Colonial Sugar Refinery Co. Ltd

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Background

The Colonial Sugar Refinery Co. Ltd announced its intention to establish a “Timbrock” hardboard mill in 1959. Construction commenced in March 1960 to designs prepared by architect T. H. McConnell of Hassell & McConnell. CSR engineers worked in association with a Swedish engineering firm A/B Defribator. The contractor was Lewis Construction Co. Ltd.[1]

History

Site

25 Rowsley Station Road, Maddingley.

The rural location of the factory is a consequence of the decentralisation policies of the then Liberal Government, and the factors of raw material sourced from the Wombat Forest sawmills and brown coal for the boilers from the Maddingley coal mine. A siding from the Ballarat Railway was originally intended but never built. The hardboard mill was officially opened in May 1961 by the Premier H. E. Bolte. Bacchus Marsh was one of the three locations in Australia where hardboard was produced. Hardboard panels were compressed from wood waste from sawmills and hardwood chips. Other mills were located at Raymond Terrace (NSW) and Ipswich (Qld).[2]

Innovations

Community Involvement

Houses for middle management employees were erected by the Company in Gisborne Road.[3]

Works Produced

CSR had experimented in about 1936-7 with a hardboard made from Australian hardwood fibre, but did not manufacture ‘Timbrock’ until 1947, due to competition from the Masonite Corporation of USA, who had built a factory at Newcastle, New South Wales.[4]

Workplace Relations

The People

Legacies

See also

Bacchus Marsh

Notes


References

  1. Samantha Westbrooke Pty Ltd, Moorabool Shire C06 – Part 2 Revised Individual Place Citations, Moorabool Shire Council, accessed 08 September 2015.
  2. Samantha Westbrooke Pty Ltd, Moorabool Shire C06 – Part 2 Revised Individual Place Citations, Moorabool Shire Council, accessed 08 September 2015.
  3. Samantha Westbrooke Pty Ltd, Moorabool Shire C06 – Part 2 Revised Individual Place Citations, Moorabool Shire Council, accessed 08 September 2015.
  4. Samantha Westbrooke Pty Ltd, Moorabool Shire C06 – Part 2 Revised Individual Place Citations, Moorabool Shire Council, accessed 08 September 2015.


Further Reading

External Links


--Clare K.Gervasoni 22:32, 8 September 2015 (AEST)