Stone Block Pile

The stone blocks in this photograph sit where they were left, on the dusty concrete floor of one of the manufacturing buildings that made up the former Davies Coop / Bradmill textile complex on Francis Street, Yarraville. The red brick walls behind them are covered in graffiti, layered up over years of dormancy. A rusting roof beam crosses the upper frame. Steel posts stand at intervals across the floor. Near an open doorway at the rear, a white structure catches what light comes through. There is no machinery visible here, no conveyor, no hopper. Just the stone, the brick, the dust, and what accumulated once the looms went quiet. The complex was developed by Davies Coop & Co. Ltd from 1952, when the company entered an agreement with the Bradford Dyers' Association Ltd of England, securing exclusive Australian rights to the "Rigmel" shrink-control process and establishing a wholly owned subsidiary, Davies Coop (B.D.A.) Pty. Ltd., to run dyeing and finishing on property already acquired at West Footscray. The dye house begun that year was expected to be finished by late 1954. The earliest manufacturing buildings on the site date from the same period, their south-lit sawtooth roofs carried on trussed structures, reflecting a transitional phase in industrial shed design. The site later operated under the Bradmill name as a major Australian denim and workwear fabric manufacturer. Textile production at the factory ceased around 2001, part of the broader collapse of Australian textile manufacturing as tariff protection was wound back and cheaper imports took hold. The site was finally vacated around 2007. By 2011, when this photograph was made, the buildings had been stripped and left open, their interiors accumulating graffiti, fire damage, and the kind of debris that gathers when a large industrial site sits idle for years. The former Davies Coop / Bradmill site is listed under the Maribyrnong Heritage Overlay HO125 for its architectural, historic, and social significance. The boiler house, proofing building, and canteen have been retained within the subsequent residential redevelopment. The manufacturing buildings documented here are part of the photographic record made in the window between abandonment and demolition.