Bill Hoogendoorn wrote the book, 1898 - 1998, Port of Port Kembla in 1999. Much of the text and many of the pictures in this section have been used (with permission) from this excellent book. The original book is fully referenced and readers are referred to the original text for specific sources.
Table
of Contents
European Settlement - describes the first years after the arrival of European settlers in the area, early port development and the naming of the port.
The NSW Government becomes Involved - after lobbying by local coal mine owners. The construction of the Outer Harbour and land resumptions made to create a working port.
Industrial Development - of the port describes how the construction of Port Kembla harbour attracted industry and jobs to the area and early community development.
Management of the Port - describes the various phases of port management throughout its life and the various influences that driven change in management methods.
Inner Harbour Development - the second and most important phase of harbour development was the construction of the Inner Harbour from Tom Thumb Lagoon.
Port
Storm Damage - During
large storm events, the breakwaters are prone to damage as well ships
moored at jetties that cause damage to themselves and the jetty,
embankments get washed away and bulk cargo stored on the shore can also
get washed into the harbour.
Important Port Kembla Harbour Dates - A brief summary of important dates of the Port Kembla harbour history.
Aborigines had lived along the NSW coast for many
thousands of years prior to European settlement as indicated by their
large middens at Red Point and elsewhere along the Illawarra Coast. The
first known Europeans to land in the vicinity of Red Point were Surgeon
George Bass, Midshipman Mathew Flinders and a boy named Martin. Their trip
in the small boat Tom Thumb was to inspect the Hacking River but
they were blown further south and in March 1796 they found themselves
opposite Hat Hill. They accidentally landed at a surf beach south of
Wollongong. After re-packing the boat they proceeded to an anchorage in
the lee of Red Point where they landed looking for water. There they were
directed by two Botany Bay natives to a small stream a few miles down the
coast and discovered a sheet of water the natives called Alowrie and that
is now known as Lake Illawarra.
They named the group of small islands off Red Point the “Martin
Isles” after the young boy, although the name of the group was later
changed to the “Five Islands”.
The next Europeans to visit the district did so in
1796 when some ship wrecked survivors of the sailing vessel Sydney Cove,
bound from India to Sydney and which had foundered in Bass Strait on 9
February 1797, passed through on their arduous way up the coast to Sydney.
On the slopes of Mt. Keira two of the party were killed by natives,
leaving only three from the original group of seventeen to continue the
trip. It was Mr. William Clark, the leader of the survivors, who after
their arrival in Sydney on 15 May 1797 first reported sighting coal in the
cliffs south of Sydney. Governor Hunter sent Dr. Bass to report on the
coal seam and in his report of 20 August 1797 stated that there was a vein
of coal 6 or 7 feet thick. This deposit proved to be the stratum of coal
extending from Coalcliff to the Blue Mountains.
As early as 1810, unofficial settlement of the area
had begun in the Illawarra or Five Islands district with the arrival of
the cedar cutters. Cedar (Toona
australis) was carried from the inner shores of Lake Illawarra, in small
craft in 1810 and bullock teams used to haul cedar logs and planks to the
edges of the Lake, at suitable centres, for years before any real
settlement took place
Access to the area was a problem with the Sydney
Gazette of 18 March 1815 carrying the following article “A
considerable extent of fine grazing country is described by late
travellers to be above the Five Islands; to which, however, it would be
thoroughly impractical to convey cattle by land.”
Despite this pessimistic observation, cattle were
conveyed to the Illawarra by land, following the cutting of a track down
the mountain, from Appin to Bulli in 1815 by Dr. Charles Throsby of Appin
who had been shown the route by an aboriginal. Throsby’s cattle track
remained the only access into the Illawarra until Cornelius O’Brien
built his road from subscripted money from Appin, down Mt. Keira in 1821.
In 1816 the first official grants were made and the following announcement appeared in the Sydney Gazette of 16 November 1816: “Those Persons, who have obtained Promises of Allotments are hereby required to avail themselves of the approaching occasion of the Surveyor being on duty in Illawarra, to get their Locations marked out to them.” The meeting was held at the hut of Mr. Throsby’s stockmen on 2 December 1816.
On 24 January 1817 2,200 acres was granted to David
Allan, late Commissary-General of the Colony of NSW. The property, which
he called ‘Illawarra Farm’, was located between Tom Thumb Lagoon and
Lake Illawarra with frontage to the sea at Red Point and Port Kembla. The
property was purchased by Richard Jones in 1827 and in 1828 he sold it
William Charles Wentworth who named it “Five Islands Estate”.
Logging and farming were the primary activities in
the local district, but the Illawarra was sparsely populated. A report by
Mr. Alexander Stewart in the Illawarra Mercury stated that between Bulli
and Jamberoo in 1828 there were only about fifty male residents, ten
married ladies, no females of marriageable age with in total about sixteen
children.
After Governor Bourke’s visit to the Illawarra in April 1834 at the request of local residents upset with local conditions, he sent Major Mitchell, Surveyor General to visit the area to undertake the required work to open up the area. Part of the work involved the examination of Port Kembla and Wollongong Boat harbour prior to selecting the site for the establishment of the town. He chose the latter for the site of the port. The Government Gazette of 26 November 1834 stated that the site of Wollongong had been fixed. The main activities in the Illawarra area up until the mid 1840’s remained beef and dairy cattle, the supply of milk butter and cheese, sheep and agricultural farming, cedar cutting having been regulated by the Government since July 1825.
Naming
the Port
Mount Kembla Coal and Oil Company Ltd. decided in
1880, to build a railway from their mine on the slopes of Mt. Kembla to
the coast. The position they chose for the location of their jetty was
just to the north of Red Point. Red Point was named by Lieutenant James
Cook on 27 April 1770. The log book of HMS Endeavour has the
following entry;
The name Port Kembla was undoubtedly derived from the
Mount Kembla Coal and Oil Company’s decision to construct their jetty in
the sheltered bay off Red Point.
The
First Industries And Jetties At Port Kembla
The history of the Port of Port Kembla is one closely
associated with the export of coal. Prior to the State Government resuming
the land around and waters of Kembla Bay in 1898 to build a port, the bay
had already been exporting coal from two offshore jetties for 15 years.
Coal mining and export is still a major industry in the region today and
coal exports, although slowly diminishing still forms the major export
commodity through the port today. In 1849 Mr. Shoobert
opened a mine at Mt. Keira, bringing the first load of coal to Wollongong
harbour on 27 August of that year. Other coal mining followed with the
Osborne-Wallsend Mine at Mt. Keira opening in 1857, the same year that the
Bellambi mine commenced operations.
The kerosene works at American Creek commenced
operations in July 1865. This plant and the land it was situated on was to
become the focal point for the commencement of coal exporting operations
through what was to become Port Kembla after the Graham brothers sold
their kerosene works to the Mt. Kembla Coal and Oil Company in 1874.
The production of coke, made from the slack coal left
beside the mines, was first attempted near Wollongong wharf in 1878, but
closed down in 1879. Another attempt was made several years later at
Corrimal with indifferent results for several years before being closed.
The coke industry in the Illawarra commenced commercially when, in 1888,
Mr. E Figtree established his works at Unanderra.
The approval by the State Government, in 1881, for
the Mt. Kembla Coal and Oil Company to construct a railway from their mine
on Mount Kembla to Red Point and the construction of a high level offshore
jetty into the bay there, marks the beginning of growth and development in
the Port Kembla area.
The
Mount Kembla Coal and Oil Company
In December 1865 the Graham brothers sent the first
load of kerosene from their oil shale producing factory on American Creek,
Mt. Kembla, to Wollongong. This was the first such works in Australia at
the time. By 1873 the works employed 35 men and produced around 2,000
gallons of prize-winning kerosene per week that was sent to Sydney, the
plant also produced 300 gallons of tar or lubricating oil. In 1874 the
Graham’s sold the plant to the Mount Kembla Coal and Oil Company and
although they spent a considerable sum in altering the plant, kerosene
production became sporadic, eventually it stopped as it appears that the
quality of the shale had deteriorated.
The Mount Kembla Coal & Oil Co., opened a coal
mine on the property they had acquired from the Graham’s, however they
required more capital to fully develop the mine, railway and jetty
required to move the coal to Sydney. £100,000 was raised in England, with
the company being registered there. Of the capital raised, £20,000 was
used acquiring more property and improving it.
The ‘Mount Kembla Coal and Oil Company’s Railway
Act of 1881' authorised that company to build a railway line from their
Mount Kembla mine to Red Point (Kembla Bay) with a line branching off to
Wollongong Harbour, the latter line however was never built.
By early 1883 a 900-foot long jetty, designed by
William Burall, and known for years as the Kembla Jetty 3
and the railway line were completed. This was the first jetty constructed
in what became known as Port Kembla Harbour.
