Woolstores in Geelong facts for kids

The wool industry was one of the first big businesses in the new colony of Australia. It greatly helped Geelong grow into a major center for selling and shipping wool. Geelong's location and the drive of its local business people made it perfect for sending Australian wool all over the world. As the wool business grew, large warehouses were built across Geelong. These buildings were used to store, check, sell, and transport wool bales from all over Victoria and even further away.

When the wool industry slowed down, these buildings were no longer needed for their original purpose. Some fell apart, and a few were even torn down. However, many surviving wool stores have now been given new uses. This helps Geelong keep developing while still remembering its past.

Geelong's Wool Stores: How They Were Built

Before the 1850s, wool storage in Geelong was scattered. Not many merchants dealt only with wool. But as wool became more important for the economy, local wool brokers realized they needed a central place for auctions and sales. C.J. Denny was a key person in starting these wool auctions in Geelong. He suggested some goals for setting up a Local Wool Mart in Geelong:

• To gather enough wool bales in one place for public sale. This would let owners compare their wool and buyers quickly check the lots.
• To attract buyers from everywhere with the amount and quality of wool at each sale.
• To organize the wool lots in a way that would bring in more buyers.
• To avoid the extra costs of sending wool to and from Melbourne's wool warehouses.

These goals influenced how the wool stores in Geelong were designed. New stores had to meet certain needs. These included their location, how much light and space they had, their size, how wool could be moved, and how well they were ventilated. In 1857, C.J. Dennys held the first wool auction in Geelong. As the wool industry grew, many modern wool stores were built, changed, and made bigger.

Dennys Lascelles & Co. Wool Store

In 1872, the Dennys Lascelles bluestone wool store was built. Architect Jacob Pitman designed the basement, and Jonathan Coulson designed the rest of the building. This wool store was very large, measuring about 40 meters by 20 meters.

Windows were on every side of the building. They were placed so that two rows of wool bales could fit between each window. This left a well-lit path between each double row of bales. These windows also helped with air circulation. The cellar, used for selling animal hides and skins, had a cement floor. With light from the windows, this floor helped keep ideal temperatures in both summer and winter. A main part of the building was the show floor, which was about 39 meters by 19 meters. The walls and ceilings were painted light gray to control the light. This was to help buyers and growers see the products very clearly when they checked them. The wool store was built on a slight slope, which made it easy for wagons to load and unload on the ground floor.

The 1872 wool store was the first building in Victoria designed to handle storing, checking, and selling wool all in one place. When it was finished, it was the second largest store in the colony. Over the years, additions were made to the bluestone building, including a special mansard tower in 1889. These additions showed small differences in their design.

In 1880, another building was put up to the west of the original one, on Brougham Street. While it used some ideas from the first design, this store was made of rendered cement. This material was more commonly used in construction at the time. The wool store was purposely built slightly out of line with the 1872 building's front. This made it look like it had only two floors, even though it actually had three.

In 1910, a big extension was added to the original 1872 building. It was made of reinforced concrete. Edward Giles Stone designed this new store. Stone was known for trying new designs and was said to have influenced building styles into the 1920s. The most impressive part of the building was its bow string truss roof system. This was a concrete roof span measuring about 55 by 52 meters. It was roofed without any columns in the middle. The saw-tooth roof trusses, which went through the giant curved concrete structure, let a lot of natural light into the building. This was perfect for viewing products on the new show floor. While it was once known as the Denny Lascelles Woolstore, it became known as the Bow Truss Building. Even though the building was listed on several heritage lists, it was sadly torn down in the 1990s.

Strachan & Co. Wool Store

Strachan & Co. had been involved with the wool industry since 1840. Their wool store complex shows a different design compared to the Dennys Lascelles buildings, which were just one block away.

In 1889, a two-story brick wool store was built. The front of the building had five sections with arched windows. The strong red brick walls were topped with a simple flat roof edge. This design directly influenced later wool stores built in the complex.

In 1896, a three-story part was added south of the original building, on Moorabool Street. Another extension was built in 1925 to cover the entire Moorabool Street and Corio Terrace fronts. The last addition was finished in 1954.

Even though the complex was built over 65 years, its style stayed the same. This gave the group of buildings a unified look. They can be seen as one complete structure, despite the long building period.

Dalgety & Co. Wool Store

The first Dalgety & Co. Woolstore was built in 1891. The new Geelong architecture firm, Laird and Buchan, designed it. The building was a two-story brick and render structure on Gheringhap Street.

