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IRON AND STEEL
AUSTRALIAN ROMANCE
HOSKINS' BIG WORKS
Probably nothiug in the history of the
world throughout the ages has had such a
tremendous and speedy effect on the con-
ditions of the world's people as the intro-
duction of machines and processes to en-
able cheap iron and steel to be made in
great quantities. The importance of this
event, with its consequent progress, has
made possible the development of the
locomotive, the railroad, the steamship,
the automobile and all the means of travel
and transport which go to make up the
world's commerce, and, at the same time,
the hundred and one small items which
are to be found in every individual home,
bringing about the conditions of life and
comfort as existing at present.
On September 27, 1825, over 100 years
ago, the first train was hauled over the
Stockton and Darlington railways at 10 to
15 miles per hour. In these 100 years the
railroads and the steel industry have
grown side by side into modern giants. In
1830 Britain produced ouly 678,417 tons of
pig iron, but in 1880 it had jumped to
nearly 8,000,000 tons,
The
First Blast Furnace
in Australia was erected at Mittagong in
1848, for the smelting of ores in that local-
ity, and it was demonstrated that pig iron
of good quality could be produced. The
pig iron could not, however, be produced
at a price which compared with the im-
ported article, and after attempts by vari-
ous ironmasters, the works were finally
closed down in 1886. In 1875 the first
blast furnace erected at Lithgow was
started, which was a very primitive af-
fair, and continued to produce pig iron
until 1882, when operations ceased so far
as the production of pig iron was con-
cerned.
Prominent among those who endeavor
ed to establish the iron and steel indus-
try in Australia are the names of Mr.
Rutherford, Mr. Enoch Hughes and Mr.
W. Sandford; but in each case the at-
tempts were unsuccessful, and attended
with financial loss. Mr. Rutherford,
when speaking at Lithgow in 1894, declar-
ed that
He Had Lost £150,000
in the attempt to make the iron and steel
industry in Australia a success. The first
steel furnace was built in Australia in
1900 by Mr. Sandford, but it was closed
down in 1907. After negotiations with
the New South Wales Government Messrs.
Hoskins Brothers agreed to take over the
works and complete the contracts.
In the year 1875 these two brothers,
Messrs. Charles H. and G. J. Hoskins
started business in a small way in Syd-
ney, manufacturing small machines, quite
a number of which were for farm use and
operated by a horse turning a pole around
a circular track. The manufacture of
small steam engines was also undertaken
about this time, but owing to the lack of
customs tariff on machinery, they com-
menced to specialise in the manufacture
of steam boilers, pipes of all descriptions
and water works requirements.
Such is the very modest history of the
early days of the Hoskins Iron and Steel
Company, Ltd., which has now
Immense Works
at Sydney, Brisbane, Lithgow, and Rhodes.
It goes to the credit of Mr. C. H. Hos-
kins that he, by his outstanding ability,
courage, and perseverance, was the first
man to successfully establish the iron and
steel industry in Australia.
This company has now grown to one
of the biggest, if not the biggest, iron and
steel manufacturing companies in the
southern hemisphere. They have grown
from a humble beginning until they now
employ at their various works between
2,500 and 3,000 persons. It shows just
what the possibilities are in Australia for
iron and steel works.
The company has issued a beautifully
bound book containing a complete and
fascinating history of their efforts, togeth-
er with a hundred odd illustrations of
their works, quarries and mines. The
publication is a credit to the firm which
produced it (Messrs. John Sands, Ltd.,
Sydney), and to the compilers. For those
interested in the industrial life of Austra-
lia, it will form a valuable addition to
their libraries.
Particular interest to Western Austra-
lians is the history of this great Austra-
lian concern. It was this company which
supplied the whole of the rivetless steel
pipes for the
Coolgardie Water Supply
scheme. It was a typical example of the
firm's ability to execute contracts of the
largest dimensions. It will be remember-
ed that tenders were called throughout the
world for 350 miles of riveted and welded
steel pipes, 30 inches in diameter, 28 feet
long and five-sixteenth of an inch thick.
