Sunnyside Mill and Yarrowee River

 

Yarrowee River 

 

The Yarrowee River in the long period of Wadawurrung occupation, provided fish, duck, and eels from its waterholes and swamps.  The water was then clear as it meandered through the valley. From 1837, pastoralists took its water for their sheep and from the mid-1850s miners turned it to mud as the whole valley was sluiced and dredged. From 1873, the woollen mill used the water for scouring and to dispose of toxic residues from dyeing. Several tanneries also discharged poison into it. For decades the Yarrowee was the main drain for Ballarat’s streets and domestic and industrial waste. Even so, the market gardeners who lined the banks continued to grow the vegetables that fed Ballarat, and local dairy farmers watered their cows at the creek. In 1887, the Health officer declared “I would prefer to be without milk than have it from cows drinking such a liquid”. Raging floods washed away bridges, fences and gardens until the deceptively quiet Yarrowee was tamed by the channelling which by 1916 reached the woollen mill, from behind which it still flows freely. After all this interference, the original course has been lost. For the first thirty years of the suburb’s life (Mt Pleasant) the little Sunny Corner footbridge was the only way across the creek at Hill St. A cart bridge with three spans was built in 1886. The present single-span bridge with a reinforced concrete deck is the result of a realignment in 1916. 

Sunnyside Woollen Mill 

• Company formed October 1871 
• Site established June 1872. Prior to this the site was largely market gardens. (Owners compensated) and then known as Sunny Corner 
• Commenced operations June 1873 with one set of machines. 
• By end of 1886 had 40 looms and 130 employees and at its peak employed over 400. 
• By 1895 Mill was described as the most perfect of its kind in the southern hemisphere and became one of the largest of its kind in Australia.
•  In the 1970’s the Whitlam government dismantled tariff protections and by 1981 the mill was forced to close. This was a great loss for the predominately female workforce 

Sunnyside from Hill Street. [Photograph: L.J. Gervasoni]

Flannels and blankets were first made, and then fine cloths and tweeds. The greater part of the clothing for the Victorian militia was made by the company. An avenue of honour commemorating employees who served in the war was planted in Hill Street in 1918. 

Mining infrostructure in the foreground and market gardens down along the river.

(Ballarat art gallery) Here too you can see the extensive Chinese market gardens in the foreground

BALLARAT WOOLLEN FACTORY. Ballarat Star (Vic. : 1865 - 1924), Thursday 8 March 1877, page 3

Probably no manufactory has excised public interest and occupied public attention here so much as the woollen mill. The foundation of a new and important industry here in 1871 was eagerly welcomed 

