The Fletcher Jones gardens were initially established in 1948 for workers at the Pleasant Hill factory to enjoy and by the 50’s and 60’s they had become a mecca for thousands of tourists each year. The gardens were considered a rare and outstanding example of a mid-twentieth century garden created in an industrial setting. Sculptures, waterfalls, a sunken garden and pond, pergolas, urns, flower baskets and other landscape features were complemented by manicured lawns and hedges clipped into squares and balls.
The FJ company was sold in 1992 and changed hands several times, with manufacturing moving offshore with the end of protective tariffs in Australia. The Pleasant Hill factory finally closed in 2011 when the business, as it was then, went in administration. The site gradually fell into disrepair under the series of owners after the Fletcher Jones company was sold in the early 90’s. It looked as though all aspects of the site (including the elements that were state heritage listed in 2006) would be lost after these many years of neglect.
A community campaign to highlight our community’s connection to the FJ Story in Warrnambool started in earnest in 2012. Led by artists and community groups, the deterioration of the Pleasant Hill site steadily gained attention as people shared stories, photos, artworks and movies inspired by the FJ story, the FJ Gardens and the Fletcher Jones Water Tower (AKA the Silver Ball) in particular. A small band of volunteers kept the gardens alive in those years.
In 2017, Warrnambool Planning and Heritage Group successfully applied for State Heritage funding to restore the de-commissioned 40metre Fletcher Jones water tower (AKA) the Silver Ball. We also bought lights from community fundraising to light the ball up at night.
In 2018, the same community group was granted a small budget by the Cumorah/Fletcher and Rena Jones Foundation to work on a project to reproduce one of the sculptures that used to hang in the gardens (that was also state heritage listed in 2006). The Plus 8 Man was in such poor condition that he could not be repaired. When several of the men were discovered on the facade of a former Fletcher Jones store at Queen and Flinders’ St Melbourne, we contacted Caydon Group who were about to start the development of the building into a 24 storey vibe hotel. We made a request to see if we could scan one of the men, as they appeared to have come from the same mould as the one that used to hang in the FJ gardens. (In earlier times, there were a number of these men on the facade of the factory and in the gardens). Joe Farr of Freedspace/Thinglab did the scan with enthusiastic support from the developers - just as the development of the 24 storey hotel on the site in Melbourne began.
From there, we worked with Robert Grosso of Seen Technology to reproduce a Plus 8 Man from the file produced by the scan. Seen Technology have one of the largest 3D printers in Australia and produced the man in two parts. In February of 2020, we received an email from David Campbell-Burns Contract Administrator for HUTCHINSON BUILDERS who said "
"Hi Julie, I need some help! We are wrapping up the Vibe Hotel project in the old Fletcher Jones building at 1 Queen Street and unfortunately one of our plus 8 men has been damaged.
We need to get a new one cast and I was hoping you have a contact you could pass for the company that did yours? Any help would be greatly appreciated!"
So in an amazing circularity of good giving to good, we were able to share back to the Vibe Hotel project!
We also wanted to reproduce the letters that used to be on top of the sculpture and Tim Umney, our website designer, created a file from old photographs that Seen Technology then used to manufacture the letters for us. The Pleasant Hill sign as in the original was subsequently manufactured by Seen Technology and added in March 2020 to complete the scultpure. We wanted the man to light up and be a special element in the FJ gardens and we are thrilled with the result. He is spectacular at night, powered by solar and he is the bookend to the restored silver ball which also lights up at night on the Warrnambool skyline.
It is believed to be the first time in the world that this technology has been used to replicate a heritage-protected sculpture. The project won silver in the 2019 prestigious international printing awards, FESPA (Federation of European Screen Printers Associations).
Heritage Victoria Executive Director, Steven Avery, welcomed the Plus 8 Man’s return, citing potential for the processes used in the project to help reconstruct other elements of heritage places or objects.
Why he is called the Plus 8 Man? He’s wearing the famous Plus 8 FJ trousers - from our website http://www.fjstories.org.au/nothing-trousers
The trousers were fully draped, resembling a divided skirt hanging from the waistband. Because eight inches of extra cloth were cut into the drape, they were known as ‘plus-eights’.
