Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Waterloo Tanning School

The School of Leather Dressing and Tanning was a training facility established at the beginning of the twentieth century by the Sydney Techical College for the use of new technologies and chemicals in the tanning and leather industry. Originally based at Circular Quay, it moved to the main college campus in Ultimo in 1912 and then to facilities at Waterloo in 1916.

Milestone
Opened
May 1909
Closed
1999
Name
Alternate
Sydney Technical College Tanning School
Position
1909 - 1944
1944 - 1965
Type

Waterloo Tanning School

,
2011

Set up as part of Sydney Technical College, the Tanning School aimed to raise the skill level of leatherworkers, so that the local industry could compete with higher quality imported goods. In the end the school outlived Sydney's leather industry, and closed in 1999.