The Melbourne suburbs of Collingwood and Fitzroy were central to footwear manufacture in Victoria from the 1860s to the mid twentieth century. The boot and shoe department became the largest at Collingwood Technical School.

Collingwood Technical School was strongly supported by local industry via significant donations of equipment and scholarship awards. It was advantageous for companies such as the British United Machinery Company of Australia to invest in the school and gain trained apprentices for immediate employment.

‘A picture taken yesterday morning at Collingwood Technical School shows Mr. H. Moore, of the British United Machinery Co., which has presented four machines for teaching boot manufacture to the school, demonstrating the latest model inseam trimming machine. Four hundred apprentices attend the classes held nightly at the school. On the left is standing the principal, Mr. A. Strang [1].’

[1] Gift of Machinery for Technical School, The Age, Melbourne, 13 June 1935, p.11.