16 November 2024

A great Wool Museum, Geelong.

Sheep arrived in Geelong in 1832, before it was proclaimed a town in 1838. When it was developing as a Victorian port, Australia was still a series of separate colonies which levied customs duties on goods coming from overseas and goods passing between colonies. For some years, all customs clearances had to be made through Williamstown, forcing ships trading with Geelong to travel north for customs before offloading the goods back in Geelong.

Merino sheep across Victoria produced wool that was soft, plentiful and appealing to Britain's mills. And so in the 1840s, wool became Geelong's most important industry. The raw product was transported into Geelong, processed there and exported from Geelong. Wool heading for the Australian colonies was taken to the port in loosely packed bales, but wool to be shipped to Britain was packed in solid bins.

National Wool Museum, Geelong
Victoria's Museums





Pioneer merchant James Ford Strachan constructed his first bonded store in 1840, the first stone building in newly colonised Geelong. Only when Geelong was declared a free port in 1848 was a proper Customs House needed near the Geelong wharves. The officers made sure that duty was fully collected, on both colonial and overseas trade. The Geelong Customs House was built in 1856 as a three storey ashlar sandstone and basalt structure, and a slate roof. Architect WG Cornish’ distinctive colonial Georgian style clearly reflected the influence of earlier NSW colonial buildings.

In 1857 Charles Dennys 
conducted Geelong's first wool auction. Wool stores were needed, as close to the foreshore as possible. In the very early days, the difference between a wool store and one for general merchandise was largely the existence of a wool press.

Not until 1872, with Dennys Lascelles bluestone wool store, was a specific design of building evolved for wool. A row of very impressive wool stores stretched down the street in a unified manner. Wagons entered from the street via an archway, discharged their load and moved out into a right of way on the other side of the building.

Sheep shed
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Dennys, Lascelles, Austin and Co. was the proud owner of an important early modern structures in Australia. This concrete woolstore, designed by Edward G Stone, was mostly free of architectural decoration, and was in a style that anticipated European and Australian trends of the inter-war years. Dennys buildings had used solid bluestone in 1872, cement render in 1880 and a mansard tower in1889. And when expansion was planned in 1900, the firm elected to use the most modern material, reinforced concrete.

By the 1880s, no other Australian city had the diversity of wool related industries as Geelong. This city was eventually called the Wool Centre of the World.

Handling the recently sheared wool

The Strachan, Murray, Shannon and Co. wool store was systematically developed as the wool industry expanded, this four storey brick complex stylistically unified from the 1889 section onwards, to present an impressive austere Classical Revival structure of great note. 

The 2 storey brick Wool Exchange in Corio St was constructed in 1927-8, designed by local architects. The
Wool Exchange was and is one of Geelong’s major public buildings from the inter war period and as a late example of the renaissance revival. Roofed with a barrel vault, the main sales room had a striking interior decorated with Neo-Greco detail. Sales of wool, sheepskins, hides, tallow and other products were conducted weekly at this site. Alongside Western District properties, railways, gorgeous wool stores, woollen mills, scouring works and port facilities, the Exhange illustrated the economic and social history of late C19th and early C20th Geelong.

Processed wool being readied for the loom
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Dennys Lascelles and Co. still forms part of an historic woolstore precinct. Today it hosts the National Wool Museum, Australia's only comprehensive museum of wool, showcasing wool's enduring impact on Australia social and economic life. To explore the past, present and future of the Australian wool industry, the Museum acquires, documents, preserves, stores and exhibits objects and materials directly related to the Australian wool industry.

Completed items of clothing
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The collection shows textiles, images, machines and records with 25,000+ objects aross the City. Before you travel to Geelong, see some of the treasures on-line.











26 comments:

River said...

I remember learning about the wool trade in primary school, we went somewhere, I think the Town Hall and we each came home with a little bit of cardboard with actual raw wool stapled to it.

Milestones – history of the Australian wool industry said...

By the mid 1920s, nearly half the wool clip is still bought by Britain, but Japan and US are emerging as major buyers at auction sales throughout Australia.
By the 1930s, wool represents over 62% of the total export value of primary
products. Australia’s fine wool is in great demand worldwide.
In 1936, at the request of woolgrowers, legislation is passed requiring them to pay a tax on all wool produced and sold in Australia. The proceeds are devoted to wool promotion. The Australian Wool Board is established.
Prosperity in the wool industry peaks in 1950-51, when the average greasy wool price reaches 144.2 pence per pound.

Joe said...

In primary school in 1950s Sydney, we also learned about the key wool trade. For a century, the wool industry gave Australia's economy great wealth from primary exports. And by the 1950s, Australia was riding the sheep’s back to the good life.

Maitland Historical Society said...

