John Wilson Fell (1862–1955) was an industrialist involved in the shale oil operations at Newnes, New South Wales and the establishment of two early oil refineries, on Gore Bay at Greenwich and at Clyde, both suburbs of Sydney. He was the principal of John Fell & Company and was, for many years, the Managing Director of Commonwealth Oil Corporation, which he revived from receivership.
Early life and family background John Wilson Fell was born at Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland. on 7 November 1862. He was the son of Alexander Morrison Fell, Senior (1825–1890) and his wife Margaret (née Ferguson) (1828–1901) He migrated to Australia, with his parents during the 1870s.
Alexander Morrison Fell, Senior, was an important figure in the Scottish shale oil industry, at the time the most advanced and largest in the world. In 1860, contributing shale mining leasehold in lieu of capital, Alexander had become a partner in the West Calder Oil Company, and its manager. The company’s works was known as the ‘Gavieside Oil Works’, or ‘Fell’s Works’ after its manager. However, there was disharmony among the partners and an unsuccessful court case, with the end result being that Alexander was made bankrupt in 1873. Alexander subsequently migrated, with his family, to New South Wales.
During Fell's youth, after his migration to New South Wales, his father was already an important figure in the local oil shale industry; first at Mount Kembla, where he was manager for the American Creek Oil Co., until 1877, and later at Joadja, where he was manager, from 1877 to 1881, for the Australian Kerosene Oil and Mineral Co.
John Fell’s cousin, James Walter Fell (1847–1882) was almost certainly the first of the extended Fell family to migrate to Australia. James was also involved in the shale oil industry, both in Scotland and in New South Wales. He was manager of the Western Kerosene Oil Co. at Hartley Vale, by 1870, then manager of Hartley Vale's refinery at Waterloo, and later was at Joadja. Like his uncle, Alexander, James was an expert in the field of shale oil processing; both men had worked together, at the West Calder Oil Company, in Scotland, and later at Joadja. With T.S. Mort, James was pivotal in the amalgamation of two shale oil companies—Hartley Kerosene Oil and Paraffine Co. Ltd. and Western Kerosene Oil Co.—to form the New South Wales Shale & Oil Company, in 1872. Aside from his role in the shale oil industry, James Fell was a founder of the North Shore Gas Company in Sydney. James had acted as an engineer for other gasworks—including Australian Gas Light Company—and retained a business interest in the gasworks at Goulburn. In 1870, James married Helen Wilson Thomson (1849–1935), who under her married name, Helen Wilson Fell, became a philanthropist and diarist.N.S.W. Marriages 515/1870 James died at only 35, already a wealthy man, while visiting London on business, and his only son, John Walter Fell (1872–1891) also died young, at only 18 years old.
Fell was also a cousin of William Scott Fell (1866–1930), principal of Scott Fell & Company—with interests in coastal shipping and coal mining—and politician, and his younger brother David Fell (1869–1956), an accountant and politician. Fell was related to them via their father, also named John Wilson Fell (1820–1879), a ship’s captain, who was an older brother of Alexander Morrison Fell, Senior. After the death of the elder John Wilson Fell, his widow, Jessie Fell (née Power) (1845–1937), remarried, in Sydney. However, her new husband already had a wife in England, who then sued her husband successfully for divorce, but found he was, by then, insolvent.
Career
Early business career By 1885, under a lease agreement with the N.S.W. Shale & Oil Company, his father's family company, A.M. Fell and Sons, was running an oil refining business at Waterloo (sometimes mentioned as Alexandria) in Sydney, processing crude oil, which had been produced in retorts that A.M. Fell and Sons also ran at Hartley Vale. The Waterloo refinery was closed around 1887, and the refining operation was relocated to Hartley Vale. The company had an oil works—for container filling and distribution—at Darling Harbour, by 1891.
There was a court case, involving the company, in 1889; John Wilson Fell was nominated as a plaintiff, and so was by then already a partner in his father's company. He gave evidence for at least one day. Under the settlement A.M. Fell and Sons role at Hartley Vale ended. Fell's father died in 1890.
By the time of his father’s probate in 1891, John Wilson Fell was described as an ‘oil and grease manufacturer’. Fell, with his brother Alexander Morrison Fell, Junior—also described as an ‘oil and grease manufacturer’—carried on his father’s business interests. Another brother, Walter John Fell (d.1938), was also a partner but, in 1891, was described as a 'fruit grower' and so almost certainly was only a silent partner in the business at that time.
Fell spent some time outside the oil industry, while involved in setting up two plants for the production of condensed milk, in the Shoalhaven region of New South Wales, at Bomaderry and Coolangatta Estate. Based upon the birth locations of two of his children, he was living in the Shoalhaven district, during the period 1897-1901.NS.W. Births, 14939/1897N.S.W. Births, 6031/1901 His brother, Walter John Fell, was also involved in the condensed milk industry, at Berry. In May 1901, Fell stood down, as Managing Director of the Jersey Milk Company Limited, and was succeeded by his brother Walter. The family left the Shoalhaven area, around the end of July 1901. Fell was now free to reenter the family business.
