Job classification sign used to advertise vacant job positions at the entrance to Foster Valley Mill.Experiencedvalley worsted mill

Job classification sign used to advertise vacant job positions at the entrance to Foster Valley Mill.Experiencedvalley worsted mill

Sporting trophy used at Foster Valley Mill. Inscription reads "G.I.C.A., 1947-48, A Section Premiers"G.I.C.A., 1947-48, A Section Premierssporting teams textile mills - sporting teams, valley worsted mill foster valley mill pty ltd, sport, sporting teams, textile mills - sporting teams

Incomplete Salter spring scales used at Foster Valley Mill, to weigh 100 lb by 1/2 lb.

Interior view of showing machinery at Foster Valley Mill. Shows a wall mounted drive shaft which runs the machinery.Drive shaft for textile machinery within the Valley Mill.T. Lockwood Lockwood / GEELONGtextile mills - operation, valley worsted mill

Gramophone record - "My Gal Sal" / "Oh, the Pity of it All" by Freddy Martin. Used in the mending room of the Foster Valley Mill.textile mills staff, valley worsted mill, gramophone, record, textile mills - staff

Interior view of machinery at Foster Valley Mill. Shows the winding (or twisting) machinery (where the spun yarn is threaded onto bobbins).Spinning machinery within the Valley Mill.T. Lockwood Lockwood / GEELONGtextile mills operation, valley worsted mill, winding machinery, textile mills - operation

Interior view of machinery at Foster Valley Mill. Shows the winding (or twisting) machinery (where the spun yarn is threaded onto bobbins).Spinning machinery in the Valley Mill.T. Lockwood Lockwood / GEELONGtextile mills operation, valley worsted mill, winding machinery, textile mills - operation

Sporting trophy engraved with the words "G.I.C.A., B Grade, Valley Mill, Premiers, 1956-57". Used at Foster Valley Mill.Short, silver plated trophy with two handles and a wire grill on top of cup, set on a round bakelite base.G.I.C.A., B Grade, Valley Mill, Premiers, 1956-57sporting teams textile mills - sporting teams, valley worsted mill foster valley mill pty ltd, sport, sporting teams, textile mills - sporting teams, trophy

Depicts part of the textile mach inery used at Foster Valley Mill. This particular machine has something to do with steam - possibly an autoclave?Textile machinery from Valley Mill.textile machinery, valley worsted mill

Gramophone record - "This is worth fighting for" and "Wonder when my baby's coming home" by Kate Smith. Used in the mending room of the Foster Valley Mill.textile mills staff, valley worsted mill, gramaphone, record, textile mills - staff

Sporting trophy. Inscription on cup reads: "G.I.C.A. G T LYNCH Discipline Cup, won by Valley Mill 1941-42". Used at Foster Valley Mill.G.I.C.A., G T LYNCH Discipline Cup, won by Valley Mill 1941-42sporting teams textile mills - sporting teams, valley worsted mill foster valley mill pty ltd, sport, sporting teams, textile mills - sporting teams

Sporting trophy. The inscription reads "G.I.C.A. C. Simmonds Cup won by Valley C Club 1940-41'. GICA probably stands for Geelong Industrial Cricket Association. Used at Foster Valley Mill.G.I.C.A. C. Simmonds Cup won by Valley C Club 1940-41sporting teams textile mills - sporting teams, valley worsted mill foster valley mill pty ltd, sport, sporting teams, textile mills - sporting teams

Sporting trophy engraved with the words "G.I.C.A., B grade cup won by Valley Mills cc Premiers 1954-55". GICA probably stands for Geelong Industrial Cricket Association. Used at Foster Valley Mill.G.I.C.A., B grade,cup won by Valley Mills cc Premiers 1954-55sporting teams textile mills - sporting teams, valley worsted mill foster valley mill pty ltd, sport, sporting teams, textile mills - sporting teams

Spools used at Foster Valley Mill. Large bobbin to hold fine yarns like silk or mercerised cotton (slippery, shiny threads) Used in production ofmen's suiting fabric with a fine stripe or thread effect.

