Hoskins Iron & Steel Co. Ltd. photo album of NSW Works and loose photographs of the Port Kembla Works, ca. 1920-1948

PXA 1645

fonds

ca. 1920-1948

Graphic Materials, Photographs, Manuscript Cartographic Materials, Textual Records

902673

1 album (60 photographs, 1 map) - brown leather cover - 24 x 31 cm
17 photographs - black & white - 24 x 29 cm or smaller

Father and son Charles Henry Hoskins (1851-1926), and Sir Cecil Harold Hoskins (1889-1971), iron and steel manufacturers, established G. & C. Hoskins Ltd in 1889, consisting of a foundry, pipe-works and boiler shop. They achieved a breakthrough when they secured the contract to lay and join the main for the Sydney water-supply. In December 1907, Charles Hoskins was asked by the secretary for public works, C. A. Lee, to take over William Sandford's Eskbank ironworks at Lithgow. G. & C. Hoskins accepted the offer, acquiring a blast furnace, iron and steel works, colliery, iron leaseholds at Cadia and Carcoar, stocks of raw materials, 162 hectares of freehold town estate at Lithgow, Eskroy Park at Bowenfels, and a seven-year government contract. The family had also acquired the rights to coal deposits at Wongawilli. At the same time and place they built the first of many coke ovens they would develop there. In 1920 they created a corporate basis for the Port Kembla steel venture, Hoskins Iron & Steel Company Limited, and in 1924, brothers Sidney and Cecil Hoskins bought 162 hectares of industrial land at Port Kembla which led to their establishment of Australian Iron & Steel at Port Kembla in 1928, with the State government agreeing conditionally to build a railway connecting Port Kembla with the main southern line at Moss Vale.

William Mortlock, born in Lithgow 1887, worked at Lithgow Iron & Steelworks, eventually becoming manager of blast furnaces in 1916. 1920 saw him a director of Hoskins Iron & Stell Ltd. and Executive Officer in charge at the Lithgow Works. In 1923 he again became general manager, this time at Port Kembla. Wanting to concentrate on his pedigree Jersey herd, Mortlock retired in August 1951. He died in Wollongong, July 1958.

Reference: ADB/Bluescope Steel webpage, retreived 17 Jan 2013.

1 album containing 60 photographs by Milton Kent with captions and a hand-drawn map of New South Wales indicating Hoskins works locations.

Album contains photos of;
Main Office at Margaret Street, Sydney
Wongawilli coal and coke Works
Excelsior Limestone Quarries
Various machinery at the Lithgow Works
Pipe Works at Rhodes
Steel Works locomotives from Cadia
Steel mains for Sydney's water supply
Commercial Banking Company of Sydney building
Terminal grain silos at White Bay
Locking barpipe used for the Coolgardie water suppy
Cadia iron ore deposits
Wattle Street Pipe Works
Brisbane Steel Pipe Plant

17 Loose photographs with captions;
9 photos of Port Kembla [series] taken from 1 March-1 Dec 1928
'Port Kembla ca. 1940'
'No.1 Blast Furnace, Port Kembla, around 1930' by Milton Kent, 'Port Kembla, 1930s' (sign in photo reads 'A turning from a 9" diameter .50 carbon steel shaft - supplied by Australian Iron & Steel Ltd.'
Mounted group portrait 'Bureau Mining at Port Kembla 18 August 1932'
'Wongawilli Colliery horses resting in paddocks'
'William Mortlock, 1948'
'William Mortlock's calf, 1948'
'William Mortlock's Cow, 1948'

Collection also contains short biography of William Mortlock compiled by Prof. R. Ian Jack, 1988.

Pic.Acc. Upgrade Project - Information transferred from Pic.Acc.6691 as part of the eRecords Project 2012-13

Pages detached in album, 2 loose photographs, torn along fold