The 1891 wool store design included a two-story warehouse and office building without a basement. It had solid brick walls and an enclosed timber roof, floor, and support system. This became the model for all later Dalgety's wool stores built on the site. In 1896, an extra story, a brick show floor, was added to the 1891 wool store. This addition copied the earlier structure in almost every way.

Another wool store was built in 1901. Like Strachan's Woolstore, it was made of red brick. However, its design was very different. The northeast side of the wool store had small windows. The front was unified by large arched brick panels. This design looked a lot like wool stores built in Sydney in the late 1890s. The overall shape and size of the store were similar to the 1891 building, but this one also had a basement.

In 1940, a three-story brick building with a basement was built at the corner of Gheringhap and Brougham streets. This also included a new front along the entire length of Gheringhap Street. Because of this, the original outside of the 1891 building was covered with red brick. This change was related to the new wool stores built in the 1950s and 60s. The 1940 wool store had some special features.

The building had a large show floor that could hold 55,000 bales of wool. It also had big sliding doors on the west and south sides. These doors helped with ventilation to control the temperature. The ceiling height was much taller. By using steel columns and roof trusses, the number of columns inside was reduced to just one row of seven in the center. The saw-tooth roof shape was kept, but its size grew a lot.

Geelong's Wool Industry: A Look Back

The Rise of the Wool Stores

Geelong’s wool stores are closely linked to the city's growth as a business center. They supported farming and agriculture in Victoria, especially the wool industry. The first Australian wool was sold in London in 1821 at Garraway’s Coffee House. This was a place where business people met and goods were auctioned. Between 1830 and 1850, Australian wool exports jumped from 892 tonnes to 18,791 tonnes.

The fast growth of the industry made the pastoralists (sheep farmers) very rich. The wool trade became very profitable. Local places for storage and sale were needed to help ship the wool. In 1840, James Strachan built the first wool store in Geelong. In 1857, Charles Dennys held the first wool auction in Geelong. This showed that a local wool trade was possible. Another result of the wool industry's rapid growth was that Geelong's population quickly increased. The small town became a busy seaport. Between 1841 and 1843, the population soared from 454 to 2,065 people.

At first, the growth of large wool companies in Geelong was limited by their money. However, by the 1870s, big investments from British banks and finance companies greatly boosted the industry. This made sure wool remained Australia's biggest export. Much larger wool stores were built all over Geelong and the country.

As a symbol of this economic growth, the Dennys, Lascelles Ltd wool store, built in 1872, now houses the National Wool Museum. It represents the popular design used for wool stores in Geelong and the wider area.

Geelong's growth as the wool industry's center faced competition. Melbourne saw itself as the main place for exports and sales. By starting wool sales in Geelong, Charles Dennys increased this competition. He argued that making Geelong the center would save money for local farmers. They would not have to pay for shipping their wool to Melbourne.

By the 1890s, wool made up two-thirds of Australia’s exports. This meant the industry created a huge number of jobs. Many of these jobs were centered around the wool stores.

Victoria was a strong center for union movements. Workers fought for better conditions and wages. The wool stores were part of this. The main unions involved in Geelong wool stores included the Amalgamated Fellmongers Woolsorters & Woolscourers Union of Australia, the Wool and Basil Workers' Federation of Australia, and the Federated Storemen and Packers' Union of Australia. Even if wool store workers were not striking, others in the industry were. Throughout the late 1800s, strikes by wharf workers meant wool could not be shipped. There were also big strikes by shearers in the 1890s.

The Decline of the Wool Industry

Two World Wars and a major economic downturn greatly affected the number of workers available and the demand for wool. They also impacted the price of wool. Although the industry had a short boom in the 1950s, the growing popularity of man-made fibers, rising production costs, and falling international prices threatened the industry. In response, the Australian government started a special scheme in 1974. This involved the government buying wool if the price dropped below a certain level. The scheme continued until 1991. By then, there was so much extra wool that it almost overwhelmed the Australian economy. The industry had to shrink, and mining became the main part of Australia's economy.

The wool stores in the Geelong area closed by the late 1970s. Well-known local companies like Strachan and Denny’s were bought in 1978 by the Australian Mercantile Land & Finance Company. This company had its main centers in London, Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane.

What Wool Stores Did

The Dennys Lascelles Wool and Produce Warehouse was the first building in Victoria designed to handle storing, checking, and selling wool all in one place. When it was finished, it was the second largest store in the colony. Special features developed in these storage buildings. For example, the entire ground floor was raised to a good height for loading from the street. This allowed for a basement underneath, where the wool press was located.

