Austral Silk and Cotton Mill

artist's sketch of the large complex of buildings making up the Austral Silk and Cotton Mills Pty. Ltd. in Trenerry Crescent. This factory started as the Austral Hat Mills owned by Thomas Shelmerdine who lived next door in Yarra House, the former residence of the Dight family of Dight's Falls and Dight's Mill fame. There were, in the nineteenth century, a number of well-to-do factory owners who lived in comfortable houses on the Yarra next door to their factories. The Shelmerdines moved out after the First World War. The tall building is still there, now housing the Teachers' Federation, but the other buildings have since been demolished and part of the land has been encroached upon by the freeway. To the right is a small tower that is still standing. Houses on the opposite side of Trenerry Crescent, between Little Maugie Street and Abbot Street, are included in the drawing. Mr. Hempel has allowed himself a little artistic licence in showing a small steam boat chugging its way towards Dight's Falls

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