On the morning of 27 February 1883 the Union Steam
Ship Company of New Zealand’s steam ship SS Arawata of 1,100
gross tons and 2,000 tons burden, moored at the jetty carrying a large
number of dignitaries from Sydney. She was met on arrival by a party of
local notables and a hearty breakfast was served up in the saloon of the Arawata
before all boarded the waiting train, with the coal wagons suitably
attired for the trip, to the incline below the mine. There the mine
manager demonstrated how the wagons came down the incline from the mine
and it was reported that the assembled dignitaries were very impressed.
Subsequently 1,000 tons of coal was moved down the incline to the waiting Arawata
and at 11 pm. that night the vessel returned to Sydney with approximately
75 dignitaries and the first load of Mt. Kembla coal from Port Kembla.
That year the company shipped 21,522 tons of coal and employed 110 men.
In 1913 Mount Kembla Coal and Oil changed their name
to Mt. Kembla Collieries Ltd., and in 1946, their assets were purchased by
AI&S.
The
Southern Coal Company
The Southern Coal Company’s jetty, erected in 1887,
was approximately 1,400 feet long and constructed of turpentine wood that
was renowned as being resistant to marine borers and worms. The jetty, a
two-storey structure, had on it two standard gauge railway tracks and
along which a 30 ton locomotive pushed 7 ton wrought-iron hopper wagons
that were fitted with twin trap-doors. When the wagon arrived at the
selected hopper, the trap doors were opened whereupon the coal dropped
into the chute and into the hold of the ship. All this was carried out
without the train stopping or having to disconnect the wagons. The maximum
number of wagons that could be accommodated per train was twenty and it
took twenty minutes to discharge completely.
The overall rate of loading a vessel was about 300 tons per hour.
The
first vessel loaded at this jetty was the Osborne Wallsend Company’s
steamer SS Kurrara on Thursday 7 November 1889. Having already
shipped a part load at Wollongong, the vessel proceeded to the new jetty
and was topped up with 140 tons of Corrimal coal as a test of the new
jetty. In 1889 the Southern Coal Company was producing approximately 250
tons of high grade coke from its twenty coke ovens per week, the majority
being shipped directly to Adelaide for transport to Broken Hill and
Silverton for silver smelting purposes.
The NSW Government Becomes Involved
The selection of Kembla Bay as the regional deepwater harbour was a gradual affair. For many years prior to the Port Kembla Harbour Act of 1898 being passed, there were various plans to upgrade the shipping capability of the Illawarra, which at the time comprised the region from Coalcliff to the Shoalhaven. Wollongong Harbour at the time was the major port of the region but it was not very large or deep and even after having been deepened it could not service all the trade through the region.
There
was a plan in 1877 to use the northern part of Tom Thumb lagoon as an
Inner Harbour for Belmore Basin (Wollongong) by connecting them with a
canal 30 feet wide and 16 feet deep.
The export of coal by sea from the Illawarra was done through the port of Wollongong and the offshore jetties at Coalcliff, Austinmer, Bulli, Bellambi, Corrimal and Port Kembla. Of these Port Kembla offered the best combination of deep water and protection from southerly storms. Wollongong at that time was the only place where goods other than coal were exported and imported.
It was the coal interests using Kembla Bay and local commercial interests that made strong representations to the government for the construction of a deepwater harbour in the bay. After numerous rounds of governmental and public discussions, meetings and investigations, a proposal was submitted to the NSW Public Works Committee. This committee initiated a formal inquiry to discuss all aspects of the proposed project. One aspect carefully reviewed was the cost of the Port Kembla proposal, including the costs of the alternative sites submitted.
The Outer Harbour
Following the Committee’s recommendation, the then Minister of Public Works, the Hon. James H Young, introduced legislation to authorise the construction of Port Kembla Harbour. This proposal, better known as ‘Mr. Darley’s Proposal’, named after the then Chief Engineer of the Harbours and Rivers Branch of the Public Works Department, called for the construction of 2 breakwaters; an eastern breakwater of 2,800 feet and a northern breakwater of 3,530 feet in length. The proposal was finally passed by the NSW government, although it had been amended by only authorising the construction of the Eastern Breakwater with a total project cost of £200,000 which included £41,700 for the resumption of land and the two existing privately owned coal company jetties.
The main reasons Kembla Bay was chosen for the new regional deepwater harbour were the existence of two coal jetties in the bay which had rail connections to the coal mines at Mt. Kembla, the standard gauge line from the bay to Unanderra, the proximity to stone quarries for the construction of the breakwater to keep the overall construction cost down, and the actual size of the harbour created for the same amount of money as proposed for the other contenders.
As a comparison, the size of the harbour and the construction costs were:
-
Port Kembla scheme enclosed a water area of 223 acres at about £158,800;
-
Wollongong scheme enclosed a water area of 127 acres at about £183,000; &
-
Bellambi scheme enclosed a water area of 150 acres at about £208,300.
Port Kembla Harbour Act, 1898 (Act No 34)
This Act approved the construction of a deep-water harbour at Port Kembla, and provided for levying wharfage rates on goods, merchandise, packages, and articles landed at or laden from wharf or jetty within the said harbour. [23 December 1898.]
Resumption of Land, 1899 - The Port Kembla Harbour Act, 1898, authorises the Secretary of Public Works to carry out the said work, and shall be and has the power to resume all land, jetties and railway lines under a satisfactory arrangement with the owners.
In October 1899 the amount of compensation to be paid to the various land owners was agreed to in Parliament, these were:
- The Southern Coal Co. The jetty with all its equipment, the lease of land and 4 miles of railway to the junction with the Illawarra railway line at Unanderra. Price £33,000.
- The Mt. Kembla Coal & Oil Co. The jetty with all its equipment and their portion of the railway line on Mr. Wentworth’s land. Price £17,500.
- Mr. Wentworth. Parliament accepted 500 acres of the original request of 600 acres and 3 miles of railway used by Mt. Kembla Coal & Oil Co. Price £500.
The total cost of resumption was £55,500. A very good bargain, the government commented, as wharfage rates and other charges should quickly recompense the outlay.
The resumption of 496½ acres of foreshore and water around the harbour was not gazetted until 1 September 1900 and the resumption of the two jetties within this area on 5 November 1901.
The Eastern Breakwater
On 25 March 1905, the Illawarra Mercury wrote “Up to 1901 it was a common thing during the winter storms for dozens of large steamers to have to leave the jetties and stand out to sea for days, or return to Sydney. A great deal of trade, amounting to dozens of thousands of tons, was lost to the district between May and August.”
Prior to any construction work being done on the breakwater itself, 200 men were employed to open a blue-black granite quarry and to work around the foreshore for 12 months to prepare for this major construction project. Work actually commenced on the eastern breakwater with the first rock being tipped into the water on 2 August 1901.
The rock quarry at Gillian's Hill about 1901
A report dated 6 December 1902 states: - When the first wagon of stone to commence the great eastern breakwater at Port Kembla was tipped on the second day of August last year the most sanguine friends and supporters of those national works did not expect for a moment that within sixteen months the structure would extend to a thousand and fifty feet on its way toward completion and according to Mr. Keele, the engineer-in-chief, at approximately half the estimated price. At this stage the end of the breakwater stands in 26 feet of water with few stones of less than four tons now being placed into the breakwater. (Illawarra Mercury 6 December 1902)
By the end of June 1902, they had built the breakwater out 78 feet, using 95,000 tons of stone and at the end of June 1903; it was 1200 feet long and had consumed 192,000 tons of stone. At this stage the Government ran out of money. In May 1903 the gangs were reduced to two, comprising about fifty men, this was reduced to one gang of about twenty five men in December 1903. Major work resumed in November 1904 and by May 1905 the breakwater was 1,300 feet long and had used 224,000 tons of stone.
The
effects of the construction of the eastern breakwater at this stage was
that in 1903 only one ship had to leave the Southern Coal Company jetty
and then only for one day. The Southern Coal Co. jetty was least protected
by the breakwater until mid/late 1905, in fact there were reports that
initially the breakwater made things worse for them as it caused the
swells to enter the bay, causing strong undercurrents off the beach and
the swells caught the outer end of their jetty making it difficult or
impossible to load vessels when heavy seas were running.
In
1904 the Illawarra Mercury reported that the Southern Coal Company had
managed to ship between 70,000 and 80,000 tons of coal more that it had in
1903. The 1905 report continues, “…for many of the coal jetties
higher up the coast had been so damaged and broken up by storms that they
had ceased to be of use for loading coal.