Helen, When I visited the Australian Museum of Clothing and Textiles in Maitland, I thought of you immediately. It collects and displays home-made and commercial clothing, from Australia’s earliest industries. With the enthusiastic community of Maitland, the museum opened in 2005, and has continued to grow over with great community donations. We particularly enjoyed the mend and make do items illustrating the make-do keenness of Australians during the Great Depression and both wars.

Maitland and District Historical Society Inc.

jabblog said...

I wonder what Geelong would have been had sheep not been imported to Australia. Its history should be more widely known outside Australia.

Margaret D said...

Interesting about the sheep, Hels. The photos are good as well. They, the sheep sure did arrive early in the piece.
We have Waverley Woolen Mills in Launceston. My parents gave me a beautiful woolen throw when I was 17 and still have, it's like new still.

Ирина Полещенко said...

Thank you, Helen! It's a great museum! I've got to know about the wool trade!

hels said...

River
Riding on the sheep's back really was important when Australia was a new nation, barely federated and far from the British motherland. In primary school, I was very proud of my woollen pleated skirt and woollen jumper.

hels said...

Milestones
Thank you for giving the material some sort of meaningful analysis over time eg wool provided 62 percent of all primary products exported. No wonder our wool was on such demand world wide.

hels said...

Yes indeed. Wool, wheat and meat kept Australian exports strong, long before iron ore and coal.

hels said...

Daniel
You are a great friend, thank you. Maitland may be only museum in Australia that is solely focused on clothes. Not just wool, of course, but that is fine. Shoes and hats might be equally as important.

hels said...

jabblog,
Good point. Geelong was always only the second biggest city in Victoria, so it had to concentrate on just a few important industries - wool, port facilities and manufacturing. Nowadays it is also noted for its holiday facilities, beaches and sports.

hels said...

Margaret
Thank for the reference to Waverley Woollen Mills. Its main contribution to wool history in Tasmania seems to have been re weaving. The photos of the treasures show beautiful textiles.

Luiz Gomes said...

Bom dia. Um excelente domingo, com muita paz e saúde minha querida amiga. Através do seu maravilhoso trabalho, tenho oportunidade conhecer novos lugares e museus maravilhosos.

My name is Erika. said...

I never think of Australia and wool, but I should. It's not surprising since the European colonizers came from a country full of sheep .

mem said...

i love that museum and it really is such a shame that we no longer produce the beautiful woven textiles that we used to . The quality and design of what was woven in Geelong was second to none . Australia is still producing Wool Jersey but I am not sure where and who does it . new Zealand still weaves beautiful wool Jersey which is machine washable and a wonderful fabric . I love dressmaking with wool .It is a wonderful fiber to work with .

peppylady (Dora) said...

That's a lot of wool.

hels said...

Erika
When European colonisers, farmers and workers flooded into Australia, they couldn't believe the vast expanse of agricultural land, not ruined by dense settlements, floods, wolves and wars. No wonder sheep looked like a very tempting industry.

hels said...

mem
I suppose eventually synthetic materials were cheaper, easier to wash and more flexible in size than pure wool (or pure cotton or silk). But synthetics can rarely match the beauty of real wool.

And other thing. Companies could make FAR more profits exporting coal, iron ore, gold and timber than they could raising sheep.

I will have to do some reading about New Zealand, many thanks.

hels said...

peppylady
Australia produced 325kgs of wool in 2022, a quarter of the world's total!

Hels said...

Luiz
an excellent museum is one that displays and documents the objects of a given era or theme in a visibly coherent way. As you have done yourself with the fine Brazilian museums and galleries!
I was very pleased with how the National Wool Museum in Geelong showed off its displays.

Gattina said...

I wonder under what conditions the poor sheep were brought from Europe to Australia. A lot of them probably died. At least there was plenty of space and good grass for the others when they arrived ! Interesting how the different industries were created.

Jo-Anne's Ramblings said...

I knew nothing about the sheep industry, yes I knew it was a big deal way back when, this was really interesting

hels said...

Gattina
That may well have been true in the early decades of bringing sheep to Australia in ships, but once expensive Merino sheep were brought here, every care was taken to protect the investment. Merino wool was soft, fluffy, clean and very popular
an

Hels said...

Jo-Anne
Sheep and wool were both interesting AND important for early Australia. In the first case, raising sheep was hugely successful, and accounted for the most financially important export. But even more impressive (for us) was that wool products from here were very well made and cleverly designed. And the fleece was eventually used for products that had never required classy wool before eg elegant coats

hels said...

Irina
The wool industry was critically important in this country, from raising and shearing the sheep to processing the wool and keeping the exports booming. The museum is therefore essential for younger generations who don't remember those days.