This is the longest individual water pipe
line in the world, by which water is pump-
ed from a few miles outside Perth, the
capital of this State, to the gold mining
region of Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie, over
350 miles away; these mines being situ
ated in a country with a very small rain-
fall and artesian water being quite un-
satisfactory. Out of 16 tenders, that of the
Messrs. Hoskins for this work was the
lowest, at £1,060,000, after which a large
amount of additional work was carried out
by them for this water scheme, bringing
the total up to £2,500,000.
Another work of considerable magni-
tude was the construction of two large
water mains six feet in diameter and ap-
proximately 18 miles in length, to supply
the City of Sydney with water.
Although beset with many grave dif-
ficulties and
Fierce Competition
the business as a whole has progressed
to a marked degree, and is probably uni-
que in Australia, in that such a large
industrial undertaking is entirely owned
and controlled by the members of one
family. In the year 1919, Mr. G. J. H0s-
kins and members of his family, sold
their entire interests in the company to
Mr. C. H. Hoskins, and members of his
family, and it has since been conducted
by them.
In 1908, after building additional plant
in an endeavor to make this portion of the
ironworkers' business at Lithgow a pro-
fitable one, the new owners came to the
decision that it would be wiser to concen-
trate on the production of steel and ceased
the manufacture of wrought iron altogeth-
er. At that time the plant for the pro-
duction of steel consisted of two little
four-ton furnaces and one of 15 tons
capacity, all of which were old fashioned
and of a very inefficient type, in conse-
quence of which, practically every item of
plant—steel furnaces, iron making fur-
naces and rolling mills—had to be torn
down and replaced with modern plant.
From the humble beginning as outlined,
the company has now grown until there
are immense works in four cities. There
has also been built another blast fur-
nace with a capacity of 2,000 tons of iron
per week, three modern steel furnaces,
a 28-inch rail and billet mill, a modern
10-inch bar mill for rolling smalll bars,
and many extensions to the engineering
plant, foundries, power plant, etc. Also
additional iron pipe plants at Sydney and
Rhodes, and a locking bar pipe plant at
Brisbane, have been constructed and are
operating most successfully, these pipe
plants being easily the most modern of
their type south of the line. The latest
addition is the purchase of approximately
400 acres of land bordering on the water
front at Port Kembla, (New South
Wales), 56 miles south of Sydney, in a
most suitable situation, for additional
iron and steel making plant, which is con-
templated for the near future.
Hand in hand with this development of
the iron and steel works, the company ac-
quired a number of
Iron Ore Deposits
at Cadia, Tallawang, Gregra, Parkes, Jerr-
waw, Crookwell, Breadalbane, and other
places in New South Wales, and in addi-
tion considerable areas of iron ore in
Tasmania. Great limestone deposits have
been acquired at Marulan and Excelsior,
besides several large deposits in the
vicinity of Carlos Gap. Three additional
coal properties have been acquired, two
on the western coalfield at Lithgow, and
one 0n the southern coalfield at Wonga-
willi, near Dapto. At the Lithgow works
a plant of ninety "push-out" type coke
ovens has been built.
The product of the company are given
briefly as follow :—
At Lithgow: Pig iron of all grades;
steel blooms and billets, structural steel,
steel bars for reinforcements, shoeing
steel, bolt and rivet steel, spiral, laminat-
ed and volute spring steel, plough share
and plough spring steel, bridge rails, tee
rails and fastenings, railway rails, 60lb.
and 100 lb. per yard, fish plates, coal,
metallurgical coke.
At Wattle-street, Sydney, and Rhodes:
Cast iron pipes and fittings, special cast-
ings, boilers, tanks, etc.
At Wongawilli, South Coast: Metallur-
gical coke and coal.
At Brisbane: Steel- locking bar pipes.
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