by all, while dissension among the shareholders and troubles at the mill have often kept the company rather prominently not to say unpleasantly, before the public. However, it is a long lane that has no turning, and the Woollen-Company seem now to have fairly turned the corner of their non-success. Considerable stress was lately laid upon the fact that over 70,000 yards of flannel had been made by the company and remained unsaleable, while tweeds were in demands since the beginning of 1877 much of this really fine flannel has been sold, and shawls and other articles in stock are moving off steadily. Orders were received before the close of 1876 for 25,000 yards of tweeds and these again will be completed in little over six months from their present date. The mill hands are contented, and everything is going off smoothly there, though to complete the “tweed" orders the weavers and others of the operatives work every night until nine o’clock. Thus, it is fairly enough anticipated that by June, the date of the next-half-yearly balance, not only will the season’s orders have been supplied, but the flannels, tweeds, &c., now in stock - will be cleared, off and everything be ready for a new and successful start. This may seem too sanguine but with the increasing demand for Ballarat goods, and every appliance in the way of machinery for turning, out these goods in quantity, it is fair to assume that the company with ordinary luck should now he successful. It is a significant fact that Mr Wilson, the present mill manager about to start on his own account at Soldiers Hill, and only remains at Sunnyside until a gentleman arrives from England to take his place. The new mill manager is expected here in about a month, and upon him will depend in a great measure the quality of the goods turned out in future. Anyone who is fond of looking at labour-saving machinery and the process of weaving, cannot do better than pay a visit to the mill at Sunnyside. An order to inspect from the manager is necessary, and upon producing this the visitor will have every attention shown him. All wool used at the mill has to be first washed and scoured, after which some of it is dyed. The dyer at a woollen mill is a very important personage, well-paid, and jealous of his trade secrets. Logwood is largely used in dying, and after it has been used, the logwood water is allowed to run into the creek which curls round Sunnyside. Some Chinese gardeners living near thought, when the mill was first opened, that they had made a haul in getting this logwood decoction for manure. They used it sedulously for weeks to such good effect that their cabbages died, and even the sturdy dock weed shrivelled up. They have given up the use of logwood as a manure and are now averse to similar experiments in gardening. Well, the logwood, &C., having been used, the wool is teased and burred; that is, scraped and torn, to free it from burrs, and knots. The machines doing this work go by the names of “the willy” and “the devil;" the latter may have derived its name from the fact that it is much used to tear up rags and rubbish for the ultimate manufacture of the deceitful shoddy. The next process, the; scribbling and carding, introduces us. to the large bail of the factory, where iron-is rampant, everywhere, as power-looms, great flywheels, and rollers with sharp, ferocious-looking teeth. Here pretty girls flit about, some with dirty oil-smudged faces and black hands, while others, “pickers,” waiting for a fresh piece of cloth knit or crochet. Black flock floats about, and rests in masses, like dirty snow, upon- every- beam and projection, while wool' in every conceivable shape is to be seen. A machine just introduced is “Apperley’s feed and roper," which, taking; the wool loosely scribbled (that is, combed out) from one machine, feeds it into another. The feeding machine loosely twists the light wool into a rope, which has to travel some distance, and which, from its being coiled, is not likely to be broken by a stray gust of wind. The scribbled wool is next spun by “mules," attended to principally by boys, very dexterous in picking up broken threads and knotting them. In clothmaking the strong yarns which run lengthways are called "warps", and those more fragile ones which fun across “wefts.” The warps have to be cut exactly of the length of the cloth-piece to be made, and then arranged one after another on a frame as the pattern indicates. This' is done by a machine just introduced, “Thornton’s warping machine,’ which needs wonderfully little attention. It is also to some measure done by hand, and the warper’s. is a very busy billet. Girls deft of hand and light of foot, make good warpers, and those at Sunnyside flit backwards and forwards, singing as they go, until before the day’s work is done, they have walked many miles. It is clean work, and the girls seem to enjoy it. They have a funny custom bf returning across the frame backwards, and certainly get over the ground in this crab fashion with great celerity. A twisting machine for making differently shaded yarn, and a winding machine, both by Sykes and Sons, Huddersfield, are very ingenious, and are attended to by boys and girls. The weaving is done by women as well as by men, the looms used being the Jacquard loom, the plain loom, and the hand loom. Weaving is very monotonous work, but eye, hand, and foot are simultaneously at work, and any neglect would spoil the pattern. A hand-loom weaver much resembles, with his earnest gaze at his pattern and ceaseless motion of. hands and feet, a musical enthusiast playing on a very fine organ. Some women make very good weavers, and the mechanical and yet absorbed way in which several of the Sunnyside weavers work always surprises the visitor. After the cloth has been woven it is scoured, white threads are -picked out by quick-fingered “picker " girls, and it is milled or thickened. It does not now show the pattern plainly, and is covered, with-a glossy nap. This nap is raised or scratched up by a teasel roller, and then the cutting machine removes it. It is stained, brushed, examined by burlers and drawers—women who repair any little rent—and is then fit for the warehouse. The Ballarat tweeds owe their new and tasteful patterns to the skill of a genius (formerly employed at Bliss famous west of England manufactory) who, indulging a love of travel, wandered to Victoria, not expecting to find a woollen factory at the antipodes. About 150 operatives are employed at Sunnyside, there being about equal numbers of men, women and boys. All are paid by piecework, so that the more they do the better are they paid. The designer and loom-tuner, the dyer; and, of course, the-mill manager are well paid, as befits the importance of their offices. The operatives are at present as busy as they can be, and seem thoroughly contented and amenable to authority, so that should the new mill manager take up Mr. Wilson’s position properly everything should promise a satisfactory and lucrative career fur the Ballarat Woollen Mill. 

BALLARAT WOOLLEN MILLS.

OPEN ON FACTORY DAY.  Ballarat Star (Vic. : 1865 - 1924), Thursday 18 October 1917, page 4

The merry clang of machinery and the movement of hundreds of hands and thousands of fingers tending the machines are outstanding evidences of industrial activity at the Ballarat Woollen Mills. This establishment, which is regarded as one of the most up-to-date in Australia, is a huge hive of intricate and wonderful machinery, without which, of course, intensive pro-duction would be impossible. In ad-dition to the machinery for transform-ing the yarns into cloth, and which oc-cupy the largest part of the floor space, provision is made for dyeing the ma-terials when made. The mills, which will be open for inspection on Factory Day, Friday next, constitute one of the outstanding features of the industrial life of Ballarat. They give employ-ment to over 400 persons, and for the past few years have been paying good dividends to the shareholders in the company, of which the Mayor of the City (the Hon. A. Bell, M.L.C.). is the energetic chairman. Since its incep-tion in 1889 the company has seen many vicissitudes, and had it not been for the manner in which several share-holders stuck to it in the early years — when no dividends were being received — in all probability the company would now be extinct, and the mills non-existent. Shortly before the outbreak of the war the chairman of the company visited England, and on its behalf purchased a quan-tity of new machinery, which has proved to be invaluable in the busy year just passed. At the beginning of 1916 the mills were commandeered by the Defence Department for the manufacture of khaki cloth. This continued until April of the present year, when they were released for or-dinary trade. Under the management of Mr Ashley, the mills have made rapid strides, economy and efficiency going hand in hand in the production of materials. The decrease in im-ported stuffs, consequent upon the war, has given a great fillip to the com-pany, and at the present time the mills form one of Ballarat's most thriving industries. The company has sufficient orders for tweeds, serges, blankets, and flannels in hand to keep the mills work-ing at pressure until the end of 1919. These orders come from all parts of Australia, for the productions of the Ballarat Woollen Mills have earned a wide and high reputation for their quality, durability, and finish. The present capital of the company is £90,000. In the 28 years since the formation of the company the sum of £132,135 has been paid in dividends. The future of the company is one of great hope and possibility. At an early date it is the intention of the com-pany to erect new offices and ware-houses on recently-acquired ground in front of the present buildings.