Curious items at FJs

Part of the fascination with old abandoned buildings is seeing what was left behind, coming across the weird and wonderful, and trying to ascertain what use objects and equipment were put to.
The Fletcher Jones building was no exception. It has a number of items in storage/limbo, including this weather-vane. Interestingly the lower part of the stem is black-painted wood, not metal.


Unsure what these “boxes” were until I went down to the FJ Clearance Centre to see that each is the centre section of the free-standing display racks. I was unable to get any closer as they are surrounded by pink fluro paint indicating the presence of asbestos.


One of the pallet loads of electrical equipment in the Cutting Room.

These fans and light fittings have been removed from the Machine & Cutting rooms. There had been plans to have the Mill Market stalls operate from the Machine Room, so lots of fittings and ducting were taken out in preparation.

More light fittings, half-dismantled air-condition ducting & a water tank

The water tank is one of the rain collection devices (includes wheelie bins, sawdust piles) scattered through the site. As was evident on the drizzly day I was there, the roof is leaking to a variety of levels. Some of the flashing/gutters in the saw-tooth ridges are almost rusted out, in other sections, water is finding its way through the partially dismantled ducting. Pools of rain-water are lie on the board floors, drip down into the FJ shop, and leave stains and blistering paint on the walls.

The imprints of rain drops dripping into a pile of sawdust, it is following the outline of the ducting above.

The trapdoor in the Machine Room floor leading down into a shelved storage area. How, why? - escapes me.

This doorway leads into the further room, but the ceiling is only about 4,8”-5’ high - in line with the bottom of that brown partition – again I’m at a loss to work it out. Or did FJs employ 'Umpa Lumpas'?

This was taken through a dark doorway 90 degrees and a few feet away from the previous photo. It is a utilites space, but looking back towards that trapdoor area, so not basement level, maybe a result of the initial quarry area that the sub-floor is now on different levels




Signs 1. The main FJ sign (behind the tree, the full sign says Fletcher Jones & Staff. 2. The FJ roundel has been an advertising feature since the 1930s, there was one on a pillar of the concrete anchor fence and the Lava Street elevation of the sewing room, and a central tower built between the canteen and the cutting room (the location of Fletcher Jones’ office). The tower & signage above the first floor level has been removed. 3. An FJ slogan in the Pressing/Dry cleaning area “Quality above all”, and it was - FJ were famous for their mens suits and box-pleated skirts. 4. Maybe it was “No walkway” when the equipment filled the Machine Room, now it hangs above an empty space. 5. “Any person or persons riding on stacker hoist will be instantly dismissed” no three strikes and you’re out in those days. 6. The sign above a chute hole from the Machine Room to the floor below.

So endeth my visit to the Fletcher Jones site, it was an eye-opener. Again thanks to the Mill Market people for giving up their time to guide me round.

FJs Machine room

The Machine room is the largest space in the Fletcher Jones factory. This chamber now empty was once filled with machinery - most probably noisy machinery.

Ramp leading up from the aircraft huts area to the Machine Room – dark and lots of pipes and dripping water

The huge space which was the Machine Room

still with some of the fittings and piping on the floor

with a wide variety of floor surfaces from still good looking timber, lino, concrete, & chipboard

There aren’t many photos of the factory operating, but I did find a few in the State Library of Victoria’s Picture Collection. These pics were taken in 1988 by Vivienne Mehes.

Anna Forti, an examiner began work at Fletcher Jones in 1974

Vincenzo Bartucca a tailor/machinist in the ladies wear section began work in 1969 in the trousers production section.

Machinist Frances Ho with Luigi Zoran a tailor/machinist in the trousers section began in 1959

The Office/Managerial section leading off from the Round Room at the front of the building. It is a series of small offices, some more appealing than others, especially some of that 1960s décor and colour schemes.

The final post - the odd things still at FJs

FJs Gardens

The ornamental gardens established for the FJ workers was commenced in 1949, and extended westwards in 1951. The manicured landscape consists of flowerbeds, lawn rockeries, pergolas, a sunken garden and pond, a number of sculptures, and several large floral baskets.

The fountain

While there are few photographs of the interior of the FJ factory, there is a plethora of photos of the gardens, and here are some of mine to add to the list.

The Rotunda

New owner Ian Ballis has used the site to lease to a number of tenants: the Warrnambool branch of Laser Strike - a combat simulation enterprise, who have set-up several rooms and levels of the old factory as a fantasy combat battlefield. Till February 2010 that is, when an asbestos scare joined a string of problems the Fletcher Jones building has encountered with the poisonous material.

And just comparing then and now (the black & white photo was taken from in the FJ Clearance Centre)

Nearby is the Fletcher Jones Clearance Centre, still selling suits, etc, and it has a quaint old-fashioned feel about it. It is here that there are a number of small displays and artefacts of the FJ story and a mural of the history of fashion and costume.
At the Flaxman Street end of the site are: the Triton Woodworkers Club operating on the ground floor, alongside the Opportunity Shop. Up the drive is the All Nations Church.
At the opposite end and covering two levels is the Mill Market a number of antique, secondhand and art/craft stalls operated by local people. I spent ages wandering around, checking out the arty stuff, nearly bought one of the fat little metal fish. I was fascinated by the number of LP records – the old stuff, but also covers I recognised from the 70s the final hurrah for vinyl. Again I was cursing throwing out or trashing old stuff that we owned, the classic, the kitsch, and the memories they conjure up I ended up buying two little teddies – cute as.

