Iron and Steel

Pioneering works to produce iron from its ores began at Mittagong in 18XX. A much larger iron and steel works was built at Lithgow, close to supplies of coal iron ore and limestone, in 18YY. Until this time all iron and steel had been imported into NSW, and at first with the capacity of the industry small, most continued to be.

In 1915 a large steelworks was built by BHP at Newcastle, sited on the harbour to allow importation of iron ore from South Australia. In 1927 the Lithgow facility was relocated to Port Kembla, again adjacent to a port, but here a largely artificially created one. Other steelworks were built in South Australia and Western Australia and the economies of the world supply of steel caused the old Newcastle works to be closed and demolished in 19XX. Port Kembla continues to supply steel to the domestic market in a limited range of profiles.