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88-461: The Fitzroy Iron Works at Mittagong , New South Wales, was the first commercial iron smelting works in Australia. It first operated in 1848. From 1848 to around 1910, various owners and lessees attempted to achieve profitable operation but ultimately none succeeded. More than once, new managers repeated more or less the same mistakes made by earlier ones. Over the second half of the 19th century,

176-408: A Catalan forge was relatively simple to construct and operate (refer to illustration). The subsequent processing of the smelted iron that was used to make the initial samples, in 1848, probably was largely manual—probably using what was essentially a blacksmith's forge— as there was no tilt hammer at the works until 1852. Governor FitzRoy visited the works in late January 1849. During the visit, he

264-726: A Sydney businessman, was elected chairman of the Fitzroy Iron Works Company. He was the main influence on the company, during the period immediately after Benjamin Lattin's contract expired. Vickery was a Methodist —or Wesleyan as they were called then—as was his ironmaster Joseph Hampshire. He saw part of his role as ensuring the proper morality of his workforce and the township. During his time, public buildings were constructed in Mittagong, and between 600 and 700 people (employees and their families) lived off wages paid by

352-425: A blast furnace could be operated profitably at the works. Johnson received promises of financial support—from William Terrey, Thomas Chalder and Joseph Cartwright—and efforts continued to float a new company; any further progress depended upon obtaining more capital. Despite the lack of earlier success, the potential of the mine and the growth of railways in the colony suggested a successful business model would be for

440-420: A hill, on the opposite side of Ironmines Creek, 250 yards to the east of the rest of the iron works (puddling furnaces, foundry and rolling mill). This area became known as 'the top works'. There was access to the furnace top from the top of the hill via a timber trestle. The furnace top had a five feet wide platform and three openings through which ore and other smelting materials could be added. On 30 July 1864,

528-604: A larger scale. The prospectus the Fitz Roy Iron Mine Company was released in February 1849. Quarrying of ore, brickmaking and erecting a larger Catalan forge to smelt the iron were in progress, when Governor FitzRoy again made visit to the works in March 1850. A cupola furnace and a foundry had been built to process the 'sponge iron' as cast-iron and a tilt hammer was on order from England. A tilt hammer

616-519: A local man John Thomas Neale, a Sydney businessmen Thomas Holmes, and the brothers Thomas Tipple Smith and William Tipple Smith formed a partnership to exploit the iron ore deposit. The Smith brothers were sons of the English geologist William Smith and William Tipple Smith appears to have discovered gold (at Ophir ), in 1848, before the gold rush triggered by Hargraves 's well-publicised discovery nearby in 1851. William Povey, an ironworks expert,

704-537: A place called "Nattai" by the natives. About 1884 New Sheffield and Nattai united to form the present town of Mittagong. Mittagong has been home to many industries, with iron being first smelted in the area. The Mittagong Coal Mining Company (Box Vale Colliery), Joadja Kerosene Shale, and the first supply of fresh milk and butter to Sydney by the Fresh Food & Ice Company all operated out of Mittagong in years gone by. The transport of iron ore and smelted iron

792-410: A population of 8,999. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 2.5% of the population. 76.5% of people were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were England 5.0% and New Zealand 1.4%. 86.7% of people only spoke English at home. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 27.0%, Catholic 23.4% and Anglican 21.5%. The Mittagong State Suburb, which does not include

880-480: A service six days a week to Greater Sydney (Campelltown, Liverpool and Parramatta) and to the Shoalhaven and South Coast of New South Wales. Mittagong has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: Climate data for Mittagong are sourced at nearby Bowral (Parry Drive), in operation from 1961 to 2015. Summers are warm to mild, whereas winters are cool and spring is generally dry. Shorter-term data are found at

968-452: A slightly negative impact on Mittagong's economy for about a year after its opening, due to the loss of traffic-serving business. Expectations were re-evaluated as mildly positive in 1994 taking into account hard-to-quantify benefits such as the increased appeal of the town as a place to live. Mittagong is also home to a prestigious girls secondary private boarding school, Frensham , which was opened by Winifred Mary West in 1913. The school

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1056-411: A small pool then peeling off layers of slag or metal from the top as they cool into a solid. The operator of the cupola is known as the "cupola tender" or "furnace master". During the operation of a tapped cupola (cupolas may vary in this regard) the tender observes the amount of iron rising in the well of the cupola. When the metal level is sufficiently high, the cupola tender opens the "tap hole" to let