The ocean facing side of the breakwater was constructed from blocks weighing 10 to 40 tons to withstand the heavy pounding of rough seas. As the work progressed and the breakwater extended further out into the harbour, the surface cap was cemented for strength and ease of access. The railway track was also extended. By 1912 the length of the breakwater had reached 2,800 feet at a cost of £200,000 including the resumption of land.18
The completed construction was of a mound type with a width at the top of 15 feet and it stood 24 feet above the low tide water mark. Even with an outer slope of 3 to 1, heavy seas still managed to shift the 10 to 40 ton blocks. Major restoration work was needed to repair the damaged sections after every gale (see section on Storm Damage). A further extension was undertaken which increased the overall length of the Eastern Breakwater to 3,750 feet and by the time it was completed, 844,631 tons of rock had been used to create this massive breakwater.
The Cowans Sheldon Steam Cranes and Shovels
After
the stone quarried was graded for size and weight, it would be loaded onto
rail wagons and transported to the port. Here the larger rocks were loaded
onto specially built small four-wheeled timber rail wagons that had a
tipping top section. The rock would be loaded on top of the wagon in such
a manner that when the wagon had been placed at the required position on
the breakwater where the engineers wanted the rock, three men could easily
tip the top of the wagon and slide the rock into the required spot
One
of these shovels was much later converted to a tri-leg steam crane to lift
30 ton concrete blocks onto the rail wagons for the armouring of the
Eastern Breakwater. This crane was last used in 1965 and remained a hand
fired boiler all through its working life.
The Northern Breakwater
Although the initial proposal to Government recommended the construction of two breakwaters, only the eastern one was initially approved. As it eventuated, long before the northern breakwater was authorised by Government in 1912, work had already begun on constructing it by the dumping of small rock, which although it had been quarried for the Eastern Breakwater was in fact too small to be used there. The use of the small unwanted rock for this breakwater was frequently raised, with a lengthy discourse on the wasted opportunity and the cost of disposing of the small stone from the quarry being raised in the Illawarra Mercury on 6 December 1902.
When the unauthorised northern breakwater had reached 1,470 feet in length, authority was requested of the Government to construct the breakwater as originally proposed and in December 1912 the ‘Port Kembla Harbour (Northern Breakwater) Act, 1912’ was promulgated.
Port Kembla Harbour (Northern Breakwater) Act, 1912
This Act sanctioned the extension of the Northern Breakwater, Port Kembla, to validate the construction of the works undertaken, and for purposes consequent there on and incidental thereto. [20 December 1912.]
The Public Works Department continued extending the Northern Breakwater from the existing 1,470 feet to the designed length of 3,263 feet, this being reached in 1925. It was constructed with a bullhead at the ocean end to prevent damage from turbulence during stormy seas and with 1,250 feet of the ocean side of the breakwater concreted in the same manner as the eastern one.
Prior to construction the PWD Engineers had considered the direction of the Northern Breakwater and the protection it received from the Eastern Breakwater and it was determined that smaller blocks could be used in its construction. The maximum size rock required was determined as 3 tons, which enabled the use of the larger spoils from the quarries established in the construction of the Eastern Breakwater to be used on the Northern Breakwater. A further 1,470 acres was notified for resumption in 1913, comprising all the available land between the Illawarra railway line and the coast, bounded by Wollongong in the north and Five Islands Road in the south.
When the extensions of both the Eastern and Northern Breakwaters were completed on 30th June 1937 it was estimated that 2,209,354 tons of rock had been used in their construction,22 and that the completion of these (initial) harbour works gave an overall harbour area of 360 acres at a cost of £802,869.
Another view of Gillian's Hill quarry looking towards the port showing the rail line and wagons used to transport the stone to the breakwater.
Land Resumptions For The Deepwater Harbour
The growth of the port and the need for the land around it to either allow for the construction of the harbour or for industry to purchase parcels to establish themselves and later expand was to occur over a period of many years and in a number of stages.
When the Government proclaimed the Port Kembla Harbour Act of 1898, they included clauses for the resumption of land, jetties and other works for the construction of a deepwater harbour. The land resumptions covered the area south and west of the bay, (see plan on page 12). This initial notification of resumptions was for the land, and jetties, owned by both of the coalmines, additionally 500, of a requested 600 acres were finally resumed from the Wentworth family, from their “Five Islands Estate”.
Under the Harbour Act, the Government resumed all the foreshore of the harbour in 1900 and then over a period of 14 years sold portions to industry. These industries were situated on the southern perimeter of the harbour as it then was.
The
Act authorising the extension of the Northern Breakwater in 1912 involved
the resumption of more land for its construction and for further future
development. The Act stated in the land resumption Indentures, “…did
hereby direct that the land described in the schedule thereto which in his
opinion was required for the said authorised works should be acquired by
taking the same under the provisions contained in Division 1, part of V of
the Public Works Act 1912”.1
This addition to the harbour did again not involve the creation of an
Inner Harbour.
When it was finally decided to construct the Northern Breakwater, it became necessary to resume all the land owned by the Waldron family. All the land that was originally in Jemima Waldron’s grant, some 500 acres were resumed by Notification of Resumption, signed by the Governor of NSW and dated 2 December 1913.
The Daily Telegraph of 2 January 1915 confirmed the intentions of the Government, stating:
The
Minister of Public Works, taking into consideration the enormous
expenditure in the constructing the great harbour, and looking forward to
its fine future, has resumed about 2,000 acres in the vicinity of the
port. This will be laid out for Government works sites, and allotted to
those in search of suitable sites for the erection of works, and
industries convenient to the port, mines, and coke works, without
extortionate prices having to be paid to early land speculators. In this
the Government can be commended for its foresight and wisdom, the benefits
of which will be exemplified in the near future.
The
resumption of land by the Government was to secure the area required to
both build the port and to have on hand the land it felt necessary to sell
to the industries that would wish to build adjacent to the ‘Great
Harbour’. Here landowners are discussing the proposed resumptions
with government officials.
Spring Hill Estate
The lease on George Tate’s grant was taken over by Captain Charles Waldron for the sum of £147-5-0 on 4 September 1832 where upon he, his wife Jemima and family moved onto Spring Hill Estate, occupying the former hotel built by George Tate.
Charles Waldron, a magistrate, only lived on the property for a short time before he passed away on 28 January 1834 after an incident when he fell from his verandah fourteen days earlier in controversial circumstances5 . His grant was made official and given to his widow Jemima on 6 June 1835.6 A condition of the grant being that they were bound to pay a £3-15-0 per annum ‘Quit Rent’ from 1 January 1831.
By 1837 Jemima Waldron was living at Mt. St Thomas, having found it necessary, due to her large family, to lease the whole of the five hundred acres. She did so to Charles Cunning Innes on 20 March 1837 for an annual rent of £150. The rent was deducted by £50 in the first year and the second years for improvements and repairs as Charles Innes deemed necessary to the property. At the time of the agreement Charles Innes already occupied “Spring Hill Estate”.
Within nine months Jemima Waldron had found it necessary to mortgage “Spring Hill” along with all buildings and outhouses to William Matthews, a farmer from Sydney, for the sum of £300, receiving the money on the 28 December 1837.9 A further mortgage of £200 was taken out with the Bank of New South Wales on 25 November 1839.
In 1840 the widow Jemima was in financial difficulties once more and began tenant farming on a 70 acre section of the estate known as “Swamp Farm”, upon which the original home and outbuildings stood. She lived there until failing health forced her to move and live with her son in Wollongong where she stayed until her passing on 19 June 1872.
At some time in the mid 1800’s, Jemima had a private road constructed through her 500 acre estate, a route that later was virtually followed the old Springhill Road from Allans Creek north.
Homestead Farm
In 1870 “Homestead Farm” was purchased back by the Waldrons, the size of the farm then being increased to 114¾ acres by adding to it a portion of “Spring Hill Farm”.
After Jemima’s death in 1872 this farm was bequeathed to Alfred Adolphus Waldron. He in turn mortgaged it for £1,200 on 2 January 1913 to Alexander Walter Scott Gregg and Henry Massey Makinson.
Resumption of the Waldron’s estate by the Government was executed under a number of Acts associated with the development of the port and promulgated between 1888 and 1912 on a notification dated 2 December 1913.
After the deaths of Makinson on 23 May 1913 and Gregg on 16 October 1915, Alfred Adolphus Waldron and James Alston Gregg, the executor of Alexander Gregg’s estate, made a claim for compensation in respect of the resumption of the 114¾ acres comprising “Homestead Farm” for harbour works, the claim being made to King George V and the Minister of Public Works. Despite Supreme Court action by Adolphus Waldron, the Court awarded Waldron and Gregg the Department of Public Works value on the land, with Alfred Adolphus Waldron accepting £1,317-6-8 and the executor of Alexander Gregg’s estate £1,367-2-5 on 7 July 1916.
Jemima’s children had either occupied or leased some of the smaller farms established during the previous 60 or so years.
Rose Hill Farm
After the passing of Jemima Waldron a great portion of her land was passed onto the English Scottish and Australian Bank through her Executors Rev. Thomas Campbell Ewing and George Hewlett manager for the E S & A bank.
Thomas Elliott who had extended his estate and renting an extra portion of land from Jemima Waldron, purchased through her Executors and the E S & A bank an extension to his “Rose Hill Farm”. On the 16 April 1873 he bought another 56 acres from her estate for £274-3-2.14 Soon, “Rose Hill Farm” increased to about 90 acres encroaching on Tom Thumb Lagoon.
The Elliott and Waldron families were to intermarry with “Rose Hill Farm” returning to the Waldron family.
Elliott’s Farm
Bullard Farm
Isabella Waldron on 25 September 1918 released to the Public Works Department, under the relevant Acts and a Notification published on 17 December 1913, 39 acres as part of “Rose Hill Farm” and a further adjoining 25 acres. The settlement was for a total of £1,782-8-2.
Swamp Farm
Prior to 1872, when Jemima died, this farm was occupied by a tenant, Thomas John Fuller and his wife Elizabeth Waldron. On the death of Jemima the 70 acre farm passed to her son Hubert Kelly Waldron. He held a further 70 acres on the opposite side of the present Spring Hill Road (John Lysaghts). It seems that Hubert Waldron was having difficulties and mortgaged “Swamp Farm” to William Walker, a miner of Mount Pleasant, for the sum of £50 on 1 December 1874.
After the death of Hubert Kelly Waldron, on 18 January 1875, the 70 acre “Swamp Farm”, and some of the other, 40 acre lots, were kept in the family. Hubert Henry Waldron, the son, finalised the debt to William Walker in 1875. Some 44 years later Hubert Henry Waldron reached, on 11 February 1919, a satisfactory settlement on behalf of himself and his siblings with the Public Works Department for £3,465-1-3.
Horse
Paddock
Reverend Thomas Campbell Ewing (Minister at St Michael’s Church of England) and George Hewlett the new Trustees of the Estate of Jemima Waldron released to Frederick Waldron Fuller a 40 acre horse paddock for the fee of £60. Frederick Waldron Fuller, born in 1872, was the son of Thomas Fuller and Elizabeth Somerset Orde Waldron. At the tender age of three years he purchased the land through the signatures of his uncle, George King Waldron, and Thomas John Fuller his father. This occurrence was caused by the death of his mother in 1872, his father remarrying on 3 September 1874 and the arrival of a new sibling late in 1875, deeming it necessary to transfer the land to the three year old Waldron grandson rather than pass it on to ‘strangers’.
By May 1890 it was once again necessary to sell some of the smaller lots. The representative of the Master of Equity of the courts of New South Wales found it necessary to auction off 10 small lots ranging from 16 to 31 acres and on 6 May 1890, D L Dymock, Auctioneer held the auction in the Commercial Hotel in Wollongong. Prices per acre ranging from £4-10-0 to £10-12-6. The immediate families of the Waldrons purchased all lots.
In 1920 the Waldron family still owned a large portion of the “Spring Hill Estate”, although consisting of many small farm lots. The largest and almost the last amount of land sold to the Public Works Department was by Hubert Henry Waldron, a butcher by trade, he seemed to have bought a large slice of the estate of his late grandmother, Jemima. Amongst the lots sold by him were:
-
82 acres at the south eastern end of Tom Thumb Lagoon;
-
the north western corner of the old Homestead Farm containing 37 acres;
-
a small portion of 17 acres in the vicinity of John Lysaght and north of Hubert Kelly’s land;
-
17 acres in the vicinity of Swamp Farm and bound by the Old Port Road;
-
51 acres on the north western corner and on the bank of Allan’s Creek; and
-
46 acres on the eastern corner of Spring Hill Road near Five Islands intersection.
For all this land, Hubert Henry Waldron claimed the sum of £19,360 compensation, though the Public Works Department valued it at £7,390 plus the accrued interest of £1,917 dating back to the resumption date in 1913. The final settlement figure was £9,307-16-4. The whole of “Spring Hill Estate” with the exception of a small piece in the north western corner, and north of the railway line, named Mt. St Thomas, was now in the hands of The Public Works Department, seven years after the resumption was gazetted.
Act 36 of 1936 was the Government’s ratification of an agreement with AI&S, signed by H H Lysaght and Cecil H Hoskins for and on behalf of Australian Iron and Steel Limited and the Honourable E S Spooner Minister from the Public Works Department, on behalf of the Government. The Act was dated 16 June 1936.
The Act permitted AI&S to apply all necessary improvements and erect buildings to the cost of £1,000,000 for the purpose of carrying out industrial operations. Under the conditions of the Agreement, the 1,665 acres of land that AI&S purchased from the Government was not to be sold or disposed of a specified number of years. It came as no surprise that the only party interested in this large parcel of land was AI& S with the settlement of the sale occurring on 25 September 1936. The area purchased covered all of Jemima Waldron’s grant plus a good deal of “Five Islands Estate” and part of ‘Jenkins Estate’.
Industrial Development
The growth of the community of Port Kembla and surrounds has been inextricably linked with the port and the growth of industry around it.
Prior to 1898 and the Government taking over the administration of the port of Port Kembla, the immediate area had less than a dozen families residing in it, with most of these being connected with the jetty operations of the Mt. Kembla Coal & Oil, and Southern Coal companies and with only a few farmers residing in the area.
The industries that had a direct bearing on the growth of the community and the port were:
Construction Works
· Eastern and Northern Breakwaters 1901 till 1925 and beyond;
· ER&S complex from 1907 till 1909;
· No.4 Jetty in 1908;
· Road from Wollongong to Port Kembla 1907 to 1910; and
New No.1 Jetty (coal loader) from 1912 till 1916.
The Mount Kembla Coal & Oil Company
The Southern Coal Company
The Mount Lyell Coke Company
MT Lyell Coke Company jetty in 1922 on the foreshore of Red Beach in Port Kembla Outer Harbour
The coke from this facility was diverted to ER&S in 1908 and due to a fall in copper prices after World War 1 and with ER&S implementing a cheaper chemical process for refining copper, the coke ovens became redundant and were subsequently dismantled in 1926.
Electrolytic Refining and Smelting Company (ER&S)
Their
agreement was that the Mount Morgan Gold Mining Company would supply the
ores from their Queensland mine for the smelting and refining. of copper,
the mainstay of the operation and was to be sold on the open market. The
precious metals, such as gold and silver, a by-product of the smelting
process, were sent to Germany for remanufacturing and further processing.
The precious metal deal was in return for Hirsch’s support and technical
advice in setting up the plant.
The first batch of refined copper was produced on 11 February 1909 from ‘blister copper’ provided from Mt. Lyell and Mt. Morgan. The plant was initially capable of producing 75 tons of copper per day, later increasing to over 90 tons when newer production methods were employed.
From the time that ER&S commenced full operation in 1909 there was a steady annual increase in copper output until 1918 when it produced 36,480 tons. In 1919 production fell dramatically to just 1,130 tons. From 1919 they again slowly increased production until the effects of the Great Depression hit, making its presence felt at ER&S in the 1920’s. Increasing global tensions in the mid 1930’s, leading possibly to war, gave industry a boost with production at ER&S back to high levels of production by the end of the 1930’s.
The
large smoke stack that dominates the Port Kembla skyline was built for
ER&S by Tileman & Co., commencing in 1964. The stack was built to
disperse the gaseous emissions at a greater height and to minimise the
effect of the emissions on the Port Kembla area
Southern Copper
Port Kembla Copper
The Road from Wollongong to Port Kembla
From
the time of the construction of the Mount Kembla Coal & Oil
Company’s jetty in 1882 and later the Southern Coal Company’s jetty in
1887, employees working in the Port Kembla area but who lived in
Wollongong, had two choices of which
way to travel to and from work. The first and longest way was to travel
around the perimeter of the Tom Thumb Lagoon via Figtree and Unanderra,
then cut through the bush to reach Port Kembla. The second was along a
track to Tom Thumb Lagoon and either walk across at low tide or swim
through on high tide. Unfortunately a number of men who took the risk of
crossing Tom Thumb Lagoon either drowned or got caught in quicksand and
died,
one
that died in the quicksand was the 14 year old son of Captain Thompson,
the pilot at Wollongong Harbour.
On
6 August 1896 a delegation of coal-trimmers, locals and businessmen met
with the Minister of Public Works the Hon. J.H.Young, with the following
figures put forward to him in support for their petition to get the PWD to
construct a bridge across the Tom Thumb Lagoon for workers living in
Wollongong but working in Kembla Bay.
“During
the five years from 1891 to June last no fewer than 2008 vessel’s
arrived and left Port Kembla. Of that number 569 were ocean-going vessels
and 1529 coasters. They had learned from a nautical authority that the
average number of men employed on each of those boats was at least 30, so
that within the period stated no fewer than 93,000 persons had visited the
port. Those visiting seamen were more or less interested in the matter of
the bridge because very often they had to remain at the port several days,
and yet, through being unable to cross the Thumb, they were prevented from
visiting the town. Passengers were in the same position. The chief reason,
however, that influenced them in making the request for a bridge was this.
