Photograph: GN 02276

Wool Scouring, 1865

This 1865 photograph found its way into the Glass Negatives Collection in 1918 when it was copied for the South Australian Public Library.

The photograph gives an insight into life in suburban Adelaide just 29 years after European settlement. Readers may be surprised to learn that this is a view of Hindmarsh, replete with a hay stack and a large stockpile of wool bales. It shows S. Peacock and Sons’ large wool scouring plant on Adam Street, which backed on to the River Torrens.

Fell mongers (dealers in hides), soap makers, tanners, wool staplers (wool graders) and wool scourers operated in this part of Hindmarsh. Indeed, Peacocks advertised themselves as wool staplers and fell mongers, and Benjamin and John Taylor and George Burnell also scoured wool in the River Torrens.

Wool scouring in 1865 was labour intensive. Heavy fleeces had to be hand-washed and carried carefully up steep stairs, lest they became soiled. Conditions were primitive. Men worked on platforms in the river and their wet moleskin trousers became uncomfortably damp on windy winter days. Working days were long. Once a job had begun it had to be completed irrespective of the day, though Sabbatarian, George Burnell, did his best to restrict his men from working on Sundays.

Wool scouring interfered with the river. It was dammed and people living downstream frequently complained of its contamination. In 1868 the Inspector of Nuisances for the Hindmarsh District Council took legal action against Benjamin Taylor for polluting the river. The specific nature of the pollution was not specified and the action was dropped. The fact that many councillors were proprietors of similar industries may account for the Council’s apparent indifference towards the condition of the river. This may have encouraged Peacocks to construct a new ‘solid and substantial’ dam in 1875.

GN 12661: ICE CART 1928. The Government Produce Department established major iceworks in Light Square on the corner of Morphett Street.

GN 00440: Early Settlers 1890's

GN 00710: Dr Mawson arriving in South Australia 1914

GN 07566: Hunts Labour Exchange on Bank Street 1926

GN 07945: Murray River - Paddle steamer Mississippi 1920's

GN 13554: Picking grapes in the foothills 1948

GN 13658: Ship at Port Adelaide 1910's

GN 01397: Cart load of sand bags for World War I trenches 1915

GN 13801: Children at Royal Adelaide Show 1922

GN 04323: Kiosk at Waterfall Gully 1930's