Sporting trophy. Inscription on trophy reads 'G.I.C.A., G V Spark Cup, Section Premiers. Won by Valley Mill 1941-42'. GICA probably stands for Geelong Industrial Cricket Association. Used at Foster Valley Mill.G.I.C.A., G V Spark Cup, Section Premiers. Won by Valley Mill 1941-42sporting teams textile mills - sporting teams, valley worsted mill foster valley mill pty ltd, sport, sporting teams, textile mills - sporting teams

Weaving is the interlacing of two yarns, one at right angles to the other. Yarns that run the length of the fabric are called the warp. Yarns that run across the fabric are called the weft. Most woven fabrics are produced on a loom. The warp yarns are raised to form an opening - the shed. The weft carrier, usually the shuttle, shoots through the shed. Then the warp yarns change position up and down. Finally, the weft is pushed tight against the previous yarns, gradually building up the fabric. Hattersley treadle loom (revolving box hand loom). Beam of loom was removed and sent to Foster Valley Mill in 1989 to be returned via Tom Crocker. The National Wool Museum gratefully acknowledges the contribution of Mr Fred Murgatroyd & Mr Bernard Tolan in making this Hattersley Loom Operational. Green painted Hattersley treadle loom (revolving box hand loom).weaving, george hattersley and sons ltd, weaving machinery, wool processing, loom, restoration

Nino Corda was a Geelong based textile designer who worked at various textile mills between 1957 & 2003. He travelled the world in search of the latest fashions and techniques and developed timeless designs that were much loved by Australians. These items are on rotational display at the National Wool Museum’s ‘In the Factory’ exhibition. For many years, Nino also worked as part of the Honorary Staff of the National Wool Museum. His passion for the world of textiles provided energy and knowledge to the visitors and staff of the museum. Although Nino has now retired from his honorary position and has hung up his Australian Tartan vest, these items will continue to serve the community in sharing the stories of Australian Textile design. This Suit Jacket was tailored from fabric designed by Nino while he was working at the Foster Valley Mill. Nino developed a Mastercard such as w8043, which was sent to a mill in order to produce bolts of the desired fabrics w8044. These fabrics were then given to tailors where the final product was produced, such as this Suit Jacket.Single breasted suit jack with two buttons and notched lapel. Jacket is predominantly grey with black buttons and a silver silk interior lining. Four darker grey vertical and horizontal lines make up the design of the fabric on the exterior of the suit jacket. suit jacket, weaved, tailored

Nino Corda was a Geelong based textile designer who worked at various textile mills between 1957 & 2003. He travelled the world in search of the latest fashions and techniques and developed timeless designs that were much loved by Australians. These items are on rotational display at the National Wool Museum’s ‘In the Factory’ exhibition. For many years, Nino also worked as part of the Honorary Staff of the National Wool Museum. His passion for the world of textiles provided energy and knowledge to the visitors and staff of the museum. Although Nino has now retired from his honorary position and has hung up his Australian Tartan vest, these items will continue to serve the community in sharing the stories of Australian Textile design. These three bolts of fabric come from the same run of fabric used to tailor Suit Jacket 8045. All fabrics were designed by Nino Corda while he was working at the Foster Valley Mill. The bolts of fabric have an attached swing tag. This swing tag details information such as composition of the fabric, total amount of fabric and the design number.Three bolts of fabric with repeating pattern in 100mm grid. All three bolts have frayed edges, indicative of their need to be sent for finishing. The dominant colour in all three fabrics is grey. 8044.1 has red and green lines running vertically and horizontally and an attached swing tag. 8044.2 has red and orange lines running vertically and horizontally and an attached swing tag. Fabric bolt has yellow label attached to one edge of fabric, depicting the fabric’s number. 8044.3 has orange and blue lines running vertically and horizontally. No swing tag is attached.8044.1. Swing tag. Typed wording. Front. foster / valley / Pty / Ltd. / (Incorporated in Victoria) 8044.1. Swing tag. Typed and handwritten wording. Reverse. JONO TAILORING / CALL NO……………. / DESIGN 6302-49-5 / PIECE NO 9528 / METERS 3.5 STRINGS…………… / NET METERS…………… / COMPOSITION / 70% WOOL 30% POLYESTER 8044.2. Swing tag. Typed wording. Front. foster / valley / Pty / Ltd. / (Incorporated in Victoria) 8044.2. Swing tag. Typed and handwritten wording. Reverse. left over (?unknown handwriting?) / CALL NO…………… / DESIGN 6302-49-2 / PIECE NO…………… / METERS 6.0 STRINGS…………… / NET METERS…………… / COMPOSITION / 70% WOOL 30% POLYESTER.textile design

