Born Again Bradmill a chance to reminisce on fabric mill's impact

Born Again Bradmill explores the unique stamp the fabric mill at Rutherford had on Maitland's history.

Known over the years as Bradford Cotton Mills, Burlington Mills, Bradmill, Rutherford Textiles and National Textiles, the mill was open from 1944 to 2000 and employed thousands.

Its staff peaked in 1972 with 1600 employees, and the mill was a huge driver of Maitland's economy.

Morpeth Museum chairperson and former Bradmill employee Alan Todd said quite a large percentage of Maitland's population worked at the mill during its time.

"It was its (Maitland's) largest employer for a long, long time," he said.

"I worked out that 10 per cent of Morpeth's population probably worked at the mill, it was that big of an employer.

"Maitland's population was only less than 30,000, so if you've got 1200 employees for 20 odd thousand people, you can imagine the impact of that.

"It's probably the equivalent of BHP closing in Newcastle as far as relative workforce and population's concerned."

Born Again Bradmill features a range of items from the mill, including a Penrith Panthers 1980s jersey which was dyed at Rutherford, and examples of military camouflage fabric which was woven, dyed and flameproofed at Rutherford.

"It's a mixture of items that were left over in the mill and were saved when the mill closed," Mr Todd said.

"A lot of things couldn't be saved because employees were locked out, but some things managed to make its way out.

"Not just at the closure but before the closure when things changed, when things were scrapped, things left over from the Bradford Cotton Mills and the Bradmill days. So it's a mixture of photographs, artefacts, fabrics and the raw materials."

National Textiles closed for good at the beginning of 2000, just after Christmas.

"The end of 1999 over the Christmas holidays employees were advised to take an extra week off, because they usually closed for two or three weeks over Christmas," Mr Todd said.

"So everyone got a letter while they were on holiday saying the mill has closed for an extra week. And during that extra week they announced closure so nobody got back in."

Mr Todd worked at the Rutherford mill under Bradmill, Rocklea and National Textiles for 20 years from 1980 until the closure in 2000.

He said during his time there, the major fabric produced was workwear.

"The biggest fabric was workwear while I was there, mainly getting sold to firms like King Gee," he said.

"King Gee were part of Bradmill for a time and the predominant colour of the workwear was navy blue, so navy blue was produced at Rutherford, sometimes a million metres over a short period."

Mr Todd said the exhibition is an opportunity for former employees and their families to look back on the mill.

"I think it might be important for ex-employees to reminisce, and then going on from that it'd be good for the employees' descendants, sons and daughters to come and also have a look to see the sort of work that their parents did, because it's hard to describe," he said.

"It's better if you can actually have a look at it."

Morpeth Museum is open Thursday to Sunday from 11am to 2pm and can be open anytime by appointment for groups. Entry is $2 per adult.