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TOP FACTORY
A major project finished in 1999 was the design of an interpretive program
for the Top Factory, funded by the Australia Foundation for Culture and
the Humanities. This builds on previous work involving the restoration of
the building (funded by Heritage Victoria), creation of a 'virtual tour'
in the Top Factory CD Rom, and complements the 'Pipe Stacks' sculpture installation
outside the building. The Top Factory interpretation aims to express to
the public the 'feel' of the factory as much as the technicalities of its
operation. Therefore interpretive signage has been designed (by Kerrie Poliness
and Gary Vines) to reflect the original warning and instructional signs
used in the factory from the 1960s and '70s. Many of these were bilingual
because of the large number of Italian and other migrants working in the
factory in that period.
Rather than describe the working conditions in the passive voice, e.g.
'Dangers for workers were ever present from fast-moving machinery, heavy
pipes and hot steam', we aimed to present precise clues in the way of safety
warnings, e.g. ' stand clear of spinning moulds', or danger, high temperatures'
etc. These signs were also bilingual, positioned so as to demonstrate the
particular operation, and hand-painted (by Clare Hart) in the close approximation
of the original style.
In conjunction with this signage, other forms were used. Spray-painted
stencils were used to identify the major production stages - painted directly
on concrete floors or timber supports, e.g. 'Moulding Machine No. 1'. The
Pipe Trail, created a decade ago, was redesigned to take into account new
opportunities for visitors to go through the building, and a set of sound
installations were created to add another dimension to the interpretation.
The sound installations involved a series of digital devices which are designed
to be activated by motion or switch when passed by visitors. The sound programs
were created by mixing original sound effects from Hume's Laverton factory
with re-recorded segments of oral histories conducted with former workers
of the Maribyrnong factory. Other incidental sounds help create a special
mood, and the disembodied voices emerging from hidden units complete the
effect. The full program will be available once issues of public access
to the Top Factory have been resolved.
Tim Cole, who has previously worked at the Museum on the Water Chamber
and other events, engineered the sound programs, and Angelo Salamanca re-recorded
the edited oral history component to provide a clear and consistent style.
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