Historical information
These photograph, taken by The Advocate in 1991, were published as part of the newspaper’s ongoing column profiling local traders and businesses across the district.
These photographs are of three long time serving employees of the Spaldings Factory located at Ballarat Road North East Corner of McIntyre Road, Sunshine North.
The photograph features employees Phyllis Shimmin, Barry Priest (Supervisor, Golf Ball Department) and Tom Tribe (Machine Setter and Operator).
When the image was taken, Phyllis had accumulated 43 years of service and Tom an outstanding 53 years of continuous service with the company.
As the factory faced difficult times, the three long-serving employees reminisced about its peak years. During its most successful period, the factory produced a wide range of sporting goods, including tennis and squash equipment, shuttlecock bases, table tennis tables, baseball and softball products, and doggie bell balls for pet shops. It also served major industrial clients, manufacturing rubber components for Ford and International Harvester, along with hoses for Massey Ferguson and Connor Shea.
Spalding was one of the last major manufacturing factories to close in Sunshine, following the decline of many of the area's industrial employers. Its closure reflected broader changes in Australian manufacturing, including the globalisation of production to lower-cost countries, trade liberalisation and reduced tariff protection, increasing international competition, advances in technology that required substantial investment in new equipment and processes, rising labour and operating costs, and industry consolidation, whereby large corporations centralised production or relied on specialist suppliers rather than maintaining diverse local manufacturing operations.
Significance
The Sunshine Advocate’s feature on local traders and businesses was a modest yet well‑liked column that played a meaningful role in strengthening community identity.
Through these regular profiles, the newspaper promoted local businesses and helped shape Sunshine’s understanding of its developing commercial district.
Physical description
Collection of digitally scanned negatives
Inscriptions & markings
7392.01 - Spaldings Employees Ballarat Road Sunshine North 1991 Photographs (Advocate 187.3).JPG
7392.02 - Spaldings Employees Ballarat Road Sunshine North 1991 Photographs (Advocate 187.3).JPG
