Customs House, 1856
Pioneer merchant James Ford Strachan constructed his first bonded store in 1840, the first stone building in newly colonised Geelong.
Only when Geelong was declared a free port in 1848 was a proper Customs House needed near the Geelong wharves. The officers made sure that duty was fully collected, on both colonial and overseas trade. The Geelong Customs House was built in Corio Terrace/now Brougham St, in 1856 as a three storey ashlar sandstone and basalt structure, and a slate roof. Architect WG Cornish’s distinctive colonial Georgian style clearly reflected the influence of earlier NSW colonial public building traditions.
In 1857 Charles Dennys conducted the first wool auction in Geelong. I don’t suppose many bales were sold, but the idea of a regional market soon caught the attention of local growers and buyers, so more auctions were held in a central Geelong pub.
Wool stores became necessary, and they needed to be as close to the foreshore as possible. In the very early days, the difference between a wool store and one for general merchandise was largely the existence of a wool press. Few Geelong merchants handled nothing but wool.
So it was not until 1872, with the arrival of Dennys Lascelles bluestone wool store, that a specific design of building was evolved for wool. A row of very impressive wool stores stretched down the street in a unified manner, designed by architects Jacob Pitman (basement) and Jonathan Coulson (the other floors). Wagons entered from the street via an archway, discharged their load and moved out into a right of way on the other side of the building.
Dennys, Lascelles, Austin and Co. in Brougham St was the proud owner of one of the most important early modern structures in Australia. This concrete woolstore, designed by Edward G Stone, was largely free of architectural decoration, and was in a style that anticipated European and Australian architectural trends of the inter-war years. Dennys buildings had used solid bluestone in 1872, cement render in 1880 and the mansard tower of 1889. It is not surprising, then, that when expansion was planned in 1900, the firm elected to use the most modern material – reinforced concrete.
Strachan, Murray, Shannon and Co. wool stores
"National Wool Museum is Australia's only comprehensive museum of wool, showcasing wool's enduring impact on Australia social and economic life. With a brief to explore the past, present and future of the Australian wool industry, the Museum acquires, documents, preserves, stores and exhibits objects and materials directly related to the Australian wool industry". And it kept two of my grandchildren mesmerised for 1.5 hours (no mean feat).
The Strachan, Murray, Shannon and Co. wool stores were built at the corner of Moorabool and Brougham Sts Geelong. Systematically developed as the wool industry expanded, this four storey brick complex was stylistically unified from the 1889 section onwards, to present an impressive austere Classical Revival structure of great note. Remember that the Strachan Company premises had been associated with the wool industry since 1840.
The Wool Exchange
This Wool Exchange was the last important element of the wool industry. Alongside Western District properties, railways, gorgeous wool stores, woollen mills, scouring works and port facilities, it illustrated the economic and social history of late 19th and early 20th century Geelong.
The National Trust of Australia (Victorian branch) created a valuable history in the book called Woolstores: Conservation Area, 1980. I recommend it to you. The description of the original architecture in these buildings came from the wonderful blog OnMyDoorstep.
