October 2017
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Volume 10 number 4 News October 2017 Newsletter of the Australian Society for History of Engineering and Technology In 1917 the Commonwealth government placed a limitation on the Making cars in Australia import of completed car bodies to boost local manufacturing and pro- vide more space on ships for wartime supplies. Holden and Frost seized By Ian Arthur the opportunity to increase its production capabilities by buying another Adelaide body-builder, F. T. Flack. In 1918 Holden Motor Body Builders By the end of October 2017 Australia will no longer be a mass producer of (HMBB) was set up as a division of Holden and Frost. It produced 587 cars, with the closure of the manufacturing plants of Toyota in Melbourne bodies in its frst year and 1,600 in the following year. and General Motors Holden in Adelaide. All new cars mass produced for HMBB invested heavily in modern production equipment and in 1924 the Australian market will be fully imported. opened a new factory in Woodville, South Australia. It also opened as- This article briefy traces the history of car making in Australia, from sembly plants in Victoria, NSW and Queensland. It did a deal with Gen- the early years of the twentieth century when cars began to be assembled eral Motors (GM) to be the exclusive builder in Australia for cars built on in Australia from locally made and imported parts, through the years of GM chassis, and also to exclusively receive details of upcoming models increasing Australian content and diversity up to the present day. to allow it to have bodies immediately available for ftting to new model chassis as they arrived in Australia. An enduring name By 1925 Holden’s body building operation was the largest in the world outside Europe and North America, employing 2,600 people and The Holden name has been associated with Australian business since producing over 34,000 car bodies in the year. 1856, and specifcally with the car business since early in the twentieth The depression had a disastrous effect on car sales, and in 1931 century, when the Holden company commenced making car body parts HMBB produced only 1,611 bodies, with its Woodville plant closed for and assembling complete cars. 2017 marks the end of Holden car manu- much of the year. GM moved to protect its interests in Australia by pur- facturing in Australia but the brand name will live on attached to cars chasing HMBB and merging it with General Motors Australia to form imported by General Motors for sale in Australia. General Motors Holden Limited (GMH), appointing Sir Edward Holden In 1852, James Holden, aged 17, with the encouragement of his fam- as its President, and assigning Laurence Hartnett, a Director of GM’s Brit- ily in England, emigrated to Australia and settled in Adelaide. His father, ish company Vauxhall to ‘fx GMH or shut it down’. who ran a leather business in Walsall, had died the previous year, and left By 1932 the worst of the depression was over, and with increasing car to each of his 11 children an inheritance of $130, available when they sales GMH made a modest proft. It purchased 50 acres of land at Fisher- turned 21. man’s Bend in Melbourne for a head offce, warehouse and production In 1856 James established a business, J. A., Holden & Co., special- line and with provision for an engine plant and foundry. Hartnett set his ising in saddlery, and purchased a property in the heart of Adelaide. In sights on an all Australian car, and was moving towards this when World 1860 his eldest son Henry joined the business, which became J. A. Holden War II intervened. GMH diverted its resources to the war effort and be- and Son. In 1884 he introduced as a partner Henry Adolf Frost, who had came the frst company in Australia to mass produce internal combustion migrated from Germany with his parents and who had worked in the busi- engines for aircraft and boats as well as road vehicles. ness since 1879. In 1885 James sold his share of the business, which was renamed Holden and Frost, to his son Henry and retired. GMH works at Fishermans Bend, 1936 The early history of Ford in Australia Holden and Frost, saddlers, at Gawler Place, Adelaide The Ford Motor Company began to produce cars in a converted factory Henry’s son Edward studied science and engineering at Adelaide Uni- in Detroit in 1903. Two Ford cars reached Sydney in 2004. Imports of versity and on graduation in 1905 joined the business. Edward encour- Ford cars grew slowly until Ford introduced the mass-produced Model aged his father to become involved in the car industry, which was gaining T in 1908. It was attractively priced and proved extremely popular. By importance. In 1909 Frost died and Henry bought his share of the busi- 1914 it was Australia’s