We are often reminded to 'shop local' to help our local businesses survive the current lockdown.
Up until the 1970s, the raw materials in your leather shoes and bags, and woollen clothes and blankets might have come from one of the 21 tanneries and 4 wool scours operating in Botany.
Gamay, Botany Bay, is a long way from the sheep paddocks of rural NSW, yet it is closely associated with the wool industry.
The male ancestors of many local residents worked in these industries - often in bare feet as these photographs show!
To learn more about Botany's wool industry, join local historian Leonie Bell, winner of the 2016 and 2018 Ron Rathbone Local History Prize, as she explores the history of the once vibrant wool industry in Botany, which thrived in the area from the mid-1800s to the 1970s.
Leonie's talk will explain the occupation of a fellmonger, the origins of the industry in Botany, key industry players, and the reasons for the industry's demise.
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Lunch and Learn: Flashback Friday - Botany's Wool Industry
Friday 10 Sep 2021 at 1pm
