University of Wollongong Thesis Collections University of Wollongong Thesis Collection University of Wollongong Year 1993 The development of coal trade in the Wollongong district of New South Wales, with particular reference to government and business, 1849-1889 Henry Patrick Lee University of Wollongong Lee, Henry Patrick, The development of coal trade in the Wollongong district of New South Wales, with particular reference to government and business, 1849-1889, Doctor of Philosophy thesis, Department of History and Politics, University of Wollongong, 1993. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/1441 This paper is posted at Research Online. PART III THE HARBOUR AND THE RAILWAY, 18821889 What kind of society isn't structured on greed? The problem of social organisation is how to set up an arrangement under which greed will do the least harm; capitalism is that kind of a system. Milton Friedman, Playboy, 1973. Quoted by R.W. Kent (Ed.), Money Talks: The 2500 Greatest Business Quotes From Aristotle to DeLorean. Pocket Books: New York 1985, p.98. CHAPTER 11 TO ADVANCE HIS COUNTRY'S GOOD: THE COAL TRADE AND THE WOLLONGONG HARBOUR TRUST SCHEME, 1882-1889 WoUongong would not be connected to Sydney by rail untU October 1888. Four factors accounted for the delay. First, Sydney's Garden Palace fire in June 1882, which destroyed the government's railway survey plans,'' These had to be redrawn and, consequentiy, the contract for the first section of the Ulawarra RaUway was not signed untiJ September 1882.2 The second obstacle was Alexander Stuart, Coalcliff mine proprietor, Member for Ulawarra and, from 5 January 1883, Prenuer of New South Wales, In June 1883 Stuart had his Minister for Public Works suspend constraction whUe the route by which tiie Ime entered the northem part of the Wollongong district and passed through Coalcliff was resurveyed. The Premier believed that a 'mistake' had been made by the planners, to remedy which he proposed another route,3 The report on Smart's altemative, submitted to the Minister for PubUc Works in October, found against the Premier, His proposal would have meant steeper gradients, an extra 3.75 miles of curves and an additional cost of £130,175,'* It appears, however, that the 'mistake' identified by Premier Stoart was diat die original route traversed less of his coal lands near Coalcliff than did his proposed deviation. His scheme would have taken the Une through 790 acres of his land, bypassed in the plans sanctioned by die ParUament in 1881.5 Stuart's pursuit of private advantage in pubUc office was itself pursued in die Assembly by that great enemy of the lUawarra Railway, John McEUione, Accusing die Premier of being 'most corrapt', McElhone moved successfuUy for 1 See New South Wales Parliamentary Debates (First Series), Session 1882, Vol.7, p.543. and WoUongong Argus, 29 June 1882, 2 C,C, Smgleton, Railway History in lUawarra New South Wales. 3rd ed. Illawarra Histoncal Society: Wollongong 1972, p.8. , . 3 'Minute by the Colonial Seaetary, Subject—Railway line to Illawarra by the Bottie Forest or by the Hacking River', 26 June 1883. In Illawarra Railway. (ProposedDeviations-Correspondence, Plans &c.). pp.7-8. In Votes and Proceedings of the Ugislative Assembly, Session 1883-4, Vol.5. 4 'Minute from the Engineer-in-Chief to the Minister for Public Works', 6 October 1883. In ibid. 5 'niawarra Railway Plan Shewing Route permanently staked and proposed deviation'. In Wid. 385 die tabUng of aU papers relating to die affair.^ Smart's defence had tiie virtue of simpUcity; his proposal was 'better' on technical grounds."^ No furdier action was taken against him. He continued as Premier until the general election of 1885, when he resigned as Premier and Member for Illawarra, dying in London in June 1886,^ The cost to the govemment of compensating tiie contractors for die stoppage of work instigated by Smart was £26,600.^ A third factor which determined the pace of constraction was a poUtical decision to divert resources from tiie Ulawarra RaUway, to push ahead die extension of die Great Westem RaUway to the far west of die Colony, at Bourke,''° The Bourke extension had been sanctioned in 1879 and was designed to reclaim for New South Wales and Sydney some £1,5 miUion worth of wool that was otherwise going down the Darling River to South Australia and Victoria,'''' This, of course, had been the primary motive behind the great burst of raUway buUding in the early 1880s. The expansion of the small Wollongong coal trade could wait its tum. The final hindrance was simply the difficult nature of the work. The first section, Sydney to Waterfall on the northem edge of the Wollongong district, was finished in March 1886. An isolated section within the district, from CUfton in the north to WoUongong, was" opened for traffic in June 1887, with ICiama being reached in