Yarra Council set to meet over Collingwood’s historic Sherrin footy factory
A Collingwood building that was the original home of the Sherrin footy, where the famous balls were made for 100 years, could still be saved thanks to a council push.
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The Collingwood factory where famous Sherrin footies were made for 100 years may get heritage protection after all.
Heritage authorities had recommended against a listing for the Wellington St building, but Yarra Council is now considering how to stop it from ever being demolished.
Thomas William Sherrin invented the first Australian rules football in 1880 after he was given a misshapen rugby ball to fix.
He lived and worked at his sports goods factory for several years until his death in 1912.
Sherrins were made in the single-storey brick building until 1982, but the company had been sold to Spalding Australia by then.
Acting on the advice of Heritage Victoria’s executive director, the Heritage Council admitted the factory was part of the “Victorian identity”, but there was insufficient evidence about its wider heritage worth.
It handpassed the issue to the City of Yarra for possible inclusion in the council’s heritage overlay scheme.
A report subsequently prepared for the council by Trethowan Architecture said the factory was significant for its association with three generations of the Sherrin family who were “influential figures in the social, economic and cultural life of Collingwood”.
“The existing factory displays characteristics of late Edwardian industrial design, such as the combination of rendered parapet, brickwork with recessed panels, and is understood as a small-scale workshop of the period,” the report said.
“The Sherrin football in particular was a significant niche product of the municipality, associated with the history of Victorian Rules football over the late 19th century and 20th centuries.”
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The building has most recently been used as a factory and art gallery, while Sherrins are now made in Scoresby.
A council meeting next week will consider whether to ask the state government to place a heritage overlay on the site as part of a broader future planning amendment.