Those 2098 vessels required an average of 20 trimmers each, which meant in
the five years referred to, a total of 41,960 coal trimmers. Those men had
often to wade through the water neck-deep both in going to and returning
from the port. If anything, they had understated the average number of
coal-trimmers to each vessel, for during a visit of the steamer Sonnesberg
at Port Kembla lately he found there were 46 men engaged in trimming.”15
In
1896 the people who regularly used to cross Tom Thumb Lagoon built a
walking bridge across the mouth of the lagoon. They used timber and
planking either donated or bought from monies they had collected. The
bridge consisted of poles buried in the sand with planking two feet wide.
A handrail was added later. The bridge became known as the ‘Trimmers
Bridge’ named after the people who built it, that are the coal trimmers
that worked on the jetties and ships.
Detail from the above picture showing a horse and cart using the same crossing point. The simple bridge was only for foot traffic. Note the dogs, one on the bridge and one swimming after the horse and cart.
Later
a bridge wide enough to carry cars and buses was constructed just west of
the “Trimmers’ Bridge”.
Metal Manufacturers
Although
ER&S had been producing cathode copper since 1909, there were no
downstream, domestic manufacturing facilities. A group of men investigated
the problem and toward the end of 1914 agreement was
reached with British Insulated and
Helsby Cables Ltd to become shareholders of and involved in the
establishment of a copper works at Port Kembla.
In
1915 plans were drawn up to build a rolling mill and wire drawing mill,
with a capacity of 8,000 tons
of copper wire annually. In May 1918 the rolling mill, wire mill,
warehouse and mechanics section covering some 552,300 square feet of floor
space were completed. ER&S, who had generated their own electricity
since 1909 supplied the electrical power to MM, they also supplied all the
raw copper for MM until 1959 when Mt. Isa Mines established a refinery at
Townsville in central North Queensland.
Australian Fertilisers Limited (AFL)
A
by-product of the ER&S copper smelting was the production of a large
quantity of sulphuric acid and they were keen to obtain a profitable
outlet for it. Accordingly ER&S, in partnership with the Mount Morgan
Gold Mining Company Ltd formed Australian Fertilizers Limited (AFL) on
26th June 1920.
The
AFL factory was established at the rear of the ER&S site and in late
1921 began producing superphosphate at a rate of 30,000 tons per year. AFL
imported two of the three raw materials required for the production of
superphosphate with most of the sulphur coming from the USA and the
phosphate rock from the Pacific Islands of Nauru and Ocean Island, while,
ER&S, supplied the sulphuric acid.
The
company’s ownership changed several times over the next few decades as
[production has been increased due to greater demand by Australian farmers
as yield per hectare has been
driven higher and higher by more intense agricultural and technological
farming techniques.
The
company is now known as Incitec and besides being involved
in their core business,
they have been involved in the various phases of importing and exporting
acid via No.4 Jetty.. As Port Kembla Copper begin operations in early
2000, Incitec stores the acid produced as a by-product of smelting, with
new tankage being built upon the site of the old MSB Branch office on
Foreshore Road. The excess
acid is sent around Australia and overseas.
Steel
Charles
Hoskins with his brother George began their steel manufacturing in Lithgow
when they took over their supplier of pig iron, Eskbank Ironworks, with
Charles Hoskins becoming the Managing Director of the works at Lithgow.
The ever increasing costs of freighting everything by rail to and from
Lithgow made his products uncompetitive with BHP at Newcastle, so Charles
Hoskins cast his eyes to the coast.
In
1916 Hoskins Iron & Steel Co. bought the Wongawilli mine near Dapto
and built a large battery of coke ovens nearby to supply their Lithgow
plant with coke and coal, this arrangement continuing long after Hoskins
had set up their Port Kembla works.
Charles
Hoskins purchased 400 acres of land at Port Kembla in 1924 and with a
substantial loan of £300,000 set out to construct the first blast
furnace, jetty and ancillary works. Cecil Hoskins became Chairman and
joint Managing Director with his brother Sidney after their father’s
death in 1926. They realised by 1927 the need for extra capital for the
business. Negotiations commenced, resulting in three other companies
joining the business, they were Howard Smith Ltd., Dorman, Long and Co.
Ltd., and Baldwins Ltd. They formed a new company called the Australian
Iron and Steel Co. Ltd. (AI&S) with a nominal capital of £5,000,000.
Australian
Iron and Steel (AI&S)
AI&S,
when newly formed, entered into an agreement with the then Minister for
Works, Hon. M.M.Flannery, in which the Government undertook to construct a
railway 38¼ miles in length, from Moss vale to Port Kembla, subject to
the company expending within three years, the sum of £750,000 on the
construction of ironworks at Port Kembla. The land on which the AIS’s
works were first established was private land, acquired by the company
near the Cringila Railway Station, about 2 miles from Port Kembla Harbour.
The company, in meeting its part of the agreement commenced constructions
and a newspaper article dated Friday 31 August 1928 states:
“The
largest and best equipped iron and steel furnace in the British Empire was
lit for the first time yesterday by Mrs. Chas H.Hoskins, wife of the
Chairman of Directors of Australian Iron and Steel. It is situated at Port
Kembla, south of the NSW town of Wollongong.
The
first unit of the new Port Kembla works to go into operation, the
massive 160-foot-high furnace has its foundations upon solid rock,
and its concrete base is 70 feet square.
It is expected to greatly increase the production of Australian iron and steel.”
During the Great Depression the Lithgow works had not been fully transferred to Port Kembla and this, with many other problems, prevented AIS from competing successfully with Broken Hill Proprietary Ltd. (BHP). Staff numbers were drastically reduced during the Great Depression from 1,500 to 500 employees.
The
beginning of noticeable trade recovery occurred in 1933 and by the end of
1934 the output of steel was 141,000 tons, exceeding their 1929 figures,
but again reduced significantly in 1935. Not being able to obtain
sufficient iron ore from BHP at a reasonable price, AIS approached BHP in
1935 to talk about a merger. BHP had a number of meetings with the
Managing Directors of AIS and a merger was confirmed on 18 October 1935,
whereby AIS became a subsidiary company of the large Newcastle based
company.
Broken
Hill Proprietary (BHP)
In
1936 when the recovery of trading conditions became assured, AIS needed to
purchase more land for expansion. The
agreement in connection with the purchase of this land from the Government
provided, inter alia, that the company should, within a period of five
years spend £1,000,000 on the erection of permanent and fixed structures,
with the agreement being ratified by the Government in an Act of
Parliament and assented to in July 1936
. 1,665 acres of land from
the Public Works Department
in
the area surrounding Tom Thumb Lagoon.
After
the merger of BHP/AIS, all their other subsidiaries and companies, and the
acquisition of Bulli and Mt. Keira Collieries, BHP became Port Kembla’s
largest employer with more than 3,700 workers.
Prior
to building an additional blast furnace it was necessary to increase the
production of coke. Forty eight ovens were commissioned in January 1950
and between 1950 and 1953 a further twenty four ovens were added. No.3
blast furnace was “blown in’ on 27
August 1952 and at the time it was the largest blast furnace erected in
the Southern Hemisphere, bringing the steel and iron works to a capacity
of about 1 million tons a year. Port Kembla became the largest steel
producing plant in Australia by 1953, surpassing BHP’s Newcastle works.
The
primary reason for expanding steel production was to provide feed stock
for the new hot and cold strip mill and tinplate plant. This required the
creation of a new portion of the works, with 75 acres of land to be
reclaimed from Tom Thumb Lagoon for the plant and another 25 acres for
rail access and associated works. The raising of the land by 20 feet
required 3 million cubic yards of fill, primarily sand which was obtained
from the Port Kembla sand dunes and from dredging operations in Tom Thumb
Lagoon.
The
entire plant was built on steel bearing piles, the first large scale use
of these piles in Australia, with over 5,500 used under the buildings
housing the hot strip mill. These piles, ranging from 15 to 98 feet,
totalled 16,500 tons of rolled steel,. By the end of 1950 the concrete
foundations were ready for some of the major installations, with a total
of 73,500 cubic yards or 150,000 tons of concrete being placed into the
foundations. The hot strip mill and plate finishing section were
commissioned in February 1954, the 66 inch continuous hot finishing mill
came on line in May 1955, with the equipment for hot dip tinplate being
installed in 1955.
The increasing demand for steel products after World War II, resulted in 1961 of 20,000 people employed by BHP in the Illawarra., with the production of raw steel rising from 1 million tons in 1950 to 5.5 million tons in 1973. This truly was the boom time in steel making. The introduction of computerised equipment resulted in staff cutbacks commencing in the early 1980’s, continuing into the 1990’s. There is more on BHP, on their involvement in the growth of the port, and the work on the hot strip mill, which was closely linked to the simultaneous reclamation and dredging of Tom Thumb Lagoon in the section dealing with the Inner Harbour.
