Empty Warehouse Interior

The steel roof framing runs in regular bays above the concrete floor, skylights punching daylight down into a space that was once part of one of Australia's largest textile manufacturing complexes. Graffiti marks the brick walls from floor to mid-height. Stacked timber, pallets and scattered building materials sit along the far end of the floor, left behind during the years the site sat dormant. An enclosed office structure with windows occupies the full length of the right-hand wall, its glazing still intact. The factory on Francis Street, Yarraville, was developed from 1952 by Davies Coop and Co. Ltd, a vertically integrated cotton business that spun in Adelaide, wove in Sydney, and dyed and finished in Victoria. The West Footscray plant was built around a technical partnership with the Bradford Dyers' Association of England, which gave Davies Coop exclusive Australian rights to the "Rigmel" shrink-control process. A subsidiary, Davies Coop (B.D.A.) Pty. Ltd., was formed specifically to run dyeing and finishing operations on property already acquired at West Footscray. By 1954 Davies Coop reported a record net profit of 338,026 pounds, and the new dye house, started in 1952, was nearing completion. The site later operated under the Bradmill name, becoming a major Australian denim and workwear fabric manufacturer. Textile production ceased around 2001, as tariff protection wound back and cheaper imports made domestic manufacture unviable. The site was finally vacated around 2007. This photograph was made in 2011, during the years between closure and the redevelopment now underway. The factory is locally heritage-listed under Maribyrnong Heritage Overlay HO125, with the boiler house, proofing building and canteen retained within the Bradmill Yarraville residential precinct being developed by Frasers Property Australia and Irongate. What the photograph records, this particular interior with its roof, its graffiti, its accumulated debris, no longer exists in this form.