Portland Cement Works Precinct

Portland Cement Works Precinct is a heritage-listed former cement works and limestone quarries and now disused industrial site at Williwa Street, Portland, City of Lithgow, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed and built in various stages from 1890 to 2003. It is also known as Portland Cement Group and Commonwealth Portland Cement Company Ltd. The property is owned by Boral Limited. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 3 August 2012.

History Portland Cement Works Site - first phase (George Raffan) timeline 10,000 BC onwardsKnown Aboriginal occupation of this region. 1820British explorer James Blackman was the first recorded white visitor to the region.Fenwick & Holmes, 1993, 8. 1824First land grants made. 1828MacPherson family took up a grant of and then another in 1832. The name Limestone Flat was associated with their property and they apparently used limestone found on their property in the building of their home (since demolished?). 1836/7William Lawson acquired the MacPherson family lands. 1863Thomas Murray was granted (bought from Lawson?), Portion 52 in the parish of Cullen Bullen, County of Roxburgh. He built two lime kilns on the property sometime after 1869.Fenwick & Holmes, 1993, 9. 1863Thomas Murray used site for lime production (and presumably extraction).Fenwick & Holmes, 1993. 1882Thomas Murray sold Portion 52 to Charles Bate. 1882Alexander Currie and George Raffan became the owners of Portion 52 in August. 1883Railway line extended to nearby Capertee. 1884A one-roomed school was constructed at some distance from the site, known as the Cullen School. 1887Currie and Raffan with others formed the Cullen Bullen Lime & Marble Works, which bought Portion 52 in this year.Fenwick & Holmes, 1993, 7, 9. 1889-1895The Cullen Bullen Lime & Marble Works had become the Cullen Bullen Lime & Cement Company by this date. The company produced cement under the brand name of "Kangaroo". The cement was of variable quality and only produced intermittently on site until production ceased in 1895.Fenwick & Holmes, 1993, 7. The only remnants of cement production from this era are the two bottle kilns in the north-west corner of Portion 52 and the old brick building known as "Raffan's Mill". 1894Village of Portland gazetted, to the south of the cement company's lease, with 200 people recorded as living in the area. 1895Cullen School was moved into the new village of Portland and expanded. 1895The Cullen Bullen Lime & Cement Company failed and was taken over by one of the original partners, George Raffan and his brother John, who opened the Ivanhoe Lime and Cement Works & Colliery. 1898The Ivanhoe Lime and Cement Works & Colliery also failed. 1899The name of the school was changed to Portland School. 1899The (British-owned) New Zealand Mines Trust through their agent Dr August Scheidel bought the land, plant and leases from the Raffan brothers. Scheidel, a metallurgist PhD with gold mining experience, obtained backing for an investment of A£100,000 to build a cement production plant, of which he remained Managing Director until 1918.