A wool store performed these tasks for wool growers and brokers:

• Receive wool
• House wool (keep it safe)
• Store wool
• Display wool for sale
• Dispatch wool (send it out)

Receiving Wool

From the 1870s, wool, skins, and hides were brought to the wool stores by bullock carts. They were then sorted, stored, and listed. At first, transport was mostly by carts, bullock wagons, and even riverboats that brought wool bales from outback farms. Later, trains and trucks took over. Wool continued to arrive and leave by land, sea, and rail. Special sorters and packers would sort the wool based on where it was going once it arrived at the stores. By the early 1950s, people realized that all this handling was not needed. Professional wool classers began to be hired on the farms, and the wool was properly packed at the start of its journey.

Housing Wool

Wool was weighed, moved, graded, baled, branded, stored, displayed, marketed, and sold. In multi-story 'wool-warehouses,' bales were moved on trolleys, by steam or hydraulic lifts, and dropped down chutes. In modern one-story wool stores, vehicles moved the wool. Improvements made to wool stores in the 1940s included metal gates for dividing wool, electric lifts, wool presses, and wool drops.

Wool brokers charged growers a fee for handling and selling their wool in the store. Brokers also offered other services like credit, banking, advice, and even hotel and travel bookings. They connected the wool grower to the wider world of business and international trade. Since clients, both buyers and suppliers, visited these buildings, the stores had to be comfortable and could not just be seen as big sheds. Changing rooms and showers were also put in larger wool stores for buyers and growers. Of course, there were also offices for wool valuers.

Storing and Preparing Wool

Right before grading, a process called 'skirting' happened. The goal was to make the wool fleece as even as possible by removing any wool that did not match the main part of the fleece. Once a fleece was handled, baled, and pressed, it was hard to skirt it further. Skirting and packing made the whole wool clip more valuable.

Classing was one of the most important jobs. This meant grading the skirted fleece completely. It required good knowledge gained from experience and practice. Wool was put into groups based on its class. First, wool was separated into "Woollen" and "Worsted" by wool sorters. Then, the fleece was graded based on these factors:

• Quality: This referred to how thin the wool fiber was. It was shown by how even and how many crimps (waves) the fiber had.
• Soundness: This was the fiber's strength, its ability to handle tension during the combing process.
• Length of staple: There were clear lengths for long, medium, and short wools for each quality.
• Condition: This was the amount of natural grease and moisture on the wool fiber.

Other important factors were:

• Color: Pure white wools were the most useful.
• Style: Things like character, clear color, shine, regularity, stretchiness, clear crimp, softness, and fullness all helped define seven different standards of wool style. These ranged from "Choice" or "extra super" to "Inferior."

After greasy wool was sorted and classed, it was scoured. All dirt, grease, sweat, and earthy matter were removed by washing it in a solution of soap and a weak alkali. "Carbonizing" was needed when burrs, seeds, or other plant matter could not be removed by other processes. "Carding" used fine wire teeth to remove foreign matter and straighten the fibers. The wool was then condensed into a soft rope called a "silver." "Backwashing" and "gilling" straightened the fiber, and sometimes oil was added to replace the lost natural grease. Finally, "combing" straightened the long fibers and removed all the short or imperfect ones. The rejected wool was called "Noil." The result was a continuous length of wool called a "top," which was ready for packing.

Displaying Wool

After the bulk classers sorted the wool, it was taken to bins. An overlooker checked it, and then it was made into bales for sale. These bales were sent to be shown using wool lifts. The warehouse show floors were designed to have plenty of space and light. This meant wool from different areas could be easily separated. One way this was done was by using saw-tooth roofs. The new wool stores built in 1872 made Geelong as good as Melbourne for wool sales. They were built specifically for wool, keeping in mind the needs for selling wool, including storage, inspection, viewing, and sales.

Wool owners could easily compare the condition of their wool. It also meant that buyers could quickly check the wool lots. On sale days, the wool was moved to the top floor, which had bright natural light. The bales were opened so potential buyers could inspect the wool. Often, samples were taken on the show floor to be assessed. The raw wool would be sold at auction and then sent out by road, rail, or sea.

Dispatching Wool

In Geelong, wool was brought down to the beach to be loaded onto a ship and delivered. When sending out wool, it needed to be packed well enough to survive the sea trip and later handling. This was first done by sorters and packers. After the 1950s, professional wool classers did this job. Bales waiting to be delivered were kept in warehouse stacks. Local orders were delivered right away. The first storemen lived on the wool store land, and these wool stores were built near various transport facilities.