Unfortunately time has been unkind to the Fletcher Jones site. This lamp-post is systematic of the state of the site, old grandeur left to decay. I don’t have the answer or the money, but it is so sad and disappointing that nothing is being done to save it before it is too far gone.

Next post - the Machine room.

Wild thing

How difficult would it be to produce a 97 minute film from the wispy threads of a ten-sentence book? The DVD adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s much-loved children’s tale Where the wild things are is one attempt.
It is the story of troubled nine year-old Max. In the film's early scenes – we get the tone of Max’s existence – on a snowy day, the spoiled and stubborn Max builds an igloo on the footpath near his house. When Claire his older sister and her teenage friends arrive, Max throws snowballs at them and a snowball fight ensues. Max retreats to his igloo, but the teenagers jump over it and destroy it. The upset Max tracks snow through Claire's room and trashes his present to her.



His mother seems more interested in her boyfriend, so Max, not getting what he wants, throws a tantrum, biting his mother and runs away from home wearing his wolf-suit. Max not only runs away physically, but runs toward a world in his imagination. He sails off in a small boat to a remote island inhabited by large wild beasts. Using his ability to improvise tall tales, he has them believing that he’s a king of a distant land, with special powers. Instead of eating him they befriend and make him their leader. Max yells "let the wild rumpus start" and the wild things and Max dance and run around the forest destroying things.
Wild Thing Carol (of similar temperament to Max) shows Max his secret hideaway (really Mount Arapiles), where he has built a miniature of the island. Max and the Wild Things agree to build a large fortress of rocks and sticks, but tension mounts between Max and the Wild Things when they begin to think Max isn't a good king. They have a dirtball fight where the Wild Things get injured. Discovering he isn't a king and has no powers, Max decides it's time to go, he sails home where his mother welcomes him with open arms and feeds him.
This plot is similar to the original book, but while it was definitely a kids book, this film is directed at a teenage/adult market, ‘specially as it is rated PG, but I’m not sure it has hit the mark. Would teenagers recognise the angst and relationships the characters encounter?

The wild things are the true stars of the film. The creatures are portrayed by actors in 6-8 foot tall costumes, with additional animatronics and computer-generated faces created by the Jim Henson Company. The film builds a vivid, startling world of forests and deserts, filmed in Victoria as it offered all the locations required (sand dunes, ocean views, green and burnt-out forests, and mountains) – with a couple of scenes of Carol’s hideout at Mount Arapiles– and the world was part-built in Pomomal. The fake trees and rocks used and abused by the characters were built of polystyrene at Pomonal.

(Newspaper articles from the Wimmera Mail Times)

It has its web presence

Where the wild things are was published back in 1963, it won the Caldecott Medal the next year. In 2009
Dave Eggers wrote the screenplay for the film and the adults book The Wild Things. The book adapted from the original has even more facets (it has Max’s parents divorced, with his immature & romantic father living in the city).
Just a couple of trivia points:
* Though their names are not mentioned in the book, Maurice Sendak named the Wild Things after his aunts and uncles
* When Max is standing on a pile of books in his room, the spine of one of them is Where the Wild Things Are.

FJs buildings

The 2.3 hectare Fletcher Jones site has 1.1 hectares of buildings, several of which are heritage-listed.

Fletcher Jones bought a number of war surplus structures from the Army, these buildings were used as the cutting rooms, sewing rooms and the canteen.


The Canteen overlooking the Gardens


The opposite end of the Canteen looking out to the sea – reputedly one of the best outlooks in Warrnambool – just not on this overcast day


The Canteen Kitchen and fridges (check out the FJ fashion poster beside it)


In 1949 a Quonset hut was acquired and used as a dry-cleaning plant and alterations department.


A Bristol building was erected in 1951 to house the mail order and accounts departments. Between 1951 and 1974 the factory had numerous alterations and extensions.
The Round Room was built in 1951.

The lower portion of the Round Room, it has a raised platform below the windows



The 40 metre high Water Tower was built for fire protection and as a supplement to the sprinkler system in 1967, its massive concrete foundations extend through the building, holding up a total weight of 200 tonnes of water.

Have to hope that rust isn't an issue for the tank and its legs 'cos a collapse of that magnitude would not bode well for the chances of the roof below coping with a deluge.


The factory and gardens are listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. It has listed 19 items on the site for protection including the canteens, sewing room, Quonset hut, round room and stairs plus the water tower.


Vandalism has been and is still an issue.

My thanks to the Mill Market people who took the time to guide me through the site.
Next FJ posting - the Gardens

The FJs era

The front drive showing the Round Room & the Canteen windows on the right

The Fletcher Jones Factory and Gardens at the Pleasant Hills site in Warrnambool, was established in 1948 by David Fletcher Jones. It is probably the most photographed industrial site in Australia. Originally a tip and quarry, early on it was considered a shanty town collection of buildings. The company became renowned for the quality of its clothing and for Fletcher Jones’ progressive approach to employer/employee relations and shareholding scheme. At its height FJs had almost 3,000 employees in 4 factories and in the 33 stores through-out Australia.