On the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Uniforms donator Doug wrote- During the 1980s the Australian wool industry was at its most prosperous times with record numbers of sheep producing wool receiving ever increasing values due to the success of the Reserve Price Scheme, and the overall guidance of the Australian Wool Corporation (AWC). As a humble technician, my role was a low profile newly created position of “Controller, Technical Marketing” where wool was to be marketed on its technical properties, as distinct from the “Product Marketing Group” which exploited trhe traditional high profile approach of marketing wool;s superior fashion attributes. The Woolmark was the tool central to this approach. When the forthcoming Los Angeles Olympic Games was announced, the Product Marketing Group seized upon the chance to show the world that we could make top fashion garments and display them on our elite athletes on the world stage. A concept was launched using a contemporary top designer, Adel Weiss, with the most exclusive fabrics and knits available, and all with a lot of hype. This launch failed dismally for the following reasons- - The designer did a wonderful job presenting an excellent fashion range on perfect skinny models. The AOC however wanted a uniform which had an obvious Australian appearance when fitted to elite, and frequently muscular, athletes. - The fabrics chosen did not reflect the performance required by travelling athletes, there was no recognition of the need for ‘easy care.’ - There was no recognition given to the problem of measuring, manufacturing and distribution of a range of articles when the selected athlete could be domiciled anywhere in Australia. - There was no appreciation of such historical facts as Fletcher Jones, who had been unofficial suppliers dating back to the 1954 Olympics in Melbourne, and the Fletcher Jones board member, who was also an AWC board member, and was not in favour of the change. The project passed from Product Marketing to Public Relations, a big spending off-shoot of the AWC Chairman David Asimus, and due to the day to day operations of the project was passed to me and PR took care of the financial matters. The first task was to meet with the AOC and find out exactly their requirements. This lead to the production of a design and manufacturing brief, cointaining exact time lines for each event required to ensure an appropriate uniform on every athlete chosen to represent his/her country on the date given for the Opening Ceremony in Los Angeles. Working backwards the timeline becomes- 1. Noted the exact date of the Opening Ceremony. 2. Estimated the date for distributing completed garments to each athlete. 3. Estimated the time span available for measuring each athlete and commence making each component of the ensemble to the individual measurements of each athlete. 4. Decided the date for making the final choice of uniform design concept. 5. Decided the date for distribution of the design brief to selected designers. These five steps were spread out over a two year period. The Commonwealth Games occur midway between each Olympic Games, work on the Olympic uniform commences the week after the Commonwealth Games closing ceremony and MUST be ready by the prescribed day two years hence. The project also had to remain cognisant of trade politics existing within the span of the task, as well as the temperament of designers in general. It is no overstatement to say that in the past every designer in Australia believed they could, and should, be chosen to design the Australian Uniform. The final choice of designer almost always faced criticism from the fashion press and any designer who had been overlooked. However, with the contenders receiving an exacting brief the numbers of serious contenders greatly reduced. The Los Angeles Olympic Uniforms. A further reason for the AWC bid failure to design the LA uniform was that the AOC had already chosen Prue Acton to design it. This was based on her proven performance during previous games as she had a talent for creating good taste Australiana. Her design concepts also considered the effect when they were viewed on a single athlete as well as the impact when viewed on a 400 strong team coming on to the arena. A blazer trouser/skirt uniform in bright gold was chosen for the formal uniform. It was my task to select a pure wool faille fabric from Foster Valley weaving mill and have sufficient woven and ready within the prescribed timeline. The trouser/skirt fabric selected was a 60/40 wool polyester plain weave fabric from Macquarie Worsted. This fabric had a small effect thread of linen that was most attractive when dyed to match some eucalyptus bark Prue had brought back from central Australia. For the Opening Ceremony uniform, Prue designed a series of native fauna, a kookaburra for the men’s shirt and a pleated skirt with a rural scene of kangaroos, hills and plants. This presented an insurmountable printing challenge to the local printing industry as it had an unacceptably large repeat size and the number required (50) was also commercially unacceptable. The solution was a DIY mock up at RMIT and the employment of four student designers. The fabric selected for this garment was a light weight 19 micron, pure wool with a very high twist yarn in alternating S and Z twist, warp and weft. This fabric proved to be the solution to a very difficult problem, finding a wool product which is universally acceptable when worn next to the sin by young athletes competing in the heat of a Los Angeles summer. Modifications to this fabric were developed to exploit its success when facing the same problem in future games. Garment Making- The most exacting garment in the ensemble is the tailored blazer, plus the related trouser/skirt. Unfortunately tailoring athletes that come in various shapes and sizes such as; - Weight lifters develop an enormous chest, arms and neck size. A shirt made to a neck size of 52 would produce a shirt with cuffs extending well beyond the wearer’s hands. - Basketball players are up to 7 feet tall and garments relying ona chest measurement grading would produce a shirt with cuffs extending only to elbow length. - Swimmers develop enormous shoulders and slim hips, cyclists by contrast develop thighs I liken to tree trunks and a uniform featuring tight trousers must be avoided at all cost. Suffice to say many ensembles require specialist ‘one off’ treatment for many athletes. Meanwhile there is a comfortable in between group who can accept regular sizes so you can cater for these by having back up stock with plenty of built in contingencies. Athletes may be domiciled anywhere in Australia, this creates a fundamental problem of taking their measurements. The Fletcher Jones organisation was key to answering this problem due to their presence in every capital city, as well as many provincial towns around Australia. Each athlete on being selected for the Olympic Team was simultaneously requested to visit their nearest Fletcher Jones shop. The standardised measurement data collected was shared with the other manufacturers, e.g. Pelaco Shirts, Holeproof Socks and Knitwear, Maddison Belts, and even Hush Puppy Shoes. As the time for the Games approached the AOC made arrangements for combining meeting of all. Selected available athletes at the Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra, where, among other things, they were fitted and supplied with their uniform. The method evolved as follows.Men’s cream coloured button up, collared shirt. Images of a kookaburra have been printed onto the shirt, a single kookaburra on the left breast and a pair of kookaburras on the reverse of the shirt. The kookaburras are printed in a brown tone to complement the cream colour of the fabric.On tag - FMaustralian wool corporation, 1984 los angeles olympics, olympic uniforms, men's uniforms, sport, athletes

