Conveyor at Bradmill Denim, an old coal conveyor used to feed to the boiler furnace.

Series · 27 prints

Bradmill Denim

Photographed 2011 - 2012
Frames 27
Camera NIKON D7000
Location Victoria, Australia
Status Mixed-use residential redevelopment
Specs 40,000 bales of cotton processed per year · Third-largest water user in Victoria
01 ABOUT THIS SERIES

Series story

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

Bradmill Denim ran in Yarraville, Victoria, through the second half of the twentieth century. Bradford Cotton Mills, the parent company, was founded in Sydney in 1927 and expanded into Victoria in 1940. Bradmill became Australia's sole manufacturer of indigo denim from 1945, the year denim production began.

By the 1970s Bradmill Industries was Australia's largest textile manufacturer, with around seven thousand employees across fifteen sites in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. The Yarraville plant alone consumed forty thousand bales of cotton a year and was the third-largest water user in the state. First indigo dye in 1962. Stretch elastomeric yarn from 1966. The plant went into receivership in the early 2000s and the buildings sat empty before the site was redeveloped by Frasers Property and Irongate as Bradmill Yarraville. The original boiler house and conveyor systems were photographed before demolition. When Bradmill closed, Australia stopped manufacturing indigo denim domestically.

Frasers Property (Bradmill Denim Factory history), Frasers Property (Bradmill Yarraville development history) and Specialised Textiles Australia (history page)

02 TIMELINE

Chronology

1927
1940
1945
1962
1966
1975
2002
2020
03 PRINTS

Prints in this series

Conveyor at Bradmill Denim, an old coal conveyor used to feed to the boiler furnace.
Conveyor
Roto Feeder at Bradmill Denim, a Babcock Detroit Roto-Feeder sits square in the frame, its cast iron face blackened.
Roto Feeder
Tank at Bradmill Denim, lagged hot water tank from the top of the boiler house.
Tank
Doorway at Bradmill Denim, a heavy steel fire door marked "2" fills the end of a narrow brick corridor.
Doorway
Rear Boiler House at Bradmill Denim, shot from the rear of the boiler house showing to the top of the windows.
Rear Boiler House
Paint at Bradmill Denim, montana Black 400ml cans lined up on a concrete ledge, labels spattered and worn.
Paint
Hopper at Bradmill Denim, the bright daylight on the levels below worked well to create the dramatic effect in the dark.
Hopper
No Entry at Bradmill Denim, a scuffed No Entry sign hangs from a steel gate at the Bradmill compound.
No Entry
Fire Damage at Bradmill Denim, a section of the factory where the roof has collapsed due to fire damage.
Fire Damage
Lights at Bradmill Denim, steel beams cut diagonally across the frame, crossing pipes and structural columns inside.
Lights
Boiler Front Panel at Bradmill Denim, heavy cast-iron boiler fronts sit in a row along a red brick wall.
Boiler Front Panel
Plant Room at Bradmill Denim, dormant machinery and rusted pipes dominate the plant room at the Bradmill Denim factory.
Plant Room
Valves at Bradmill Denim, cast-iron valve wheels line a steel manifold, their spokes thick with grease and grime.
Valves
Blower at Bradmill Denim, motorised blower probably for feeding air to the boilers.
Blower
What You Got Is This Whole Miserable Subculture at Bradmill Denim, someone took the time to paint this across the full.
What You Got Is This Whole Miserable Subculture
Meters at Bradmill Denim, a steel control panel stands at the edge of the boiler floor.
Meters
Fisheye Boiler House at Bradmill Denim, a fisheye shot of the entire boiler house.
Fisheye Boiler House
BW Windows at Bradmill Denim, steel beams and steam pipes climb the full height of the boiler house wall.
BW Windows
Spring Valve at Bradmill Denim, a heavy cast-iron valve assembly dominates the right of frame, its spring mechanism coiled.
Spring Valve
Boiler House Walkway at Bradmill Denim, steel cross-bracing and diagonal pipes cut across a narrow elevated walkway inside.
Boiler House Walkway
T Section at Bradmill Denim, a heavy cast-iron pump valve sits bolted to the brick floor, its flanged body thick.
T Section
Blood Wars Buddy at Bradmill Denim, deep red block letters stretch across a concrete tilt-panel wall.
Blood Wars Buddy
Outside Boiler Plant at Bradmill Denim, galvanised pipes run along the brick face of the boiler plant, bolted at intervals.
Outside Boiler Plant
Hydraulic Machinery at Bradmill Denim, a yellow hydraulic power unit stands open on the factory floor, its gauges and valve.
Hydraulic Machinery
Chemical Plant at Bradmill Denim, a green dust extraction unit stands bolted to the red brick facade of a factory building.
Chemical Plant
Bus at Bradmill Denim, a decommissioned bus sits against corrugated steel cladding in a yard at the Bradmill site.
Bus
Fire Extinguisher at Bradmill Denim, a red fire extinguisher sits upright on a concrete floor thick with dust and fallen.
Fire Extinguisher
04 ABOUT THE PRINTS

How they’re made

Paper

Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm. Metallic Gloss 260 gsm for acrylic-mounted prints.

Sizes

Five sizes, XS to XL, from $100. Open editions in XS and S, limited editions in M, L and XL.

Print tiers →

Production

Made to order in 5 to 10 business days.

05 FIELD NOTE

From the field

Read all field notes
Series story · April 2026

Bradmill Denim: Inside the Yarraville Mill

The first time I walked through a gap in a fence and into an abandoned building, it was this one. Bradmill, Yarraville. I was on my way home from work. There was a section of fence missing. I...

Read the note