The Legend of
“Pig Iron Bob’
Mr.
Robert Menzies became well known as ‘Pig Iron Bob’. The story behind
this relates to an incident at Port Kembla. A newspaper article on Friday
18 November 1938 states: “Waterside workers at Port Kembla have
refused to load pig iron bound for Japan because they believe it will be
used in the war against China and might possibly be used against Australia
in the future. The Attorney-General, Mr. Robert Menzies, has threatened to
invoke the Transport Workers Act against the unions if they do not comply
with his demands to load the pig iron. Mr. Menzies has argued that if the
pig iron is not to be sold to Japan then neither should wheat or wool,
which is used by Japanese Soldiers in China.
Mr. Menzies also reminded the unions that the League of Nations had
not imposed trade sanctions against Japan. The Labor minister, Mr. Rose
ear, disagrees. He says that the government is asking the unions to be the
ally in the Japanese massacre of Chinese citizens, and a supporter of a
possible attack on their own country.”45
The
sequel to this story is related in another newspaper article of Monday 23
January 1939. “Waterside workers at Port Kembla have agreed to load
pig-iron bound for Japan. The dispute between the workers and government
has lasted nine weeks and is estimated to have cost £100,000 in lost
wages to the workers and other union members, especially those in the
steelworks that were closed.
The
Federal Attorney-General, Mr. Robert Menzies, said that he hoped to
continue discussions with the waterside workers to improve their
conditions throughout Australia. The loss to the owners of the Delfram,
which has sat idle at Port Kembla throughout the dispute, is estimated at
more than £3000.
The unions have accepted the terms outlined by Mr. Menzies by a vote of 130 to 16 at a meeting held Saturday. The terms are: the Delfram will be loaded; licences will be removed; the union leaders will meet with the Prime Minister and Mr. Menzies in Melbourne this week.”
On Sunday 3 September 1939, the Prime Minister Robert Menzies, announced in a radio broadcast to the nation, “It is my melancholy duty to inform you that, in consequence of a persistence by Germany in her invasion of Poland, Great Britain had declared war upon her, and that, as a result Australia is also at war.” It directly involved increased and specialist production for the war effort from the industrial sector at Port Kembla.
When
the NSW Government took over the port at Kembla Bay in 1898, the Public
Works Department (PWD) managed all facets of the port, specifically all
new constructions, repairs and maintenance, the operation of the jetties
and management of shipping operations on behalf of the Government.
With
the introduction of the Maritime Services Act 1935, the marine management
of the Port of Port Kembla was undertaken by the PWD under delegated
powers.
This
lasted until 1947 when the Maritime Services Board (MSB) was given direct
responsibility for the operation and management of the port, however the
functions associated with construction, maintenance and dredging remained
with the PWD until 1st April 1978.
Maritime Services Act, 1935
An
Act to provide for the constitution of a Board to be styled “The
Maritime Services Board of New South Wales”; to provide for the exercise
and discharge by such Board of the powers, authorities, duties, functions
and obligations of the Sydney Harbour Trust Commissioners; to provide that
such Board shall be charged with the administration of the Navigation Act
1901, and certain other Acts; to confer and impose certain other powers,
authorities, duties and functions on such Board; to amend the Sydney
Harbour Trust Act, 1900-1931, the Navigation Act, 1901, and certain other
Acts in certain respects; and for purposes connected therewith.
On
1 February 1936 the Maritime Services Board took over control of the
Sydney Harbour Trust and the Department of Navigation in all NSW ports.
In
1947 the State Government decided that the direct control and
administration of Port Kembla Harbour, then under the control of the
Public Works Department, should be handed over to the Maritime Services
Board.
Accordingly, on 3 May 1948 the port was signed over to the MSB under the control of a Harbour Master who established a Pilot Service and Signal Station Port Kembla Harbour was run by the MSB from Sydney with the local employees providing the operational services and local management required in the port itself. The Public Works Department, however remained the Constructing Authority in respect of new works, dredging and maintenance.
In
1978 the MSB took over all the functions within the port from the PWD,
expanding the local office to cover the engineering services required in
the port. In February 1986 the management of the port was again changed,
with the Port of Port Kembla becoming a Branch of the MSB. The local
operation was expanded with the Port Kembla Branch Office being managed by
a Port Manager assisted by the Harbour Master and a Business Manager..
The port of Eden on the far
south coast of NSW was also administered by the Port Kembla Branch Office.
The
process of change continued and on the 1st
January 1990 the MSB Port Kembla Branch was transformed into the MSB
Illawarra Ports Authority (MSB IPA). This transitional change saw the
introduction of a Board of Directors to the port, however the ports were
still controlled by a central MSB Board. This change in structure was
underpinned by a change in philosophy that saw the Port Kembla Coal
Terminal leased to industry for a 20 year term with a 20 year option.
The next phase of organisational change came into being when the NSW Government proclaimed the Ports Corporatisation and Waterways Management Act 1995. On the 1st July 1995 the MSB ceased to exist, its place being taken by three wholly independent, Government Trading Enterprises, one being the Port Kembla Port Corporation (PKPC). The NSW Government wholly owns PKPC, with the Premier and Treasurer being the two nominated government shareholders. The Minister for Ports is responsible for the operation of the port and the administration of the Marine Regulations.
Inner Harbour Development
The
concept of an inner harbour, based on the use of Tom Thumb Lagoon, was
first proposed by William Wiley, the Lord Mayor of Wollongong in 1887,
after a review of the capacity of Belmore Basin to handle increased
shipping in the future. The proposal involved the construction of a canal,
30 feet wide and 16 feet deep at low water and 1½ miles long, from
Belmore Basin to the northern end of Tom Thumb Lagoon where a portion of
the lake would be deepened and an ‘Inner Harbour’ constructed. This
proposal did not remain current long with the revised option being the
construction of an extended Wollongong Harbour, a project that finally
foundered in about 1892.
As early as 1916, Thomas Edward Burrows, Chief Engineer for Harbours and Drainage a section of the Public Works Department, designed an Inner Harbour of 280 acres with a depth of 30 feet at low tide and wholly constructed by dredging. He estimated the cost in the vicinity of £500,000, excluding jetties and railway lines. It would be some years before this extension was required, but undoubtedly it would be needed with the expansion of trade through Port Kembla Harbour. The NSW Government however safeguarded this future development by resuming all the available land between the Main South Coast rail line at Unanderra and Wollongong, and thence to the sea coast, for future extension of the industries anticipated to spring up with the conditions of cheap coal, coke and shipping facilities.
The
next phase of organisational change came into being when the NSW
Government proclaimed the Ports Corporatisation and Waterways
Management Act 1995. On the 1st
July 1995 the MSB and the three subsidiary MSB Port Authorities ceased to
be operating entities, their place being taken by three wholly
independent, Government As discussed in the AIS/BHP the construction of
the Hot Strip and Tinplate Mills in the western portion of Tom Thumb
Lagoon commenced the work of transforming the area.
Another
part of the planned expansion of the steel works on lands adjacent to Tom
Thumb Lagoon included the construction, initially of the Sinter Plant and
later No.4 blast furnace with associated support facilities. These works
were carried out in such a manner that they aligned with the construction
of the proposed Inner Harbour and berths.
Vessels
using the outer harbour at the end of WWII were usually between 6,000 and
10,000 gross registered tons. The jetties being unable to cater for larger
and deeper vessels and was
becoming an extremely congested harbour. A full harbour became a familiar
sight in the mid/late 1950’s when there would be two ships at No.4
Jetty, four at No.3 Jetty, two at No.2 Jetty, ore at No.5 Berth and one at
No.1 Jetty. Prior to No.6 Jetty being fully
completed, ships were already using the inner end. When the Jetty was
opened in 1960, it was usual to have four ships at that berth too. It was
still common for a ship to be anchored in the outer harbour, awaiting
pratique (quarantine clearance). As soon as clearance was given, that ship
would have to leave the harbour and anchor offshore with at least another
three or four, waiting to enter for discharging or loading.
Pilots,
ships and port operators were flat out playing ‘Christy’s Musical
Ships’, as on many occasions after a ship had loaded one cargo it was
required to move to another jetty to load a different cargo. There could
be six or more ship movements to allow that one vessel to take the second
part of its cargo at another jetty, these moves were mostly undertaken
over the weekends.
Due
to the growth in post WWII in trade, attention was again focused at the
concept of an inner harbour and in 1950 an inter-departmental committee
was constituted to examine the issue. The committee was chaired by Mr. E
Green, Principal Engineer for Harbours and Rivers, PWD, assisted by a
representative from the Maritime Services Board and one from the
Department of Railways. After an intense review, the committee recommended
the construction of an inner harbour in Tom Thumb Lagoon. It is of
interest to see that their proposed inner harbour layout is different to
what is seen today.
