Abstract
The establishment of the Australian Government Clothing Factory in South Melbourne in 1912 created upheavals in the private clothing sector, by introducing higher wages and investing significant amounts in the purchase of the latest sewing equipment. New technology and maintaining the lead in innovation marked the life of the Factory throughout the century. How this was financed by a special Trust Fund is explained. The discussion on wages, employment, investment and factory output is supported by data obtained from national archival documents. The Factory was by far the largest clothing factory in Australia and it was owned and controlled by the government. However, from the beginning demand for military uniforms was extremely high as Australian troops took to the battlefields of the First World War. Demand outstripped the Factory’s production capacity and a system was devised to engage the private sector to fill the gaps in subcontracts of significant amounts of clothing orders. The interaction gave the Factory the power to impose its own modern systems and techniques on the private clothing contractors, thereby spreading modernisation throughout the wider clothing sector.
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Notes
- 1.
The Clothing Factory was one of five government-owned defence factories. The other four were: the Cordite Factory in Maribyrnong (Victoria), the Small Arms Factory in Lithgow (New South Wales), the Harness Factory in Clifton Hill (Victoria) and the Woollen Cloth Factory in North Geelong (Victoria).
- 2.
Dress and ceremonial uniforms continued to be tailor-made, but even this activity was to some extent taken over by the Clothing Factory.
- 3.
Joseph A. Schumpeter, The Theory of Economic Development: An Inquiry into Profits, Capital, Credit, Interest, and the Business Cycle (translated from the German by Redvers Opie), with a New Introduction by John E. Elliott, New Brunswick, USA and London, UK, Transaction Publishers, 2002, in particular Chapter II.
- 4.
The Woollen Cloth Factory commenced operations on 23 September 1915, but was not officially opened until 22 December of that year. D.J. Amos, The Story of the Commonwealth Woollen Mills, 2nd edn, Adelaide, 1945, p. 6.
- 5.
The economic role played by governments in Australia has been well documented. See, for example, Noel G. Butlin, Investment in Australian Economic Development, 1861–1900, Cambridge, 1964. An excellent historical overview of the fluctuating involvement by governments in Australia is provided by Stephen Bell, Ungoverning the Economy, Melbourne, 1997, pp. 65–69. It should also be noted that the Commonwealth Government also established other enterprises at that time, such as the Commonwealth Bank which commenced operations in 1912.
- 6.
It must be pointed out here that in later years the Small Arms Factory, with technical support from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industry Organisation, also produced some lines of goods sold to private industry.
- 7.
NAA: MP956/2/0, 14, ‘Jensen Papers’, Defence Production in Australia, p. 156. Jensen had for many years managed the accounts of the government-owned Small Arms Factory in Lithgow. After the First World War, he became Secretary and Controller of the Munitions Supply Board. Until 1939 he was Chairman of the Defence Contract Board.
- 8.
Many of the Schumpeter biographies leave a disturbing gap for the period 1914–1918. He is said to have taught at the University of Graz until the First World War and he became Austrian Minister of Finance in 1919. Robert Allen in his Opening Doors: The Life and Work of Joseph Schumpeter—Volume 1: Europe writes on p. 162: ‘in the fall of 1918 Schumpeter worked and waited in Graz’ and that he had been a supporter of the Austrian monarchy and deplored its disappearance. This would imply that Schumpeter stayed on in Graz and either continued lecturing at the University or worked privately.
- 9.
Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, January–March, 1911, Index 1911, p. 738. Jensen, incorrectly, records that Henry Slade was selected only in March 1911 to attend an interview. This would mean his appointment would be some time later. The error also seems incongruous with his further statement that applications were invited, also in March 1911, for foremen and factory and clerical staff. These appointments should be the responsibility of the new Manager who would therefore have had to be in situ earlier than March. See NAA: MP956/2/0, 14, ‘Jensen Papers’, Defence Production in Australia, p. 157.
- 10.
NAA: MP956/2/0, 14, ‘Jensen Papers’, Defence Production in Australia, p. 157.
- 11.
Commonwealth Government Clothing Factory, Report for the Period Ended 30th June, 1912, Commonwealth Parliamentary Paper No. 16/1913, p. 4.
- 12.
Joseph A. Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism & Democracy (with a new introduction by Richard Swedberg), London and New York, 1976, Chapter VII, pp. 81–86.
- 13.
NAA: A1831, 1953/369, Letter from Secretary and Chief Inspector to The Secretary, Department of the Treasury, 17 August 1953.
- 14.
Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, No. 55 (29 August 1912), Statement (K), p. 1519.
- 15.
Commonwealth Government Clothing Factory, Report for Period Ended 30th June, 1912, Commonwealth Parliamentary Paper No. 16/1913, p. 6.
- 16.
Production of Navy and Postal Department uniforms was commenced following an enlargement of the Clothing Factory the following year. Commonwealth Government Clothing Factory, Report for Year Ended 30th June, 1913, Commonwealth Parliamentary Paper No. 16/1914-17, p. 4.
- 17.
Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, No. 55 (29 August 1912), p. 1512.
- 18.
Royal Commission on Navy and Defence Administration, Fourth Progress Report, (Melbourne, 13 March, 1918), p. 4.
- 19.
Department of Defence and Supply records show that on occasion there were problems with contractors who were issued with cloth for uniforms but who failed to pre-pay as required. NAA: 705/1, 17/7/408, D and S 40/504—Ordnance Stores—Issues of Cloth.
- 20.
Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, No. 55 (29 August 1912), Statement (K), p. 1519.
