Historical information

Part of a collection of books, manuals, photographs, letters and clothing relating to the working life of Stuart Ascough.

Stuart's career in the wool industry spanned over 43 years from 1960 to 2003 in various roles including Topmaking Plant Manager at Courtaulds Ltd. in Spennymore, U.K., Operations Manager at Port Phillip Mills in Williamstown Victoria, Marketing Executive, Early Stage Wool Processing at the International Wool Secretariat Melbourne, Australia and General Manager of Victoria Wool Processors Pty. Ltd. in Laverton North, Victoria.

Throughout his career Stuart travelled extensively, and in the 1990s worked at many topmaking mills in China on quality improvement projects. He also provided technical advice and training at mills in India, Ukraine, Lithuania, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Latvia, Byelorussia and other parts of Europe and Asia.

Physical description

Concertina A4 sized leaflet outlining the history of wool in Australia from 1788 to 1988 in four pages with colour graphics and black text.

Inscriptions & markings

page 1: Wool in Australia / 1 7 8 8 - 1 8 3 8 / Within 50 years of settlement sheep had moved into / every colony, the annual wool clip was over two / million kg, and wool had become our main export

page 2: Wool in Australia / 1 8 3 8 - 1 8 8 8 / The first 100 years saw Australia become the / world's leading producer of wool. Our economy's / strength depended on the wool clip.

page 3: Wool in Australia / 1 8 8 8 - 1 9 3 8 / By the late 1930's, wool represented over 62% of / the total export value of primary products. Australia's / fine wool was in great demand worldwide.

page 4: Wool in Australia / 1 9 3 8 - 1 9 8 8 / In the 50 years leading up to our Bicentenary, / many developments in the sheep and wool / industry have maintained Australia's place / as the leading producer of wool.