Australia in 1849, having worked in the woollen cloth trade, and commenced work as a fellmonger and wool scourer in Melbourne in partnership with a Mr Mills. On discovery of gold he visited the Ballarat, Bendigo and Mt Alexander goldfields and was highly successful as a digger. Returning to Melbourne, he set up his own fellmonger’s business by the Yarra River in Abbotsford towards the end of 1852. He had married Mary Ann Hill in March of that year, and the couple would remain on the property until their deaths in 1901 and 1903. Buildings on this property are a remarkable and rare survival of an early Collingwood industry.

Fellmongers, attracted to the Yarra with its dual benefits as a free water supply and as a sewer and garbage dump, had commenced operating in Richmond and by 1854 had spread upstream to Collingwood. Nettleton’s property was situated at what he referred to as ‘the bottom of Simpson’s Road’, in reality a muddy track which continued beyond the river ferry (near current-day Walmer Street) towards the bend of the river (where the 1884 bridge now crosses to Hawthorn). Simpson’s Road was so-called after James Simpson who lived at Yarra Grange, and was later re-named Victoria Street. In May 1853 Nettleton was one of the local residents and landowners who met to discuss the parlous state of the road after recent rains; they planned to subscribe £1000 then ask the Central Roads Board (CRB) to contribute £2000 for repairs. It is hardly surprising that they were successful, as the chairman of the CRB, Francis Murphy, was by then living at Mayfield in Church Street and would benefit from the improvements.

In 1855 this area came under the jurisdiction of the newly established municipality of East Collingwood, and was eventually named Abbotsford. The site can be seen on the c. 1855 map (see illustration). At this date the Nettletons would have been living in one of the timber cottages marked on the map, but in 1861 Peter built a fine bluestone house close to the road, and a large three-storey wool shed close to the river. His five timber cottages were let to men employed as woolworkers, soapmakers or curriers. An article in The Argus in 1863 gives a very detailed description of the wool scouring process, primarily focused on Nettleton’s enterprise, describing the methods used and his three-storey building. 

By 1870, Nettleton’s fellmongery was cleaning 3,000 sheepskins per week.  A great quantity of animal remains were disposed of in the river creating water and air pollution, with many complaints about the noxious odours. The Yarra Pollution Prevention Bill enacted in 1855 in an effort to reduce the number and size of noxious industries was largely unsuccessful in practice. Nettleton had petitioned for compensation if the Bill were passed! Collingwood Council generally respected these proprietors of noxious trades as they were an important source of rates, and the general view was that industry was good for Collingwood. Moreover, many of them became councillors themselves. As Bernard Barrett points out: 'In practice the council was oriented towards industry, particularly towards riverside noxious trades ... any council candidate ... was likely to be favourably disposed towards the noxious trades, since these were Collingwood's staple industries.'  Collingwood and Richmond councils even sought the repeal of the Yarra pollution legislation on a number of occasions in the 1860s.

Nettleton never stood for Collingwood Council, but according to Victoria and its Metropolis Nettleton always took ‘an interest in Parliamentary and municipal elections, and other movements for the good of the district to which he belongs’. He was appointed a Justice of the Peace and served as an honorary magistrate at Collingwood Court.  The Observer recalled 'whenever anyone aspired to political, municipal or School Board honours, it was Peter Nettleton whose support they first sought. He was a tower of strength to those he backed, and he invariably backed his support with the needful when necessary'.

In other interests, he was elected a director of the Bank of Victoria in 1885, was a director of The Shamrock Brewing and Malting Company, located near his property, and a director of Coppin’s Theatre Royal Proprietary Company. He donated a piece of land to facilitate the building of the Victoria Street bridge, the construction of which was finally begun in 1882.

Mary Anne gave birth to five children, of whom the eldest, also called Mary Anne, and the youngest, Arthur, survived infancy. While Arthur assisted his father in the business, Mary Ann married pharmacist Samuel Shippon Strutt in 1883. The wedding was held at the Nettleton home and it is possible the upper floor of the woolworks was used, as it was among the few areas in Collingwood, prior to the building of the town hall, suitable for a large reception. The young couple lived in East Melbourne and had two sons.

Peter Nettleton died at his home in 1901 aged 77. Arthur, who was very close to his father and much upset by his death and the responsibilities of administering his will, was reported missing, and eventually found drowned in the Yarra some weeks later; Mary Anne senior stayed in the house until her death in 1903. The 1901 MMBW Detail Plan number 1302 shows the site as it was at the time of Peter’s death.

Troubles did not come singly for Mary Ann. Having faced the deaths of her father, brother, and mother within the space of two years, the probate of her father’s property dragged on for years owing to the demise of the executors. In 1915 she had the appalling experience of hearing that her elder son Charles was killed in action at Gallipoli and then a few weeks later her husband died. She survived until November 1931. 

Fellmongers Schofield and Company operated at the site for some years. In 1920 the business was acquired by the Alma Wool Scouring Company, which continued operations until 1980. Woolshed 1 and 2, and part of the wharf, remain, as does Nettleton’s house, where the initials PN can still be seen in the glass over the door. The City of Yarra Heritage Overlay 65 covers the whole complex.

Barrett, The inner suburbs; Victoria and its Metropolis page 582

Obituary The Argus 5 July 1901

Trove list: https://trove.nla.gov.au/list/69682

https://collingwoodhs.org.au/participate/walks-talks/from-skipping-girl-to-abbotsford-cool-2012/

MMBW Detail Plan 1302

Kearney map 1855