The
recommendations of the committee were adopted and late in 1955,
legislation was passed by the Government authorising the construction of
the inner harbour and ratifying an agreement with the steel companies,
AI&S and BHP.
Port
Kembla Inner Harbour Construction and Agreement Ratification Act, 1955
This
was an Act to sanction and to provide for the construction and equipment
of an inner harbour at Port Kembla; to authorise the construction of a
railway from Coniston Marshalling Yards to the port boundary of that
harbour; to ratify a certain Agreement made between the Broken Hill
Proprietary Company Limited of the first part Australian Iron & Steel
Limited of the second part and the Minister for Public Works for and on
behalf of Her Gracious Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of the third part with
respect to the exchange of lands, with respect to the granting to those
Companies of an exclusive right to construct wharves on certain lands and
with respect to certain other matters; to provide for the carrying into
effect of that Agreement; to amend the Public Works Act, 1912, and certain
other Acts in certain respects; and for purposes connected therewith.
[Assented to, 29 November 1955.]
The
cost of carrying out the harbour works was estimated at £5,250,000. This
amount included the resumption of land in and around Tom Thumb Lagoon, a
new road from Corrimal Street, Wollongong, around Tom Thumb Lagoon to join
up with Springhill Road and the removal of the Tom Thumb Bridge.
The
Inner Harbour Act also stated that Broken Hill Proprietary Limited would
have a ninety nine year lease and be allowed to construct wharves or
berths within the harbour frontage between the boundaries of the land
owned by BHP, effective from the date of the signed agreement. The lease
payments began in 1955 at £50,000, with each year the fee reducing by £2,000
until 1970 when the annual fee will remain at £20,000 until the
expiration of the agreement in the year 2054.6
Inner Harbour Development Planning
The
Inner Harbour was to be constructed in 2 stages.
Stage
1. Estimated date of
completion 31 March 1960.
Stage
2. Estimated date of
completion 6 April 1965.
The
Inner Harbour would have an area of 141 acres including the channel
entrance from the outer harbour. Of this 121 acres will have a depth of 36
feet at low tide, with the remaining 21 acres 32 feet at low tide, a
further 82 acres will be available for future extensions when so required.
The Department of Public Works will be responsible for the overall
planning and directions. Australian Iron & Steel are to construct a
concrete berth of 1,200 feet
extended
to 1700 ft in 1957/58.
Work
on the construction of the inner harbour commenced in early 1956, with
AI&S advising later that year that their No.4 blast furnace would be
ready in three years and required two berths to be ready at that time,
they also foreshadowed the construction by BHP of 19,000 ton deadweight
vessels that would draw 30 feet when loaded and hence they required a
depth in the inner harbour of 32 feet.
In 1958 AI&S sought a further enlargement of the inner harbour to allow their berths to accommodate iron ore carriers of 41,500 tons deadweight capacity. The PWD therefore decided to deepen the harbour in and around the 1,700 ft of AI&S berths to 36 ft, and widen the entrance channel from 350 ft to 400 ft.
In
1959 it was suggested that there was the possibility of a large expansion
of the Illawarra coal trade with Japan. A committee was convened to review
this and possible ways of improving coal loading facilities in the port.
The committee recommended that a coal loading plant, capable of loading at
a rate of 2,000 tons per hour be established in the inner harbour. It was
proposed that this be done over a jetty, having a 750 ft berth on each
side and with plant capable of loading the ships simultaneously. The site
chosen was at the northwestern end of the inner harbour, this
recommendation being accepted, the layout was changed to accommodate it.
The
suggestion of constructing a cofferdam around the proposed Stage I of the
inner harbour to excavate it ‘in the dry’ was discussed, but deemed
impractical due to the amount of storm water draining into Tom Thumb
Lagoon and the return waters from AI&S into Allans Creek. It was
therefore decided to excavate by dredging, allowing the site to be used as
each stage of the inner harbour was completed, with
rock removed from the site being used to line the entrance canal (‘the
Cut’) into the inner harbour.
Initial
drill samples of Tom Thumb Lagoon in 1951 indicated very little rock, the
bores located on a grid of 600 ft to 700 ft spacing. Other work, done by
AI&S on the shore, indicated the existence of more rock and in 1956
further borings were undertaken which indicated that there was great
variation in the soils and rock to be excavated, with in some areas the
rock rose to R.L. -8 ft which was 28 ft above the depth proposed for the
harbour floor. The findings indicated that 392,400 cu. yards., of rock
needed to be excavated, with tests showing the rocks to be of a clayey
sandstone, and volcanic in origin.
Following
the discovery of extensive rock deposits the layout of the inner harbour
was varied to minimise the quantity of rock to be excavated.
Seiching Problem
The
PWD, aware of the seiching problem in the Outer Harbour (a long, low wave
with a period of over 27 seconds) decided to review the impact these waves
might have on the Inner Harbour. To do this they had two scale models of
the Outer and proposed Inner Harbour constructed in their laboratory at
Manly Vale in Sydney. Using these models the PWD determined the various
wave actions in both the existing and proposed new inner harbour and
determined what damaging effect these long waves could have on wharves and
other structures and in turn devise measures to overcome or minimise them.
The experiments showed that the latest inner harbour layout was less prone to surge effect than those previously proposed and it was decided to proceed with this latest design, with the western basin being excavated to a depth of 36 ft for the use of bulk coal carriers of 37,000 tons deadweight and possibly more.
Dredging
Contracts
for dredging were exchanged between the PWD and Gahagan Dredging
Corporation of New York on 6 April 1957 for the dredging of the inner
harbour and other incidental works, on the initial expectation that only
small quantities of rock would be encountered. When the existence of large
quantities of rock was discovered, the excavation of rock was excluded
from their contract. The cofferdam system to allow for excavations ‘in
the dry’ was again reviewed and again dispensed with due to the costs,
inconvenience and overrun on the planned completion of Stage 1.
As the PWD did not have any suitable equipment to undertake the task, they invited tenders on an international basis, with the contract being let to McDonald Constructions Pty. Ltd., on 31 March 1958 for the removal of rock from the entrance of the inner harbour. The removal of rock from the rest of the harbour was to be done by constructing cofferdams around them and digging them out.
Problems
with the suitability of the soil to build the cofferdams and the
criticality of time to complete the project forced another change, with
McDonald Constructions agreeing to remove the rock, using underwater
methods, at prices lower than their current contract price and on a
reducing scale as the quantities increased. Their contract was then
extended to include excavation to a depth of 36 ft of all rock encountered
in Stage I.
Gahagan
Dredging then transported the largest barge ever constructed in Australia,
145 ft long by 24 ft wide, 1½
miles by road to Tom Thumb Lagoon. The fuel barge, with a capacity of
between 25 to 30 tons would be used to refuel the dredges16
that
were to be used for dredging (not rock), entrance walls, drains and the
like. Their contract, on a schedule of rates was estimated at £915,559
6s. 8d.
Work
would be undertaken by three large dredges working continuously for 24
hours a day six days a week, the seventh being allocated for maintenance.
During the early stages of excavation, pumps often came to a standstill
due to mangrove roots up to a metre long and hard core rocks blocking the
pumps.17
In
early 1959 the old Port Road was cut and the Tom Thumb Bridge dismantled.
Dredging continued across this section and from May till December 1960
dredging approached the eastern basin where No.1 Coal Berth is located
today.
Construction of BHP berths
AI&S
were permitted access to Tom Thumb Lagoon prior to the dredging to
undertake work associated with the construction of their berths. A levee
bank was constructed around the site where their berth of 1,200 ft was to
be constructed. Excavations to rock level were undertaken, initially by
dredge and then by excavators. The dredge was left inside the bund and was
used to keep the water level down as it seeped through the wall, finally a
large concrete retaining wall was erected. Constructed like a large L,
the back foot designed to have fill, consisting of harbour spoils and
sand, placed over it. This design stabilised both the wharf face and the
ground behind it to wharf deck level, before the wharf decking was
installed on top. This was completed prior to the end of December 1960.
When the wharf was completed, the bund was flooded and then the levee bank
and approach channel to the berths were excavated.
A
PWD requirement of AI&S in the construction of their berths was the
laying of 6 ft diameter pipes, each 40 ft long, every 18 ft, at right
angles to the wharf and laid on an upward slope of 1 in 24, this design
best absorbed and dissipated the wave energy better than an open pile
wharf,
the
design being determined by storm wave modelling undertaken by the Manly
Vale Hydraulics Laboratory.
When completed these new berths allowed AI&S to unload iron ore direct from ship to stockpile and the new sinter plant that was constructed along with the new berth. Constructed at the same time as the berth, the stockpile area was excavated, with 400,000 cubic yards of earth being removed, before being reinforced with slag to provide a stable base for the stockpiling of iron ore.