- 21.
Commonwealth Government Clothing Factory, Report for Period Ended 30th June, 1912, Commonwealth Parliamentary Paper No. 16/1913, p. 6.
- 22.
Commonwealth Government Clothing Factory, Report for Year Ended 30th June, 1913, Commonwealth Parliamentary Paper No. 16/1914-17, p. 6.
- 23.
ABS, Catalogue 1301.2, Victorian Year-Book, 1912–1913: Value of Principal Articles Imported Oversea into Victoria, 1912, p. 469.
- 24.
Commonwealth Government Clothing Factory, Report for Year Ended 30th June, 1914, Commonwealth Parliamentary Paper No. 312/1914-17, p. 5. Commonwealth Government Clothing Factory, Report for Year Ended 30th June, 1915, Commonwealth Parliamentary Paper No. 313/1914-17, p. 5.
- 25.
NAA: MP956/2/0, 14, ‘Jensen Papers’, Defence Production in Australia, The War of 1914–1918, Ch. 5—The Government Factories and Establishments, p. 162.
- 26.
NAA: MP956/2/0, 14, ‘Jensen Papers’, The War of 1914–1918, Ch. 5—The Government Factories and Establishments, p. 162.
- 27.
Prior to the Australian Government sending its troops to assist in the First World War there had been an undertaking that the United Kingdom would provide for all their equipment and war materiel, whilst Australia would send the AIF fully dressed in combat clothing. As supplies of goods, including fresh clothing, were delayed, mislaid or hindered in transit as the war in Europe was in progress, reserve clothing was also commissioned from the Pimlico Clothing Factory. The Australian Government was never happy about this development as it would dislocate local trade and cause loss of employment. AWM13, 6508/40/6, Despatches from Defence, Melbourne [concerning ordnance], Cable from Melbourne No. 10459, reproduced in Letter from John Stanley, Quartermaster-General, to Secretary, Department of Defence, 15 November 1916, p. 10.
- 28.
The statistics for 1914 and 1918 are taken from ABS, Catalogue 1301.0, Year Book Australia, No. 13, 1920, p. 1001.
- 29.
Commonweatlh Government Clothing Factory, Report for Year Ended 30th June, 1915, Commonwealth Parliamentary Paper No. 313/1914-17, p. 3.
- 30.
Gorget patches are insignia fastened onto the collar of the uniforms of senior military personnel. The patches are made of cloth and are adorned with silk gimp (cord) or embroidered with leaf trails.
- 31.
NAA: A1952/2, 474/9/71, Commonwealth Government Factories Reports for the Year Ended 30th June 1918, section headed Summary of Finished Product Manufactured in the Factory for the Year Ending 30th June, 1918.
- 32.
NAA: A1952/2, 474/9/71, Commonwealth Government Factories Reports for Year Ended 30th June, 1918, Report by H.A. Slade to Secretary, Department of Defence, 18 November 1918, p. 4; Statement of Accounts for Period Ended 30th June, 1918, p. 9.
- 33.
Out of £8936 19s. 8d. worth of postal uniforms only £253 17s. 9d.was produced elsewhere. Similarly, of £417 1s. 5d. worth of railway uniforms, £52 6s. 8d. came from non-Clothing Factory sources. It is not clear whether perhaps the New South Wales State clothing factory was still in production and had manufactured these items.
- 34.
For example, Sir John Allison, Chairman of the Defence Business Board in the early 1960s and L. Brewster, Federal President of the Australian Clothing Manufacturers’ Council and Clothing Adviser to the Minister of Supply, authors of the Allison-Brewster Report of 1964, were strongly in favour not only of retaining the Government Clothing Factory, but also of building a new factory to replace the outdated one in South Melbourne. NAA: A4940/1, C3567, Report from Sir John Alison and Mr. L. Brewster on Commonwealth Government Clothing Factory Requested in Letter from Minister for Supply Dated 13th January, 1964, p. 9.
- 35.
The Commonwealth Government Clothing Factory was to manufacture the uniforms for the Department of Defence, Navy (at the time a separate Department), the Postmaster-General, Railways and miscellaneous garments for some other departments such as protective garments worn in the Munitions Factory and the Small Arms Factory.
- 36.
‘Slop clothing’ refers to ready-to-wear or ‘off the rack’ clothing. It is not individually tailor-made, is of lower quality and does not involve time consuming hand sewing techniques.
- 37.
ABS, Catalogue 1301.0, Year Book Australia, issues 1909 and 1913 respectively.
- 38.
Cutters’ wages were much higher than those of pressers, but unfortunately are not itemised in the Clothing Factory’s Annual Report. NAA: MP392/10, 589/502/56, Munitions Supply Board Annual Report, 1923.
- 39.
NAA: MP392/10, 589/502/56, Munitions Supply Board Annual Report, 1923.
- 40.
In addition, the tariff system with its import restrictions and high rates of duties upon textile and clothing imports provided extra protection for the local industry and was gradually removed only in the last decades of the twentieth century.
- 41.
The contracts published in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette can be viewed in microfilm format at the National Library of Australia in Canberra and selected other libraries.
- 42.
NAA: A816, 14/301/496, C.K. Davies (Chairman), Interim Report of the Working Party Set Up by the Defence Supply Committee to Investigate Commonwealth Government Clothing Factory Operations (10 May 1951), p. 8.
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van Mosseveld, A. (2018). The Government Takes Control. In: The Australian Army Uniform and the Government Clothing Factory. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71425-7_3
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