Bluestone

Bluestone told the story of a building. The exhibition explored the deep connection with the geology of the area, the 60,000 years of continuing Wadawurrung culture and confronted head-on the colonisation of the region and events leading up to the opening of the woolstore. It explored industry innovations and the sometimes moving, sometimes humorous stories of those who ‘walked these halls’.

1 August 1872 the CJ Dennys & Co Woolstore opened, adorning the corner of Moorabool and Brougham Streets, Geelong/Djilang, Australia. The same year the telegraph connected Australia to the world. At the time it was the second largest store in Victoria and by all accounts the “most elaborate”.  

The building was an innovation in colonial architecture, with advanced design that helped usher-in a new way of commerce by storing, selling and shipping wool worldwide. Many thought it extraordinary to build the elaborate three-storey bluestone woolstore in Geelong. It brokered and sold wool until the 1990s.

Bluestone looked at the significance of the building, the stories contained in its walls and the role it played in the story of Geelong/Djilang and Australia. It considered the many faces of CJ Dennys and explored forgotten stories.

But Bluestone was not just about the past. It also explored the contemporary and the future by inviting community to come and share their stories and contribute to the future life of the building.