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