The site as a quarry in 1890

"On the road - 1918" display in the FJ Clearance Centre

FJ was born on August 14th 1895 in Bendigo one of 7 children. He left school at 13 because of a stuttering speech impediment. He held down various jobs, and enlisted in the AIF (he gave his trade as orchardist) in 1915 he served overseas, including at the Battle of Fromelles, until he was wounded and invalided home with trench fever. In 1918 he obtained a loan from the Repatriation Department and entered the rag trade and began hawking with a horse-drawn wagon and later to a panel van, in the Western District of Victoria and South-east South Australia, offering quality and value, and believing 'the customer was always right'

In 1924 he opened specialty shops in Warrnambool and Hamilton. In 1941 he decided to concentrate on manufacturing trousers. The first Melbourne store opened in Collins Street in 1946, it was besieged by customers with queues stretching for blocks under signs proclaiming “Fletcher Jones of Warrnambool—nothing but trousers. 72 scientific sizes. No man is hard to fit”.

He turned the business into a co-operative in 1947 with the name Fletcher Jones & Staff replacing the Man's Shop of Fletcher Jones Trousers. He expanded with shops in Adelaide, Sydney and Hobart. In 1950 he opened an After Sales shop (with 48% staff owned) in Flinders Lane in Melbourne. The 50s and 60s saw an expanding range of Fletcher Jones services and products: an extension of the range of garment fabrics, a non-profit after-sales cleaning and repair service, and diversifying in 1956 to make women's skirts and slacks. FJs made the skirts for the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games, and designed the 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games uniforms. In 1992 FJs ended their employee share ownership (which had grown to 70%) when the company was bought by Pelaco, then in 1995 it was taken over by Ted Dimmick and Peter Pausewang.

The FJ letterhead

The Warrnambool City Council bought the complex in 1992 for $750,000 to enable the struggling Fletcher Jones factory to continue. The last shift of workers at the Warrnambool site finished in 2005, ending an industry which at one stage had more than 1,000 employees at the Pleasant Hills site. In 2004 a Warrnambool City Council audit found the historic building to be riddled with asbestos. Faced with a $1.62 million bill to remove the hazardous substance, the Council chose to sell the building instead for $1.5m in December 2007 to Ian Ballis.

Two years ago the building suffered $20,000 worth of damage when the broken sprinkler system flooded the site. While workers cleared the saturated ceiling, they discovered holes in the walls which renewed the asbestos fears. However the sprinkler system is no longer a threat, here in the Laser Strike area, a chain of plastic buckets dangle from each sprinkler.

David Fletcher Jones was awarded an OBE in 1959, and knighted for his services to decentalisation and the community in the 1974 New Years Honors List. He retired in 1975 due to failing health and died in 1977 at Warrnambool and is buried in the local cemetery.
Fletcher Jones had a progressive approach to employee benefits, the innovative scheme of shareholding and initiatives, and services based on co-operative and consultative principles. It was one of the largest clothing manufacturers in Australia, utilising an unusual and successful integration of surplus military structures, buildings and modernist façade in a factory setting.

The rear of the factory in Lava Street

More on th FJ site in following posts

Historic pub blaze

A blaze at Warrnambool’s Criterion Hotel on February 22nd 2010, extensively damaged the Kepler Street pub and led to 13 and 14-year-olds being charged with arson and burglary offences. The teens were spotted by a crew on its way to the fire after a description had been provided to police.
More than 65 members from Warrnambool and local brigades were called in. Firefighters used ladders to gain access to the top floor and broke open the front door. A specialist fire truck had to travel from Ballarat to help extinguish the blaze inside the historic hotel.
Fire bursts out the top storey windows early in the blaze
(Fire photo and story from the Warrnambool Standard)

It appears to have started at street level, inside the entry off Kepler Street at the base of the stairs. The building has been declared structurally sound by Warrnambool City, the interior is in a dangerous state, The ground floor is mainly smoke and water damaged The top floor is gutted and the accommodation area was severely damaged and the tiled roof destroyed. The whole roof gave in from one end to the other. There is asbestos roofing involved and that will have to be removed.

The Criterion which opened in 1872 closed its doors in January 9, 2008. It had been a well-known venue for live bands Owners of the venue shut the hotel while having talks with Warrnambool City Council for more than two years about its plans for offices, lounge bar and nightclub that had been constrained by heritage concerns over the historic Kepler Street building. Since then vandals had trashed the interior, and trespassers had been a problem on a weekly basis at the pub, which has been vacant for two years.

The owners of the building have since been in discussions with Heritage Victoria about $2 million plans to transform the old pub's interior into a modern, three-level office hub while the heritage-listed facade will be retained. Prior to the blaze, the owners were ready to proceed with the planned redevelopment, having sorted out heritage issues plan to turn the site into office space.

More about Warrnambool's abandoned buildings in next posts