Cargo Handling Systems
While
the inner harbour was being constructed, cargo handling systems were also
coming under review, especially the unloading of the pig iron that came
from Whyalla. Vessels carried between six and seven thousand tons of pig
iron per trip, consisting of anything up to 300,000 pieces and weighing
between 50 and 60 pounds each. The old jetties in the Outer Harbour could
only handle the discharge of pig iron by filling a bucket, lowered
into the hold, one piece of pig iron at a time, until it weighed
about two tons. The bucket was then lifted from the ship and emptied into
a waiting truck to take it to the steelworks. Although other ports
unloaded this cargo with magnetic cranes and the port’s No.3 Jetty had
magnetic cranes capable of being used for this purpose, they were always
in use for loading finished products.
AI&S therefore designed the shore cranes on their new berths to overcome this time-consuming operation.
In June 1958 the Harbour Master, Captain T Christy, stressed ‘the need to develop new trade in conjunction with the expansion of Port Kembla Harbour, he stated that handling of cargo had doubled since 1950 and the nation was dependent on trade through the harbour and the industries at Port Kembla. The number of berths in the outer harbour will reach 18 with the completion of No 6 jetty and the new inner harbour will add a further 46 to 50 berths when fully developed. By 1960 there will be two berths for Broken Hill Proprietary in the Inner Harbour. With the Inner Harbour fully developed there could be work for at least another 6,000 men.’
Inner Harbour Opening
At 11 am on the 28 November 1960, the Premier of NSW the Hon. R J Heffron officially opened the Inner Harbour. Present were four hundred guests from all over NSW, who surged forward to the Inner Harbour entrance when the Premier pressed a button to break a cable stretching across the entrance. BHP’s SS Iron Yampi, under tow by the tug Warang, passed through the entrance into the Inner Harbour to the cheers of all who were present. Iron Yampi delivered the first shipment of ironstone, 10,996 tons, from Yampi Sound in Western Australia to the new AI&S berth.
At
the opening of the Inner Harbour Stage 1 in November 1960, the estimated
overall cost for the work carried out was £3,150,000.
In addition to the cost of
the Inner Harbour was the expenditure of the road deviation around Tom
Thumb Lagoon to join up with Springhill Road, which had in 1958 risen to
£1,000,000.
Though the Inner Harbour was open to shipping, dredging operations went on for some time to prepare the eastern basin for the new coal loader. Well over 8 million cubic yards of spoil and some 673,000 cubic yards of rock were removed. Some of this material was used to build up the peninsula where the coal loader stockpile was to be situated.
Port Storm Damage
One
of the reasons Port Kembla was chosen as a port, was that its location,
north of Red Point and inside the Five Islands afforded it good natural
protection from southerly gales. Other offshore jetties, most of which
were also on the northern sides of headlands, were not as well sheltered
and were regularly damaged or destroyed in the larger storms that at times
lashed this coastline.
When
the Government proclaimed the port, they approved
supplementation of the natural protection it had from its location,
by the construction of two large breakwaters. Even so the breakwaters are
still vulnerable to the forces of the sea.
During
large storm events, it is not only the breakwaters that are prone to
damage, ships moored at jetties tend to cause damage to themselves and the
jetty, embankments get washed away and bulk cargo stored on the shore can
also get washed away.
A newspaper report indicates that in the week of 7 April 1902 a 20 foot section of the eastern breakwater had been displaced by rough seas, however the damage was not material, in fact it formed a good foundation for future work.
Further winter storms in 1903 and a period of gales, with one every ten days for three months in 1904, the period over which the Government heavily restricted work on construction due to reduced funds, damaged 100 feet of breakwater, this had been repaired by October 1904.
On
13 July 1960 the SS Bulwarra, moored at No.6 Jetty, broke her after
mooring lines during a strong south easterly gale and then proceeded over
the next 15 hours to remove a section from the inner part of the jetty,
the hole measuring 10 feet by 30 feet.
In
late May a large storm lashed the Illawarra coast. Huge seas, whipped up
by gale force winds of 135 kilometres per hour lashed the harbour and
breakwaters. As the storm increased in strength, the Harbour Master
ordered three large vessels that were moored in the Outer Harbour out to
sea to ride out the storm, a fourth ship found shelter by anchoring in the
Inner Harbour.
The two jetties closest to the Eastern Breakwater (Nos.4 and 3 respectively) sustained damage, with major repairs required on No.3 Jetty after many of her timbers, some measuring 36cm x 36cm, broke away under the constant buffeting of the waves and No.4 requiring considerable repairs. The newly constructed No.6 Jetty also suffered some damage, but was back in service within some days after the storm passed.
Just
over two weeks later the Maritime Service Board had to once more raise the
storm signals, advising the ships and jetty workers to prepare their
vessels and equipment for storm conditions in the Outer Harbour.
Two
hundred massive blocks, each weighing as much as 40 tonnes, were torn from
the Eastern Breakwater, with
the estimated cost to repair it being $300,000 while the Northern
Breakwater repairs cost about $100,000. Large
concrete blocks, not basaltic rock, were used to replace the rocks
that had been washed away. The No.1 coal loader in the Inner Harbour
suffered minor damage and resumed full operation not long after the winds
abated.
Storm waves lash Port Kembla Harbour Eastern Breakwater (Courtesy R. Choppin).
The few vessels in the Outer Harbour were put on alert and one sought refuge in the Inner Harbour. Though Nos.3 and 6 Jetties were under repair from the previous storm, loading and discharging in the Outer Harbour had decreased and the impact, on cargo operations by the storm was slight.
Important Port Kembla Harbour Dates
1770
- 27 April, Red Point named by Captain James Cook.
1796
- Mr. Clark from the wrecked Sydney
Cove reports coal in the cliffs south of Sydney.
1876
- March, George Bass, Matthew Flinders and Martin land at Red
Point.
1810
- Cedar cutters commence unofficially settling the area.
1815
- Dr Charles Throsby came over the escarpment with cattle into the
region.
1817 - 24 January, Gov. Macquarie ordered Surveyor Oxley and Deputy Meehan to allocate the first five land grants.
David Allan received 2,000 acres and named it “Illawarra Farm”.
1881
- Mount Kembla Coal and Oil Company’s Railway Act of 1881 passed.
1881
- Mt. Kembla mine opened.
1883
- Mount Kembla Coal and Oil Company completed construction of
their jetty and the railway connecting mine and jetty.
1883
- 27 February, SS
Arawata carries first load of coal from Kembla Bay.
1898
- 23 December, Port Kembla Harbour Act Passed.
1900
- 200 men employed for preparatory work for construction of the
breakwater.
1901
- First stone tipped on the eastern breakwater by Mr. James Shipp.
1901
- The Harbours and Rivers Department of the PWD took control of the
harbour and shipping movements.
1909
- ER&S commenced operations, they also commenced the supply of
some electricity outside their works.
1915 - No.1 Coal Loading Jetty commenced operations
1915
- 3 July, new Port Kembla rail line opens and freight trains commence
service.
1921
- Australian Fertilisers Pty. Ltd., commenced producing super
phosphate.
1924
- Charles Hoskins later purchased 400 acres of land at Port Kembla and
with a substantial loan of £300,000 set out to construct the first blast
furnace, jetty and ancillary works.
1927
- 30 August: new AI&S blast furnace opened.
1939
- Inflammable Liquids Berth (No.5) commenced operation.
1940
- New No.3 Jetty opened for operations.
1956
- BHP commissions No.2 Open Hearth steel making shop at Port
Kembla
1956
- Commenced dredging of
Inner Harbour to 11 metres.
1957
- First commercial production of tinplate at Port Kembla.
1958
- March, No.6 Jetty fully completed.
1959
- Tom Thumb Lagoon bridge dismantled as part of the
construction of the
Inner Harbour.
1960
- SS Iron King becomes the first commercial ship to
enter the Inner Harbour when it berthed there to escape the storm.
1960
- 28 November, Inner
Harbour officially opened by NSW Premier.
1962 - Completed dredging of Inner Harbour to 11 metres, removed 7 million cubic metres of sand and silt plus half a million cubic metres of rock.
1964 - 19 June No 1 Coal Berth opened by NSW Premier Jack Renshaw 1963
1964 - 27 December, No.1 Coal Berth in the Inner harbour commenced operations when the Aino arrived at the facility.
1971 - ANL Roll on Roll off berth commissioned with arrival of Sydney Trader.
1972 - 22 June Harbour deepening program started to increase depth from 11.0 to 15.2 metres.
1973 - BHP increases capacity of Steelworks to 5.5 millions tons per year.
1975 - Harbour deepening project completed.
1982 - 22 November, No 2 Coal Berth opened.
1983 - 18 April, Multi-purpose Berth opened by NSW Deputy Premier.
1990 - 26 February, Grain terminal Berth opened.
1999 - 29 July, Stolt Australia is the first vessel to use No 4 Bulk Liquids Berth.