Historical Records Now Available

Response to Conservation Management Plan for Fletcher Jones factory and gardens

Part 1 - a) Pleasant Hill construction stages

The following photos are representative of the stages of development that occurred up until 1957 – the so-called ‘architectural zenith’ of the development¹.
The CDP recommends that it is this appearance that is to be retained or restored as a backdrop to the gardens.

Original Buildings - 1948

This photo was taken in 1948. It illustrates the cutting room on the left (formerly Darley camp post office) and the tower and front building (first canteen) which was built on site as an addition to the Darley officers mess which formed the first machine room which was behind². Note the use of aircraft anchors as the front fence and the repeated use of the FJ Man and Roundels.

There is no question that the original factory looked good!

Current state: These buildings have had massive alterations over the years – see the following pages.

Addition of a Quonset hut as Dry Cleaning Factory - 1949

Photo 2

This photograph was taken in late 1949. Note house behind Quonset hut and fence. This land had not at this stage been acquired by the Company.

Current state: The Quonset hut is in good condition. It is hidden by the walkway to the Women’s Wear factory to the west and has had extensions added to the west and south sides. These extensions have not altered the fundamental fabric of the structure. The roundel shown on the face is still in existence³.

Addition of Bristol Building - 1950

Photo 3

The British prefab building was erected to house our mail order company and accounting office. The building aligned with the eastern end of the Quonset hut and was 14’3” away from the west wall of the kitchen.

Current State: The hut which is built of aluminium has not been altered except for a door in the south side. The 1st floor canteen extends over part of the building.

Addition of Round Room - 1951

Photo 4

The Round Room was built in June 1951. It provided additional canteen space required as a result of increased staff numbers. The two levels were connected to the kitchen through servery hatches. Access to the upper level was from the existing canteen. The lower level was accessed through doors from a terrace outside the Mail Order building. Internal stairs (non-compliant) were built to the lower level later.

Current state: The Round Room needs major restoration work to the exterior fabric. Consideration needs to be given with regard to access to the two levels.

First Floor Canteen - 1955

Photo 5

In 1955 a new canteen was built above the round room and part of the Mail Order building. The window layout matched that of the Mail Order building.
The canteen extended through to the Lava Street boundary with access stairs at both ends and main internal stairs linking the new space with the ‘old canteen’ in the area of the original kitchen⁴. A new kitchen was built as an annex at the south west corner of the new structure.
Because of existing buildings underneath, the canteen toilets (on the east side) had to be elevated above the canteen floor. This second level was applied to all subsequent structures built on the east side (cool rooms, store rooms, office etc.)
The outcome of all of the above was a building with a ‘garden’ elevation that was very pleasing and harmonious but an internal arrangement that was not ideal.

Current state: The canteen was built by our engineering staff above a menagerie of ex Darley and other buildings. As all of these buildings were essential and functional, the canteen was built on pipe columns⁵ above the other structures which remain in some form today and add to the reputation of Pleasant Hill being a ‘rabbit warren’.

Land Purchase - 1951

Figure 1

In 1951 my father purchased additional land to the west of the Quonset Hut.
This land contained another quarry and was purchased to provide for future factory expansion.
The Warrnambool City Council placed a covenant on the land which required that the area in to the north of a line approximately in line with the north face of the Quonset hut was to be an extension of the gardens. Factory expansion could take place only to the south of this line.
At the time we had no need to expand the factory in this area as we had plenty other undeveloped land to the east of the site. (Clothing factories tend to be centred around the cutting facility which is the first stage of manufacture – this was to prove the case with regard to the development of Pleasant Hill.
In the interim it was decided to place three staff houses on this land. The above plan indicates that 3 RVIA Small Home design houses⁶ were placed on this land. These were built by staff carpenters and clad with conite⁷.

Staff Houses on Western land - 1962

Photo 6

This photograph shows the three houses set behind the gardens. The house on the left⁸ was moved to the ‘Pleasantville’ hostel site to free space for the building of the Skirt (Women’s Wear) Factory – see Part 1 b.

¹Nigel Lewis March 2003
²See Plan – page 17
³See Photo25 - P 16
⁴ See Photo 24 – Page 15
⁵ The pipe was purchased by my father from the Rocklands Dam project near Balmoral, north of Hamilton, in Nov 1953. 12 tons of pipe was purchased for £170. It was used in all factory extensions until we ran out!
⁶ The annual report of the RVIA for 1951-2 reveals that over 200 designs for small homes have been prepared which are sold for the nominal sum of £5. An average of 90 – 100 sets of drawings per month were being sold. A booklet containing 32 house designs sold 20,000 copies in seven months and a total of 100,000 copies of the Small Homes Service Publications have been sold.
⁷Some claim that conite was a Tag Walter speciality. It was in fact a derivative of ‘Plaster and Lathe’. conite used chicken wire instead of lathe and bottle tops to create ‘depth’. A concrete render was then applied over the top with various finishes. Most of Pleasant Hill in the early days was skinned with conite.
⁸My wife and I lived in this house in 1957 while our ‘Walter and Auty’ (conite) house was being built nearby.