Regentville Tweed Factory taken from a postcard courtesy of “The Past Present” website

By Lyn Forde – President/Research Officer of St Marys & District Historical Society Inc.

IN 1835 Sir John Jamison bought a modified steam engine for irrigation and the four-storey mill that he built on his property “Regentville.” In 1839 he wrote to the Colonial Secretary asking his help with the pipes he needed to finish the mill that would manufacture cloth and tweed.  The mill was completed in 1840.  In 1841 he signed a lease agreement with brothers Abraham and John Rayner who were experts in the trade having been born in Ireland and brought up in the industry. The 1840s depression nearly ruined Sir John,  leaving him with a lack of funds to support his mill. He died in 1844 and the partnership with the Rayner brothers was dissolved and most of the machinery was moved to a flour mill in Sydney but the mill continued with various managers and in 1849 the mill produced 11,500 yards of high-quality tweed, closing in 1850. The building was a landmark near the banks of the Nepean River for almost a century until it was demolished in the early 1930’s. The Rayner brothers returned to the area in 1851 to operate their own mill at Emu Plains near the banks of the Nepean using the old Police barracks building that had been part of the Government Agricultural Establishment. In July 1861 fire almost destroyed the factory. It was built of stone to the first floor and of brick above it, being a hundred and forty feet in length and eighteen feet in height up to the wall-plate. There were two walls up to the roof and dividing the factory into three compartments. It had no fireplaces and the roof was shingled. There was a steam boiler in a shed attached to the main building, built with stone and brick and roofed with galvanised iron. The engine and boiler rooms were at the eastern side of the south end of the building containing the power looms and were the only portion of the building that escaped the fire. The power-loom shop was at the northern end and the engine house was a wooden building. The mill and machinery were insured by the Sydney Insurance Office for £1500, the insurance however was divided into three parts each insured for £500 and it was believed that one of these parts had been saved. The total loss was estimated at £10,000. An inquest into the fire was held at the Australian Arms at Emu Plains. The coroner Mr G F Clark presided and the Jury contained eleven men with James Tobias Ryan as Foreman. Abraham Rayner said that on the night of the fire he heard dogs barking and he looked out but could not see anything unusual at the time of leaving off work. He left the weaving shop on the northern end and closed the doors but did mentioned that the lock on the door was not secured. When he first discovered the fire it was confined to the lower story and in flames from one end to the other, about forty foot long at the south end of the building and that no one lived on the premises and there should not have been anyone there as the workpeople leave work at dusk around five o’clock and it was about a quarter to eight when he heard the dogs bark and he looked over the fence and one of the dogs that belonged to one of the workers was near the fire. The main range of buildings was made of stone and brick and the power-loom shop was built of stone and there was no connection or opening from the engine-house and boiler-house to the main building except the gearing that worked the machinery. At the time of leaving off work he observed there was no fire at the engine furnace and the fire could not possibly have originated from there, as a stone wall divided the furnace and at that part of the premises where the fire broke out there were no openings in the wall and he saw no one about the factory when he first observed the fire and he did not think it originated from any sparks from the engine furnace as the property on fire consisted of sheep skins, dyeing materials, loom gearing and some hay. He said that one of Job Harket’s boys had been in that part of the building beating sheepskins in the early part of the day. The fire had consumed all the spinning, carding and mule machinery along with the engine-house and flour mill that were  all destroyed.  He estimated a loss at £10,000 that would barely cover the destruction and he believed the machinery destroyed at over £5,000, the buildings, raw materials and dye wares at another £5,000 more. Thankfully there were no lives lost as no one was allowed to sleep on the premises. His brother John usually locked up but he was in Sydney on that night and he was at a complete loss to account for the fire and they do not allow smoking, but we know the workers do sometimes smoke when at work. Job Harket stated that he was a stoker at the factory and was engaged in that job about twenty minutes before six and he left the factory as usual. The workers had all left and the engine was stopped and he drew out of the furnace a few burnt billets and closed the furnace door as usual.  He said that he lived near the boiler-house and was at home from the time of leaving work until the fire broke out and from the position of his house he would not see any person go to the mill when he was at home at the time of the fire alarm and he went to the furnace and found them all as he had left them and cannot see how this fire could have originated from the engine furnace when it first broke out. The boiler is what is called a Cornish boiler and when he first saw the fire it was not near the engine and boiler house and that they ignited afterwards. William Alfred Harket, said he was in the stable at the south side of the factory where there was some dye stuff, some wool and some rollers and he was in there before breakfast only. He said he did not smoke and did not know if any worker was in there while he was at the river with other boys soaking skins. Augustus Block said that he was a miller at the factory and about ten minutes past five he fastened the two doors where the fire broke out but did not know any worker was there after he made the doors fast and he never saw the boys smoke and he did not smoke himself and he didn’t smell any signs of the fire at the time he fastened the doors. Upon hearing the evidence, the jury after a short consultation gave their unanimous verdict “that the fire was the work of some incendiary as yet unknown”. The mill continued to be a picturesque building standing on the shores of the Nepean River for many years, eventually being known to tourists who passed in boating parties as simply ‘The Old Factory’. Abraham Rayner died in August 1902 in Emu Plains at the age of 93. He was born in Dublin in 1809.  John Rayner born in Dublin in 1808 died in May 1984 at the age of 76.  Their parents were Samuel & Maud Rayner. 

Sources: Sydney Morning Herald, Historic Australian Towns website, Trove, Ancestry, Town & Country Journal, BDM Website, 1891 Census, Grenville’s PO Directory 1872, Family Search (Mormon website).