Abandoned Staff Room

The staff room at the former Davies Coop / Bradmill factory on Francis Street, Yarraville sits exactly as it was left. Blue metal cabinets run in rows along the walls, their benchtops covered in bottles, jars and plastic bags. A pedestal fan stands near a brick partition beside a worn armchair. On a high shelf above the tall windows, tins labelled Roast remain in a line, undisturbed. Above it all, the ceiling has partially given way, exposing timber battens and peeling plaster. The Francis Street site was developed by Davies Coop and Co. Ltd from 1952, when the company formed a wholly owned subsidiary, Davies Coop (B.D.A.) Pty. Ltd., to run dyeing and finishing operations at West Footscray. The new dye house, built around the Bradford Dyers' Association's "Rigmel" shrink-control process, was underway by 1952 and reported as nearing completion in 1954. Davies Coop had purchased 40 acres at West Footscray for the purpose. The site later operated under the Bradmill name and became a significant Australian denim and workwear fabric manufacturer. The factory is locally heritage-listed under Maribyrnong Heritage Overlay HO125, recognised for its architectural, historical and social significance within the West Footscray and Brooklyn industrial precinct. Textile operations ceased around 2001, as tariff reductions made it difficult for domestic manufacturers to compete with cheaper imports. The site was vacated around 2007. By the time Brett Patman photographed it in 2011, the complex had been standing empty for several years. The staff room recorded here is one detail from a building that had housed a large and vertically integrated operation, now reduced to cabinets, scattered containers and a shelf of tins nobody came back for. Frasers Property Australia and Irongate have since redeveloped the site as Bradmill Yarraville, a mixed-use residential precinct, retaining the heritage-listed boiler house, proofing building and canteen.