In April 1948, trouser production began at the 'Pleasant Hill' factory in war surplus buildings moved from Darley camp near Bacchus Marsh. It was Teddy Baker, FJ's friend, who christened the factory and its site Pleasant Hill in 1948 and the name stuck. "Great was his foresight and his faith in us. It was still not a pleasant site but it grew to be so. Perhaps the name inspired us to make it into that 'that factory in Warrnambool with the lovely garden where they make trousers" said Fletcher Jones in his autobiography Not by Myself, published in 1976.
FJ seems to have often found a creative solution to a problem encountered and he was said to have "shown commendable initiative in buying disposals properties" to counteract the shortage of building materials in this post war era.
FJ commissioned local architect Tag Walter for a facade for the buildings that were formerly a camp post office, canteen units, hospital buildings, a mess hut and fumigation hut. Other buildings were added over time, including a Quonset hut transported from Milne Bay in PNG that would become the Dry Cleaning, Reforming and Repairs department at Pleasant Hill.
At this time, FJ & Staff Pty Ltd employed 120 staff and daily production was 253 pairs of trousers.