best selling car, with new registrations of 1,142 ness, which now expanded into making car body parts, upholstery and in that year. There were Ford agents in most towns. From 1917 Ford cars motor cycle side cars. In 1914, the company received an order to build a were imported to Australia in completely knocked down form (CKD) and custom body for a Lancia chassis. This led to further orders for building assembled by dealers. In 1923 Ford sent two representatives to Australia custom bodies for a range of chassis. Continuued on page 3 2 ASHET News October 2017 Next ASHET events Monday 23 October 2017 Thursday 23 November 2017 Talk by John F. Brock Talk by Judith Dunn OAM Hadrian’s Wall: Boundary Monument for the Northern Corrugated Iron - Australia’s Iconic Building Material Frontier of Roman Britannia Over hundreds of years much has been written to attribute purposes to This very visual presentation supported by many photographs from the wall across northern Britain at the behest of the formidable Roman Sydney to the outback, shows the extensive use of corrugated iron in emperor whose name has been given to this intriguing edifce. Australia. It explores the many reasons why it became such a popu- Was it built for defence, border control, a demonstration lar material, embraced by the working class and at frst spurned by of power or some combination of military reasons? Many pos- major builders - until Prince Albert ordered a corrugated iron room at tulates have been advanced by engineers, stone masons, clerks Balmoral Castle. Australians generally proved to be innovative metal of works, military experts, academics, archaeologists, historians and workers and used the material in a great variety of ways from housing paleontologists. to the decorative arts. The talk will explore how and why corrugated In this analysis he will be putting forward his offering to the dis- iron was invented and its rapid spread around the world, but particu- cussion table about the main reasons for the erection of such a notable larly within Australia. memorial to the time in the renowned civilization during the second Judith Dunn is a Councillor of the Royal Australian Historical century. After he elaborates further on the wall’s design with specifc Society and one of two NSW representatives to the Federation of attention drawn to certain features not before grouped together along Australian Historical Societies. She is a Councillor for Parramatta and with a focus on the desires and intentions of Emperor Hadrian himself District Historical Society, Convenor of the Historic Graves Commit- there may be some agreement that this iconic line across the topogra- tee, President of Friends of Mays Hill Cemetery, President of Friends phy is a true boundary monument in the ancient Roman traditions as of St Johns Cemetery, Vice President of Friends of the Female Factory a demarcation line of the northern limit of the Empire’s frontier at its and Vice President of Friends of Bella Vista Farm. Judith is also a north western territory second century extremity. sought after public speaker on a variety of subjects. In 2011 she was John Brock has been a private land surveyor since 1973, Bachelor awarded an OAM for services to History and Heritage. of Surveying (UNSW 1978), MA (Egyptology) from Macquarie Uni- versity (2000), and is now Director of Brock Surveys at Parramatta (near Sydney). Venue: History House, 133 Macquarie Street, He has presented papers worldwide on the history of surveying, Sydney mapping and archaeology, including in June 2014 – The Great Wall of Time: 5.30 for 6 pm China: The World’s Greatest Boundary Monument” and in April 2017 Cost; Includes light refreshments on arrival; “Hadrian’s Wall: Boundary Monument for the Northern Frontier of RAHS and ASHET members $10, others $12 Roman Britannia.” Bookings: phone RAHS on (02) 9247 8001 or email [email protected] Venue: History House, 133 Macquarie Street, Sydney Time: 5.30 for 6 pm Cost; Includes light refreshments on arrival; RAHS and ASHET members $10, others $12 Bookings: phone RAHS on (02) 9247 8001 or email [email protected] Hadrian’s Wall at Greenock Corrugated iron building at Rutherglen, Powerhouse Museum; more delays to government Meanwhile an Upper house committee has been considering the fu- decision on its future ture of museums and galleries in NSW, with a particular emphasis on the future of the Powerhouse Museum. It held its eighth meeting on 29 The NSW government is continuing to work with the Museum of Ap- August, at which the committee interviewed the Minister, Don Chad- plied Arts and Sciences (MAAS), on the ‘extended business case’ for wick, who provided little that was new. The committee announced that it moving the Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta.