hill to keep Pivot in the same family name – Parker.

Merril and Peter continued Pivot Stove’s philosophy of being leaders in the heating industry and was one of the first Australian companies to introduce the early Gas Log Fires.

With the Wood Heater boom in the early 1990s, and the introduction of the latest in Gas Log Fires, Pivot Stove outgrow their showroom in Moorabool Street. Because of this growth, Merril and Peter moved the family home from the back of 238 Moorabool Street and expanded the retail showroom to be one of the largest displays of the new style Gas Log Fires.

Merril and Peter also continued Lindsay Parker’s legacy of being involved in community by supporting local charities and supporting local business.

2006 - Present

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Greg Parker-Hill (son of Merril) and his wife Tammie took over Pivot Stove & Heating in 2006.

Growing up at the house at the back of the Moorabool Street, from very early days, Greg worked with his father learning to service oil heaters, and eventually completed a plumbing apprenticeship.

Greg worked installating, servicing, and rebuilding Wood Heaters and cookers for over 20 years – racking up over 10,000 Wood Heater installations in his work as a plumber.

After taking over Pivot Stove & Heating in 2006, Greg and his wife Tammie looked worldwide to find bleeding edge products that would make Pivot Stove a true leader in the Australian heating industry.

Pacific Energy – Canadian made Wood Heaters designed to work in the harshest of conditions and have the latest in efficiency and low emissions technology.

Charnwood – English made Wood Heaters from the Isle of Wight, these heaters boast incredible performance and quality, as well as a brilliant design to suit any home

Pyro Fires – New Zealand made, Pyro Fires are known for having a low environmental impact, with some of the lowest emissions ratings in the world.

Yunca – Designed for homes that off the grid, these Wood Heaters can also heat your water and are one of New Zealand’s most loved Wood Heaters.

Room Sealed Flue Kit – Our own flue kit. Twist-locked and insulated, this flue kit is designed to be easier to install, customisable to fit any home or heater, and retain the heat within the home.

In 2008, Pivot Stove expanded to Melbourne with a 1,000m² showroom in Dandenong South.

In 2011, Pivot Wholesale moved into their first offsite warehouse, which they quickly outgrew.

In 2016, Pivot Wholesale moved to 120 Victoria Street, North Geelong. This 5,000m² building hosts our Wholesale division and administration, as well as Pivot Technical, Pivot Production, Pivot Marketing, and Pivot Logistics.

And in 2021, we launched Pivot Logistics, our logistics division servicing our dealer network across mainland Australia. With weekly truck runs from Geelong to WA, Queensland, and everywhere in between, we take pride in delivering our products directly to our dealers across Australia with no damages!

To assist promoting and supporting not just our customers, but our Australian Wide Dealer Network, Pivot Stove regularly attends Home Shows and Field Day events right across Australia.

Pivot Stove & Heating now employs over 20 people and an additional 20 offsite contractors rely on Pivot Stove & Heating.

Greg and his wife Tammie continue to be heavily involved in local business and support the BUY LOCAL campaigns throughout Australia.