November Another 11 mondis woidd elapse before the WaterfaU to Clifton section aUowed trains to ran between WoUongong and Sydney, from 3 October 1888, In all, nine tunnels with an aggregate length of 2,6 miles had to be excavated, seven of them between Waterfall and Clifton; an iron girder bridge, spanning 318 yards, had to be thrown across the George's River, and a large number of deep cuttings were necessary, as were numerous brick arch culverts to take the Une across the larger creeks.''2 6 New South Wales ParUamentary Debates (First Series), Session 1883-4 & Session 1884, Vol.10, pp.52 & 61 (16 October 1883), 7 ibid., p,57, 8 CN, ConnoUy, Biographical Register of the New South Wales Parliament 1856-1901. Australian National University Press: Canberra 1983, 9 New South Wales Parliamentary Debates (First Series), Session 1885-6, Vol.23, p.5878. 10 The Railways of New South Wales 1855-1955. Department of Railways, N.S.W.: Sydney n.d., p.84. 11 R. Lee, The Greatest PubUc Work: The New South Wales Railways, 1848 to 1889. Hale & Iremonger. Sydney 1988, pp.97 & 171, 12 Railways of New South Wales. (Description of the Lines and Works of Construction, by Henry Deane, Acting Engineer-in-Chief), p.5. In Votes and Proceedings of the Legislative Assembly, Session 1891, Vol.5; E.C, Rowland, 'The Story of the New South Wales Railways'. Royal Australian Historical Society Jourruil and Proceedings, 40(5), 1954, p.279, and Singleton, op.cit., pp.10-11, THE WOLLONGONG COALFIELD 1889 SOURCE: K.R. Bolton, 'Urban Beginnings - Developnnent of tiie Colliery Villages of Northem Illawarra, 1858-1905'. In R. Robinson (Ed.), Urban Illawarra. Sorrett fe=fc=fc=fc=fc=fc=fc=fc=fc=fc=fc3^^ 1977. D.77. 386 These delays did not prevent the Wollongong district from enjoying the benefits of a decade of unprecedented economic buoyancy in the Australian Colonies. Between 1875 and 1879, inclusive, £33.7 miUion of British public and private capital had flowed into the Colonies, rising to £51.1 mUlion in the first five years of the 1880s.''2 The Colonial Treasurer of New South Wales, James Watson, expressed the optimism and satisfaction of the period when he exulted in November 1882 that: our material wealth is increasing in a ratio far beyond the calculations and conceptions of our most far-seeing and deep-thirddng politicians. Tum in whatever direction we may, the evidences of prosperity and the germs of future greatness meet us at every step,''^ WoUongong and its businessmen shared fully in the bonanza, as the Colony's coal trade expanded to meet intercolonial and overseas energy needs. So great was the demand that in 1888 tiie owners of the Coalcliff mine considered production on a 24 hour a day basis; 'during tiie present year', the manager informed the miners: we have not been able to supply the sales effected at tiie commencement of the year,,, there are orders on hand and it wUl be impossible to meet these without doubling the present workplaces.''^ In 1880 diere were four mines at work in die WoUongong coalfield, producing 240,211. tons of coal. By 1889 diere were 11 mines producing 701,572 tons. The soudiem coal trade did better in relative terms tiian that of tiie Colony as a whole, output growing between 1880 and 1889 by 192.1 per cent, compared to 149,3 per cent, for tiie rest.''^ Employment rose correspondingly, the southem mines giving work to 2065 men in 1889 as against 807 in 1880.''7 The newcomers to die Wollongong coalfield represented both Australian and British capital. Among the former was die North Ulawarra Coal Mining Company of which die principal shareholder was Sir George AUen, chairman of die Bulli Coal Company.''^ Its mine. 13 Calculated from figures in AR, Hall, The Undon Capital Market and Australia 1870-1914. Australian National University: Canberra 1963, p.211. 14 New South Wales Parliamentary Debates (First Series), Session 1882, Vol.7, P-1094 15 Notice to miners from John Williams, manager, 29 August 1888. Coal CUff Coal Company. Utterbooks, 1883-1906, VoL3, p,478. Mitchell Library MSS 1140, 16 Calculated from figures in Annual Report of the Department of Mines, New South Wales, i8»u & i»»y. 17 ibid. ... ,, 18 See N.S. King, A History of Austinmer New South Wales. Illawarra Historical Society: Wollongong 1962, p,2; Sand's Sydney and Suburban Directory for 1882, p.634. and Annual Report of the Department of Mines, New South Wales, 1885, p,119. 387 located at Austinmer, first produced coal in 1887 and by 1889 was die second largest producer in die district after Mount Kembla, and die largest employer of labour.''^ The coal was shipped from an 870 feet long jetty, witii a high water depdi of 25 feeL20 Two of tiie new mines, BeUambi and Soutii Bulli, were in fact tiiose formerly operated by Thomas Hale, and Robert Taylor and Christopher Walker, respectively, until dieir closure in the recession of the mid 1860s.