One of the first community attempts to preserve the history of the Fletcher Jones factory site started with the Warrnambool arts community in 2005.  A group of artists involved in an arts project named ExperimentaLAB took up residence alongside workers in the factory. As part of the project a replica Silver Ball sculpture was made that housed a TV screen showing a movie of the last months of the factory before it closed in December 2005.  

The same artists then saw the factory being cleared out in 2007 with material, slides, photos, documents all heading to the rubbish tip. They could not bear to see this happen and salvaged what they could.  This early interest in Fletcher Jones by artists sprouted the seed that would later become the F-Project Arts Collective.

 

 

This story appears in these Sub Themes

This story appears in these Timelines

The replica Silver Ball screening a film of the last months of the factory at the FJ site in 2005. Photo:Brenda O''Connor
The replica Silver Ball screening a film of the last months of the factory at the FJ site in 2005. Photo:Brenda O''Connor
The same replica of the Silver Ball that was created in 2005 was restored to screen films during the Silver Ball Film Festival held in the laneways of Warrnambool in 2014.
The same replica of the Silver Ball that was created in 2005 was restored to screen films during the Silver Ball Film Festival held in the laneways of Warrnambool in 2014.