Victoria’s Last Wool Scouring Mill Has Closed – Now There’s Only One Left in Australia

Last week, Victoria’s last working wool-scouring mill processed its last bales. For 45 years, EP Robinson was a commission wool-processing company that scoured and carbonised – simply put, cleaned – wool. Its tenure in Geelong’s century-old wool mill has ended, and with that, so has Victoria’s 160-year history of wool scouring.

In late July, EP Robinson agreed to an operations merger with Adelaide’s Michell Wool, opening a new business, Australian Wool Processors. “Both operations were running at reduced capacity and running at a loss,” Jim Robinson, the second-generation owner of EP Robinson and Australian Wool Processors’ sales manager, tells Broadsheet.

“We just said, ‘Look, this is pointless, having this fight to the death, chasing each other’s business. At least if one of us can survive, that would help Australian onshore processing’,” Robinson says. “[Michell has] always [been] a friendly competitor because we’ve both got the interests of Australian, local processing at heart.”

Australia’s wool clip is at the lowest it’s been in a century, with the forecast number of sheep to be shorn next year at a low not seen since 1904. Robinson estimates that around the turn of the millennium, there were close to 100 million kilograms of wool being scoured in Australia every year, whereas now it’s closer to three or four million kilograms.

Robinson points to the “rise of China as a manufacturing centre” as a main reason for Australia’s dramatically decreasing wool manufacturing industry. China accounts for 80 to 90 per cent of Australia’s wool clip exports, and Robinson says most of that wool is in its raw, greasy form (pre-scouring or carbonising).

“[China] want to process it in their own country where they can sort the wool and upgrade if they want, and then it’s close to their next customer,” he says, listing off scourers and spinners as next-in-line processors.

Robinson shares that there are around 18 to 20 other countries with textile mills that rely on wool processed in Australia. Locally, there are several woollen, quilt and bedding businesses that depend on EP Robinson, including Launceston-based Waverley Mills. Wool scouring remains the only processing practice not completed in Waverley’s own factories.

“The merger highlights a critical challenge facing Australia’s wool industry: the vast majority of wool is still processed offshore, with only an estimated four per cent scoured domestically,” Fran Maiale, Waverley Mills CEO, tells Broadsheet. “We’re confident that the new entity will continue to meet our needs – now operating out of Adelaide rather than Geelong.”

With the merger, 30 EP Robinson employees have lost their jobs. Robinson says that half a dozen have found new employment already, many still in the wool sector.

In Queensland, there are plans to revitalise Blackall Woolscour, a wool processor that was operational between 1907 and 1978. The renewable-powered proposed project plans to scour an additional 14 million kilograms of wool onshore.

When asked how Australians can help support our local wool industry, Robinson recommends investing in Australian-made products, as they prop up multiple local businesses. “There’s a little boutique combing mill in Bacchus Marsh. That wool can be spun [by places like] Bendigo Woollen Mills, Great Ocean Road Woollen Mills and Kangaroo Island Wool.

“For them to continue, [we] need to continue.”

Scouring is an essential part of the wool process. If Australia was to lose its onshore capabilities, there will be significant flow-on effects for adjacent industries.