The land on which it sits was originally part of the Collingwood Estate, owned by entrepreneurial wool merchant James Henry Atkinson. He subdivided the estate, and in 1864 sold off 20 acres of land to the Australian Paper Company. Located on the banks of the Georges River, the Collingwood Paper Mill commenced production in 1868 and was at the time Australia’s largest paper mill.
After a change of ownership in 1875 it was renamed the Liverpool Paper Mill, and continued operating until about 1905. From 1914 the buildings were used as a woollen mill and remained operational until 1975.