National Wool Museum

Wool has been an essential part of Australia's growth as a nation. Since the arrival of sheep with the First Fleet in 1788, the wool industry has dominated our economy, our agricultural practices, our collective imagination and our reputation as a quality wool-growing nation throughout the world.  Two hundred years later, in 1988, The National Wool Museum was established as Australia's only comprehensive museum of wool. The Museum is housed in an historic 1872 bluestone wool store near the port of Geelong.

The Museum is Australia's only comprehensive museum of wool, showcasing the Australian wool story - from the sheep’s back to the clothes rack, and from the birth of the industry in the 1840’s to its place in the world today. The Museum has permanent and temporary galleries. The Museum has two permanent galleries. The first, “The Wool Harvest”, looks at sheep farming and wool production. Exploring the pastoral aspect of wool in Australia, visitors can follow the path of the fleece through shearing, classing, wool pressing and dispatch. A recreated shearing shed and a film about shearing demonstrate what life in the shearing industry was like.

The second permanent gallery, “From Fleece to Fabric”, looks at the processing of wool into fabric and offers an insight into the people and processes involved in the textile industry. A sequential display of the machinery actually used in the process demonstrates the transformation of fleece to fabric. The 1910 Axminster Jacquard carpet loom is still operated by skilled carpet weavers and produces the Museum’s own “Manor House Rug”.