The Mill
R S & S WOOLLEN MILL – HISTORY
A large Woollen Mill complex established in 1922 in order to provide employment to returned servicemen from the Great War as a community enterprise and still in operation, if at a reduced scale. It is architecturally significant as a characteristic office and factory of the 1920s, the former Romanesque and latter Jazz Moderne in style, with the leadlight brand symbol window of particular interest. It is historically significant as a surviving industrial enterprise from the 1920s still in operation, but particularly as evidence of community social enterprise in support of men returning from participation in an international government initiative.
The returned Soldiers and Sailors Mill has great historical significance as a major mill in the locality and region established after World War 1 by returned servicemen and helped by government bonds. The buildings have associations with two prominent local identities Robert Smith and Albert Schofield. The later was the first manager of the mill and played a major role in the development of the national textile industry.
The mill specialized in woollen worsted cloth and made use of a wide range of natural and artificial fibres. Specialty products such as the Monarch Rug, with rising sun motif, are identified with this industrial site.
The Geelong area was famed for its excellence of tweed and worsted suiting and historically it stood pre-eminent as a milling location in the state, this key river site represents a significant phase in the industry’s development and was a key milling enterprise regarded as a model venture using advances technologies.
The buildings were designed by notable local architects Purnell, Laird and Buchan and the foundations stone was laid in 1922 by the then Prime Minister W. M. Hughes.
The mill complex is significant as a building group representing development and technologies over the 1920s and 1930s in the textile industry in the region. Its key location and earlier aspirations to form a model suburb with the provision of workers housing are important aspects of site history and suburban development. The location of other structures such as the church hall and Sladen House are important reminders of the wide social ideal that was part of the sites evolution. *source: vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au

create | inspire | grow