What we now know as Little Creatures Brewery in South Geelong was once known as the Valley Worsted Mills. This historic textile mill has played an important part in Geelong’s heritage for nearly 100 years.
This now heritage listed location is set on nearly 11 acres or 4.4 hectares of land and formed the central piece of what was a mill precinct in South Geelong. The mill consists of five main buildings all built with distinctive red Geelong brick, art deco white trimmings and saw tooth roofline. The mill was built in 1924 and was considered to be the largest and most modern textile mill in Australia at the time.
The mill operated for about 50 years and at its peak employed around 500 people. In 1973 the mill merged with the British John Foster and Sons Company under some controversial stock and shareholding issues. The mill continued for a short period before closing at a time when much of the Australian textile industry was finding it difficult to compete with overseas operations. In the 30 plus years after the closure the site was used for several ventures, including the Mill Vintage Markets and a vehicle trim manufacturing operation.
In 2011 the site was purchased by Little Creatures of Western Australia to become their main brewery for the eastern states of Australia. Now owned by the Lion Group, Little Creatures started their 60 million dollar transformation of the old mill in 2012. Finally in 2013 these former walls of industry were soon rattling away to the sounds of a different type of industry, as the first bottles of beer made their way out of the Geelong Little Creatures Brewery.
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