A design reference folder containing cloth samples for future reference. When a new cloth design was created, a small sample would be cut and pasted into this folder, so that any future designs could be compared against it. Cloth samples were taken from cloths designed between 1960-1990 at the Valley Mill/John Foster.Solid black folder containing many pages, each with a number of small cloth samples on them.kanemutsa, code, sydney, japan, wool buying

Fred Murgatroyd's twed fabric to be used in conjunction with Nino at Foster Valley for Loom in G2textile industry textile mills, foster valley mill pty ltd valley worsted mill, tweed, murgatroyd, mr fred, textile industry, textile mills

Donated when "Classweave Industries" closed downPossibly the lid to [w6602]8 Hours Sports/1947 /Won by Federalia/ Women's Industrial Eventtextile mills - sporting teams textile mills - staff woollen mills sporting teams, classweave industries pty ltd federal woollen mills ltd foster valley mill pty ltd, sport, textile mills - sporting teams, textile mills - staff, woollen mills, sporting teams

Donated when "Classweave Industries" closed downK G Luke Trophy Paramount Plate [hallmarks]textile mills - sporting teams textile mills - staff woollen mills sporting teams, classweave industries pty ltd federal woollen mills ltd foster valley mill pty ltd valley worsted mill, sport, textile mills - sporting teams, textile mills - staff, woollen mills, sporting teams

Donated when "Classweave Industries" closed downBlue Triangle Basketball Association/ The A Schofield Cup for A grade Teams 1931 Valley "A"/ 1932 Collins Bros "A"/ 1933 Federal "A"/ 1934 Federal "A"/ 1935 Federal "A"/ 1936 Federal "A" [?] E Bradley & Son [?] Geelong/ paramount Plate/ EPNS Best Quality Platesporting teams woollen mills textile mills - staff textile mills - sporting teams, classweave industries pty ltd federal woollen mills ltd collins bros mill pty ltd valley worsted mill foster valley mill pty ltd, sport, sporting teams, woollen mills, textile mills - staff, textile mills - sporting teams

This photograph shows the interior of the Valley Worsted Mill in 1923. The mill was first established at this time, and the photo shows the interior after tooling up but prior to the mill actually commencing operation. This photo is one of 31 in total and shows several Noble combs. The donor worked at the Valley Mill for many years. This mill still exists in Swanston Street, Geelong and is now being used by Melba Industries (an Austrim-Nylex company) to produce Jumbuck Nylon wool packs.Interior of Valley Worsted Mill, c.1923.textile mills, valley worsted mill foster valley mill pty ltd, combing, noble comb