Portland Cement Works Site - second phase (Commonwealth Cement Works Site) timeline 1900A new company was formed in December, the Commonwealth Portland Cement Company (CPCC) under the guidance of Scheidel, soon installed as Managing Director. Most of the plant was demolished and new works begun, including the installation of a new German Cripps plant.Fenwick & Holmes, 1993, 10. 1901284 men were recorded as working in a brick plant on the property as well as in construction. A railway line was begun to link the plant to its colliery and to the Portland siding. 1901The first application for a hotel licence in Portland. 1901The CPCC donated a block of land in the south west corner of Portion 52, on the main street of the new town, to the Anglican Church. 1902-1991The site was used as a highly successful, high quality lime quarrying and cement production works, reaching its maximum levels of production in 1928. In the first half of the century it specialised in the "Dry Process" but in the 1940s it switched over to the "Wet Process", again requiring decommissioning of much equipment and substantial renewal of the plant. 1902Production of cement was commenced on site under the name of "Union" brand. The logo of two clasped hands inside a circle was designed by Scheidel in 1901.NBRS&P;, 2003, 25 Demand was soon found to exceed supply. There was an initial phase of expansion for the CPCC that was only curtailed by the commencement of World War I in 1914. Production capacity increased from in 1903 to in 1910.Fenwick & Holmes, 1993, 11 1902The CPCC offered the Postal Department the use of one of their newly constructed cottages in Williwa Street to house an official post office and in 1903 extended the building to house the postal facilities.NBRS&P;, 2003, 26 1900sDifficulties in recruiting labour to the cement plant meant that overseas workers were brought in, "adding a cosmopolitan note" to the isolated village. The workforce increased from 150 in 1903 to the 1911 figure of 608 employees (including some in the Sydney office) . 1904A new subdivision was laid out in the town. 1904First meeting of the United Labourers Protective Society, later the Railway Workers Union and then the Australian Workers Union.Fenwick & Holmes, 1993, 12 Scheidel noted that by 1908 that most of the plant's employees were members of the union. Portland town band formed, with the CPCC supplying most of the uniforms and music, and it became known as the Commonwealth Portland Cement Company's Employees' Band. A grandstand was built for the band on company land in 1910. The local Rifle Club was also supplied with land donated from the company. 1906Portland was gazetted as a town. 1907NSW Governor Lord Northcote visited Portland cement works, followed soon afterwards by His Excellency Admiral Sir Harry Rawson.NBRS&P;, 2003, 24 An Accident Ward was opened on site to care for victims of accidents on site, and was also open to the general public. According to NBRS&P;, it was likely to have been initially sited in the Casino (2003, p27). The 1910 Annual Report noted that this facility had already saved two lives and alleviated much suffering. But it was expensive to run and Scheidel recommended the company help establish a town hospital. 1909A book entitled "To Commemorate the Seventh Congress of Chambers of Commerce of the British Empire held in Sydney, September 1909" stated that the cement produced by CPCC was "the favourite brand on the NSW market" which 'has also secured a considerable share of that of the other states, of New Zealand and of the South Sea Islands. Important public tenders have been secured with the Imperial and Federal Governments, the Public Works Department, the Railway commissioners of NSW, the Metropolitan Board of Water Supply and Sewerage, at Sydney, the Sydney Harbour Trust, the Sydney Municipal Council, the Railway commissioners of Queensland and Victoria, the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works, the Hobart and Dunedin Drainage Boards and others... A large number of important structures have been, and are at present being built with the Company's cement [including] The Cataract Dam [and] the Burrenjuck Irrigation Scheme in NSW...' By 1912 the company was producing about 40% of Australia's Portland Cement.NBRS&P;, 2003, 24-25 1910The NSW Premier and the NSW Governor Lord Chelmsford with his wife Lady Chelmsford visited Portland on 11 May and workers were granted a public holiday for the day. 1910The CPCC began providing free electricity to light the main streets of Portland. 1910The police station was built (with help from the company?). 1911A visitor noted that the town was a bit shabby, with most of its retail buildings being relocated from nearby Sunny Corner, which had been shrinking with the end of its gold rushes. However, in this year the CPCC built five houses for its officers. 1912Nearly the e town turned out for the works picnic which was held on the company's recreation ground on the opposite side of Williwa Street, facing the Works site.NBRS&P;, 2003, 27 -see photo p28. 1912The foundation stone for a new town hospital was laid by Scheidel and the Portland District Hospital was officially opened 30 August 1913. The CPCC continued to support the hospital with coal and by encouraging employee fund-raising for occasional new pieces of expensive equipment. From 1924-1946 senior executives of the company provided expertise to the Hospital Board by taking on the roles of president, secretary or treasure. 1914-18WWI meant increased demand for cement because of the cessation of imports from Germany but also a reduction in the available workforce as men went off to war. The number of employees at the plant contracted from 634 in 1912 to 462 in 1917 and there were improved efficiencies. There was considerable increase in labour unrest during these years.Fenwick & Holmes, 1993, 13 It is interesting to note that Scheidel, though German, was not interned during WWI, as were other Germans in the company including the work's chemist. Notes from the company secretary... Indicate that a donation of A£5,000 was made to the war effort to keep Scheidel out of the main camp and allow him to be "interned" at Portland.NBRS&P;, 2003, 30 1915There was a one-month-long strike in the works. The first Works Picnic was held in April, in an attempt to improve labour relations. 1915The CPCC further donated land to the Anglican Church for a church hall and rectory. 1915The CPCC established an ambulance service for the town at a time when such a service was rare in the country.NBRS&P;, 2003, 27 1916Provided the cement for the reinforced concrete floors of the head office of the Commonwealth "Moneybox" building at 108-120 Pitt Street Sydney. 1917There was a general strike that forced the cement works to close down for two months. Scheidel described it as "the most dangerous and disastrous industrial upheaval yet experienced in this country". Scheidel was determined that "known troublemakers" were not to be re-employed when the works re-opened and the union saw this as victimisation. Although labour relations seem to have warmed after the retirement of Scheidel the following year, Annual Reports continued to note occasional strikes and mentioned the activities of "communist agitators". 1918Scheidel retired and was replaced as Managing Director by John Symonds. The war changed the previously good relations Germans had developed in Australia and as soon as the war was over Scheidel left Australia. Having travelled through Germany and much of Europe he settled in It6aly before returning to Frankfurt, Germany where he died in 1932 1923The CPCC Annual Report noted the shortage of housing in Portland and by 1925 had built 21 cottages for its employees. A large new house was built for the Works Manager, John Saville, who held this position from 1903 to 1938. 1926The former residence of the Works Manager was transformed into a boarding house by the company. This house was designated for the use of single teachers in the local school 1932-1950, when it was known as "Harmony Hall". It was eventually demolished.Fenwick & Holmes, 1993, 15 1920sAfter war efficiencies and labour unrest, the 1920s saw increased mechanisation of the plant and a second phase great expansion of the works with new, more efficient combination mills being added to the raw and cement mill operations and no. 8 Rotary Mill operating from 1924. The company continued to prosper even in the face of increased competition arising from the establishment of three new cement companies in NSW (on top of the already established and fiercely competitive Kandos Cement Ltd).Fenwick & Holmes, 1993, 13-14