Jobs at Dalgety's Store

Many people worked at Dalgety's store, including: Manager, Head Valuer, Valuers, Re-classers, Bulk classers, Pressers, Branders, Wool clerk, Receivals, Engineers, Sheep skins, Hides, Manager and Head Auctioneer, Paymaster and Office Master, Store Foreman, Cataloguer, Head Fossicker, Wool Manager, Auctioneer, Auctioneer/Office, Company Secretary, Traveller, and Receptionist.

Geelong and the Wool Industry: Then and Now

The story of the wool industry's decline is like a "riches-to-rags" tale. It was once a huge economic power that was the backbone of Australia's economy and a part of its culture. In the mid-1900s, Australia had the world's biggest wool industry. Yet, by the end of the century, the industry had shrunk to a third of its former size. This was due to problems with government economic and industrial policies.

The city of Geelong is very closely linked to the wool industry. For many years, the city was known as the 'wool center of the world.' Sheep farming started here in 1835, and many wool stores opened from the second half of that century onwards. Today, Geelong is becoming a major center for health, education, and advanced manufacturing. Even though it lost much of its heavy manufacturing, it is now one of Australia's leading cities outside of the capital cities.

Importance of the Geelong Wool Stores Historic Area

The Geelong Wool Stores Historic Area is very special because it is so complete and well-preserved. This area shows an important part of how the land in Victoria was settled. For Australians living in an industrial nation, the last century is very important. The changes made during that time created the foundation of their current society. Other important groups of wool stores exist in Australia, but they do not match the qualities of the Geelong Wool Stores. They were not built specifically for storing, handling, and selling wool.

So, the former Dennys Lascelles Woolstores are truly Australian. They represent the wool industry's history. These buildings meet several important criteria for historical significance. They are important to Victoria's cultural history, show high creative or technical achievement, and are linked to important people or groups in Victoria's history. They are also connected to the topic of "Building Victoria’s Industries and Workforce," specifically wool processing.

Bringing the Wool Stores Area Back to Life

As the wool industry declined, the wool stores and related business and industrial buildings became old and unused. Because of this, since the early 1980s, the Waterfront and Woolstores Conservation Area began a process of being brought back to life. New uses and modern creative ways of interpreting the buildings have been encouraged. The goal of this project is also to protect the inner city's look and its unique architectural style. The area has a consistent architectural design that gives the city and its port a special local identity.

To protect the beauty and history of the buildings, as well as the streetscape, the Greater Geelong Planning Scheme set up some rules. These rules make sure that any "external changes (would) make a positive contribution to the built form and (the) amenity of the area." At the same time, they raise awareness that these buildings are a legacy for future generations. They represent the community's identity. For example, the former Dalgety & Co. Woolstore became the Deakin University Waterfront campus. This project won an award for recycled buildings in 1997. This event marked the beginning of Geelong’s central business district coming back to life. It also showed the arrival of the modern age in the 'new Geelong.'

The 27 buildings in the Woolstores Conservation Area have found new purposes. Most are now used for entertainment, education, and tourism. Seven of them are now restaurants, bars, or event centers. Three are part of a shopping mall (Westfield Geelong). Two are offices. One is a university (Deakin University). Another is a hotel (Bush Inn Hotel). One complex is a Museum (National Wool Museum). Six buildings were torn down, and the current use of the remaining three is unknown. Geelong’s Woolstores Conservation Area was not the only one in Australia to go through these urban changes. Over the last two decades, other wool stores in Adelaide, Brisbane, Fremantle, Melbourne, and Sydney have also found new uses as apartments, offices, and shopping centers.

A Timeline of Geelong's Wool Stores

• 1838 - Geelong was declared a town. Two stores, the Woolpack Inn and a customs station, opened.
• 1872 - Construction of the former Dennys Lascelles wool store in bluestone (Moorabool Street). When it was built, it was the second largest wool store in the colony after Goldsborough & Co. in Melbourne.
• 1889 - The four-story brick complex of the Strachan, Murray and Shannon Woolstore (now housing the Westfield shopping center) was built.
• 1917 - The George Hague & Co. Woolstores were partly torn down.
• 1970-80 - The wool industry became weaker. The buildings became unused because of changes in how wool was sold and handled.
• 1988 - The National Wool Museum was created in the former Dennys Lascelles Woolstore on Moorabool Street.
• 1990 - The Bow Truss Building (built in 1910) was controversially torn down.
• 1996 - The Deakin University Waterfront campus was set up in the former Dalgety & Co. Woolstore.
• 1998 - The Westfield shopping center opened in three former wool stores. Today, only the front of the Strachan Woolstores Complex remains.
• 2000 onwards - Former wool stores and related buildings were redeveloped into modern facilities.