Relic of Sydney's industrial era becomes a canvas for urban street artists The Dunlop Factory in Alexandria, abandoned for over 20 years, is pictured in all manner of graffiti-coated disrepair. WHILE Sydney's inner city sprouts more and more high-rise buildings devoted to shoebox apartments, one disused footwear factory endures. In the face of ever-increasing development, Alexandria's old Dunlop-Slazenger factory stands defiant - a testament to Sydney's industrial past. Despite attempts by the plant's owners to sell or redevelop the site, this former footwear and tyre factory stubbornly refuses to shuffle off the block. The Dunlop Factory in Alexandria. The Daily Telegraph is shining a light on forgotten relics like the Dunlop-Slazenger factory and, using the images of photographer Tim Frawley and our readers, will reveal the hidden treasures of Sydney's past. The sprawling Dunlop-Slazenger site, largely stripped of its machinery, now houses only the paint cans that have been used by street artists to decorate its walls. Discarded paint cans. A vision of industrial decay, the building is a stark reminder of the condition of Sydney's former factory lands before redevelopment and renewal began around the Alexandria and Waterloo area. Today, it is home to yuppies and young families but it was once a hub of Sydney's old world economy. Dunlop-Slazenger opened the factory in the early 1930s, launching the famous Australian Dunlop Volley shoe to prolonged sales success in the same decade. Street art. Production was eventually offshored in 1998, with its birthplace plant in Alexandria having closed four years earlier. Persistent rumours of the site's impending demolition persist but the factory remains despite the company's Australian arm being sold to Bond's maker Pacific Brands in 2004. While authorities have made this site harder to get to, erecting boundary fences and rumours of dog patrols, urban explorers refuse to abandon this piece of ghost Sydney. An abandoned car becomes installation art. Colourful artwork adorns the walls. Some of the street art makes quite a statement. Urban street art has found its home here. Graffiti. Originally published as Shoe factory was heart and sole of industrial Sydney