It was a yarn lover’s paradise, a textile utopia where wool wasn’t just a material — it was the fabric of dreams, woven into the very DNA of Launceston’s history.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the commencement of production at the Patons & Baldwins spinning mill in 1923.
About $200,000 was spent establishing the Mill (as it was known colloquially), which in today’s terms was a multi-million-dollar investment.
Local building company Hinman, Wright and Manser won the contract to build the first stage of the Mill and Huttons Bricks, which operated within a few hundred metres of the site, supplied 1,750,000 bricks.
It was a huge economic driver for the town and provided training and employment across a variety of trades including plumbing, engineering, carpentry, mechanical, painting, and electrical work.
Patons & Baldwins, which became Coats Patons after a merger, was once the largest employer of women in the state.
Jen Daniels worked at Coats Patons for 27 years, starting when she was just 16 years old, in quality control.
“People were bussed in from Perth and Longford, even George Town,” Ms Daniels said.
“And to leave the factory was quite a blockade really, it was like a little township with our own banking, our own health care and surgery. It was a big place,” she said.
“When I first started there it was day work. So, you’d have an hour for lunch and go to town, do a bit of shopping, come back.
“I had a great aunt that just lived along the street, and she would make me a baked lunch.”
One of the features of the workforce was the employment of family members through the generations. It was not unusual for three and four generations to find work at the Mill.
Avery Harwood was a wool classer following in his dad’s footsteps.
“I finished school at age 15 and went to TAFE, so by the time I was 19 I was a qualified wool classer. I went for the job and got it and stayed there until it closed [in 1997],” Mr Harwood said.
“My father worked there for 40 odd years, my uncle worked there, my mum worked there for a short period.
“I’ve known that place since I was a little kid,” he said.
At its peak, 2,200 people were on the payroll at the Mill.
Keith Dixon started work there in 1963 as a payroll clerk.
“Through the 60s, I would say that was a very prosperous time for Patons & Baldwins.
“I think, in my opinion, the women would come along, experienced machine operators, earn a few dollars to buy a washing machine, fridge or something, and then they would leave, because they would know further down the track, they could come back and get a job,” Mr Dixon said.
Mr Dixon also remembers the start of decimal currency in 1966 and equal pay for women in 1972.
“They weren’t very far behind our male operatives, maybe $6-8.”
Patons & Baldwins later merged to become Coats Patons, operating the Mill for seven decades.
But the trend towards synthetic materials plus the removal of tariff protection saw the Mill start to unravel.
“That was the start, if you like, of the demise of Patons,” Mr Dixon said.
In 1997, where the hum of machinery and the click-clack of needles once composed the symphony of a town in its woolly prime, the Mill ceased production.
In 2002, Door of Hope Christian Church bought about two-thirds of the site and has been steadily redeveloping it.
The Patons brand is now owned by the Australian Yarn Company, and it continues to manufacture the wool at a factory in Wangaratta, Victoria.
“It’s made in conjunction with our other mill in Bendigo. And between them they are two of the last few commercial spinning mills in the southern hemisphere,” said national sales manager Wayne McMahon.
The factory building’s centenary is being celebrated with an open day on Saturday, November 25.
The Coats Patons letters that once adorned the building will be on display for the first time in 20 years.
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