His brother, Alexander Morrison Fell, Junior, died in 1904.N.S.W. Deaths, 2057/19040 In the meantime, in 1902, Fell had either set up his own company, John Fell & Company, or more likely had renamed A. M. Fell & Sons to use that new name. In mid 1903, he attempted to convince ferry companies operating on Sydney Harbour to convert coal-burning steam ferries burn oil using an oil burner design that he had patented, by providing a demonstration aboard Lady Napier. It was a technical success, but observers noted the "continuous noise" generated by the oil burner.
Fell's business involved importing oil; for that reason, in 1914, he opposed the payment of a two pence bonus payment—50% of the prevailing price—on each imperial gallon of locally-produced crude shale oil, which was being advocated by British Australian Oil Company and Fell's cousin, David Fell, as receiver for Commonwealth Oil Corporation's debenture holders. Neither of these ventures had been able to operate profitably. British Australian Oil, would be in receivership, by the end of 1914, and it ceased production entirely, in March 1915. By the end of 1914, Fell himself would be in charge of Commonwealth Oil Corporation's operations.
Shale oil
Newnes
The Commonwealth Oil Corporation had made a major investment in the production of shale oil at a site in the Wolgan Valley that they named Newnes, after Sir George Newnes, a director and chairman of the company. A large amount of English capital—around £1,250,000—had been invested to create a vast industrial complex, in what previously had been a near wilderness. They built a railway into the isolated valley, and a sizable mining village grew in the valley.
Fell was on record as saying that the investment in Newnes had been "extraordinarily wasteful" and that it would never be possible to recoup that investment in profits.
Although the oil shale at Newnes had a very high oil content, its seam thickness and depth dictated that it was mined using relatively-costly, conventional, underground mining techniques. There was also a coal seam that could be mined to fuel the processing the shale and crude oil. The coal was of good quality and was also used to make coke. Ammonia was produced as a byproduct of the shale retorts and would be treated with sulphuric acid to produce ammonium sulphate, which could sold as a fertiliser.
Construction of the plant had begun in 1906, but the retorts only began working in June 1911. The company encountered technical difficulties with its process and, as well, was subject to numerous and protracted industrial disputes with its workforce, particularly its miners. Retort operation was partially suspended in February 1912 and ceased altogether in March 1913. The retorts had operated for less than two years. Commonwealth Oil Corporation Ltd. was placed into receivership, in December 1912, and the receiver was accountant and auditor, David Fell, John Fell's cousin.
Fell was an acknowledged expert in the processing of oil, and it was during a visit made by him to England that the COC approached him to assist in rectifying the problems at Newnes. The retorts that the COC used were designed to process Scottish shale, with a far lower oil content that the very rich shale—grading up to 150 imperial gallons per long ton—mined at Newnes. The result was that the retorts at Newnes clogged up with carbon compounds and would not work properly. Fell became interested in taking over the ailing business, but first constructed four retorts to his own design to prove that the oil-rich shale could be processed successfully.
Taking over Newnes Under an agreement with the receiver of Commonwealth Oil Corporation, Fell took over the administration of the business in late 1914, with plans to produce ‘benzine’ (petrol) as fuel for motor cars, as well as kerosene, lubricants, and other petroleum products. He took the position of Managing Director of Commonwealth Oil Corporation. He sold some existing business interests, and contributed £100,000 himself to a total capital injection of £350,000 that funded necessary enhancements, including the conversion of 64 existing retorts to his own design. Fell's cousin, David Fell, was replaced as receiver in May 1914.
Fell's modifications reused the original retorts–a Scottish design known as a Pumpherson retort–but added more off takes, allowing the modified design to handle the oil-rich shale at Newnes. Fell patented this retort design, which was referred to variously as ‘modified Pumpherson’, ‘Fell Retort’, or ‘Fell Downcomer Retort’.
From 1915 to 1918, the oil refinery at Hartley Vale was dismantled and the parts reused at Newnes.
Between March 1915 and October 1917, the Newnes plant produced 3,017,163 gallons of oil. As well, Fell succeeded in making, in commercial quantities, locally-refined petrol for motor cars, at Newnes, around 1917, although some petrol had been made by the Commonwealth Oil Company as early as 1910, probably at its Hartley Vale refinery, and by the British Australian Oil Company at Hamilton from 1912 to 1915. It is likely that the petrol was made from volatile 'naphtha' fractions that had been flared, as waste, in earlier shale extraction operations.
In July 1919, an agreement was entered into, between Fell and Commonwealth Oil Company, providing for Fell to work the property, for the joint account of the company and himself, until October 1929. The arrangement was subject to earlier termination, with a year's notice from either party, if the result for any year was a loss.
By 1921, the population of Newnes had reached around 1,500, and the Newnes plant was capable of producing 15,000,000 gallons of crude oil and 1,000,000 gallons of motor spirit annually, however the plant operated below its nominal capacity.
Hartley Vale