An albumen paper carte de visite of the Albion Woollen Mills, Geelong
The image (55 × 93 mm) is mounted as issued on a blank card (63 × 101 mm), with the contemporary ink caption 'Albion Woollen Mills' on the verso.
A few light spots of foxing; in excellent condition overall.
'The Albion Woollen Mill was one of the four key sites - with Victoria, Barwon and Union Mills - that was established in the late 1860s to mid 1870s. These mills were in constant operation on the west side of the Barwon Bridge over the last century and led to Geelong's fame as a milling and scouring locality. The Albion Mill was probably the most successful survivor of the early private company operations. It was regarded as a model mill in the late 1880s and was, from all accounts, well-planned and organised with machinery on a par with the great mills of England. It produced high quality tweeds' (Victorian Heritage Database Report). This is a very early image of the mill, most likely dating from the 1870s. An article in the 'Geelong Advertiser' of Friday 10 December 1869, describing in glowing terms the progress of the installation of the mill's machinery, also gives details of the exterior of the building that correspond in every way to the image at hand. The large eight-bay brick building shown here was soon greatly expanded with the addition of a further nine bays to the north, away from the river. The shell of the mill is still standing today.
Item #108777
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