The
Cementies'
Processing Plant
Peter McCann registered Australian Portland Cement Co. Ltd in 1889.
The company was liquidated in 1895.
McCann set up another company which was liquidated in 1904.
In 1905 he formed the Australian Portland Cement Co. Pty Ltd.
Adelaide Brighton Cement later acquired the cement works.
It was finally closed in 2001.
J. Lockwood Ca. 1912-20
J. Lockwood Ca. 1912-20
Works Layout
T346 approaches Fyansford with the Norman car, (and an unwanted shower of rain). Victorian Railways Board members were on board, (they replaced the "commissioners" in 1973), who were carrying out one of their regular "tours of duty" 2:15pm on Tuesday, the 5th of April, 1979.
Changing Perspectives...
Robert Pockley Studios
What's left internally...
Others have explored the abandoned and partially demolished cement works at Fyansford ~ Link 1 Link 2
Childhood
Memories...
Does anyone else have memories of ~
-
exploring the caves that used to be roundabout here?
-
entering the concealed shaft that lead deep into the works...
In those days I'd head off with my mates for day-long adventures exploring the Moorabool valley.
As parents we wouldn't dare let our kids do it nowadays... Scary even thinking about it....
Charles Daniel Pratt
A 1926 airview of the Cement Works, Fyansford (4 glass negatives)
Images from...
jfimages.com
Fyansford Gallery
Does anyone else have memories of the two large caves that used to be in this cliff face?
This image was taken by Stuart McDonald.
Possibly taken from above Buckleys Falls.
Note the helicopter
"... The first chimney, built in 1958, is 97.53 metres tall and weighs 1660 tonnes.
The second, built nine years later, is 106.68 metres tall and weighs 1860 tonnes.
The third, built in 1968, also reaches 106.68 metres. It weighs 2442 tonnes...."
By Chris Evans (June 6, 2004),
The chimneys that refused to go without a fight
“All three were supposed to fall simultaneously but, after three deafening blasts, only one chimney leaned before collapsing in a cloud of dust. The others stood defiantly…As hundreds of Geelong residents watched, driver Derek Robinson fearlessly manoeuvred a 160-tonne excavator to budge the obstinate pair. …”
By Martin Boulton (June 7, 2004)
"The three historic chimney stacks at the former Fyansford cement works were consigned to history on Sunday when they were demolished in preparation for a residential redevelopment on the land..."”
Source: Geelong News 9/6/2004…
A not-so-famous last stand
The Cement Stacks Coming Down...
Uploaded by GEST Media on Jun 19, 2008
Fyansford Cement Works dominate the skyline with chimney and smoke, Geelong Joyce Evans
A Moorabool River Add-on?
Anyone who has walked the vacinity of the confluence of the Moorabool and Barwon rivers will have noticed the seemingly un-natural detour of the Moorabool River (not far from where it joins with the Barwon).
I have vague memories from my childhood days of exploring this area and accepting it as a man-made construction with something to do with the cement works; possibly a waste-water outflow or something similar.
Can anyone throw light on this stretch of what, I believe, was once a deliberate add-on to the Moorabool river?
No help here...
Hmmm!
A closer look at the detail
in one of Charles Daniel Pratt's 1926 images might hold a clue.
All images courtesy of Gerry van der Meer
I love a touch of mystery....
Can anyone tell me anything about the history of this picture?
Individual Recollections:
Thanks, Evert van Dreven...
From the Evert van Dreven Collection
The coalbunker being constructed at the cement works, with the chimney stack on Hyland St in the background.
Main office on Asylum Road (now McCurdy Road) in 1928
From the Evert van Dreven Collection
As posted in Geelong in Historical Pictures...
See also Evert's pAGE
The first photograph of the cement works... Well, the first I can find...
The first photograph of the cement works... Well, the first I can find...
I would really love to find:
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a pre-1908 photograph...
-
a 2001 - 2004 photograph...
For more detail ~ See here...