1144-482: A ‘bloom’. Sponge iron either could be ‘worked’ to create wrought iron or melted in a cupola furnace to make cast-iron products. Unlike ‘ pig-iron ’, sponge iron did not contain an excess of carbon and so generally did not need ‘ puddling ’ before conversion to wrought iron. By the mid-19th century, the Catalan forge was already a largely obsolete smelting technology—the hot-blast furnace had been invented in 1828—but

1232-403: Is designed to pull the gases into a device to cool the gases and remove particulate matter . The shell of the cupola, being usually made of steel, has refractory brick and plastic refractory patching material lining it. The bottom is lined in a similar manner but often a clay and sand mixture ("bod") may be used, as this lining is temporary. Finely divided coal ("sea coal") can be mixed with

1320-490: Is held each Easter. Tourists can visit Mount Gibraltar, Lake Alexandra and various wineries located around and in Mittagong. It also features one of the first iron mining sites in Australia, close to Lake Alexandra. The main street boasts a wide array of retailers and antique shops. Notably, Mittagong is close to many of the Southern Highland's wineries and cellar doors. The wineries have established themselves in

1408-472: Is notable for its alumni which include Dr Catherine Hamlin and former Lord Mayor of Sydney, Lucy Turnbull . The Mittagong Farm Homes for Boys, Mittagong TSB (training school boys), as late as the 1970s became known as Renwick and catered for boys and girls, and was situated along Bong Bong Road. Two homes were located along the Old Southern Road near Diamond Fields Road. An apology was issued by

1496-538: Is one of the original buildings and is over 100 years old. This complex is abandoned and in decay; a few years ago it was subject to an attempted renovation, which was soon stopped. According to the 2021 census , the town of Mittagong had a population of 6,090. At the 2016 census , the Mittagong Statistical Area 2, which includes the Mittagong town centre and the small surrounding villages of Welby , Balaclava , Braemar and Willow Vale , had

1584-418: Is said to come from an Aboriginal word meaning "little mountain". Other suggested meanings are "a companion" and "plenty of native dogs", as the Mittagong range was home to many dingos at one time. The first European permanent settler in the Mittagong district was William Chalker (1775–1823) (also known as Charker), a former convict transported from England, who arrived in the area on 10 May 1821. He became

1672-475: The Government Dry Dock on Cockatoo Island . In August 1855, the board decided against erecting a blast furnace—on grounds of cost—and instead to erect six puddling furnaces and one reheat furnace. Unusually, it was intended to use the reverberatory ‘puddling’ furnaces for direct reduction smelting of the ore. Thomas provided this description of ore smelting c.1856. “The method hitherto adopted for

1760-695: The Nattai Gorge . The blast furnace was not complete, when Lattin's contract expired on 1 April 1864. Hughes departed around this time. The directors replaced Hughes with an experienced English ironmaster, Joseph Kaye Hampshire—former manager of the Whittington Iron Works near Chesterfield in Derbyshire—and secured the services of engineer Frederick Davy of the Park Iron Works, Sheffield. Hampshire seems to have been involved in

1848-650: The Welby ramp. Mittagong railway station is served by the Southern Highlands Line with regular services to and from Sydney and Moss Vale , with some services extending Goulburn . Long-distance services to Canberra and Melbourne also stop at the station. The town is also home to the bus company Berrima Buslines depot. Berrima Buslines services the entire Wingecarribee Shire . A number of long-distance coach operators service Mittagong for Canberra, Melbourne and Adelaide. Priors Scenic Express operates

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1936-474: The blast furnace may have been cast directly into molds . During the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD), most, if not all, iron smelted in the blast furnace was remelted in a cupola furnace; it was designed so that a cold blast injected at the bottom traveled through tuyere pipes across the top where the charge (i.e. of charcoal and scrap or pig iron ) was dumped, the air becoming a hot blast before reaching

2024-532: The "Livingstone Township" subdivision in June 1842, however the sales appeared to have failed and no further attempts to subdivide were attempted for some time until the iron works came into operation. In August 1861 Surveyor Campbell suggested a portion of land be reserved for village purposes. This reserve was made in 1862 and called the "Village of Fitzroy" (now Welby), and in May 1865 a subdivision consisting of 245 blocks

2112-723: The 1800s. There is a display of some of the original remains of this historical site in the carpark, interpretive signs recording the history. In November 2008, a new shopping complex was opened alongside the Highlands Marketplace known as the Highlands Hub . It has as of 2017 many shops and Service NSW being the RMS. The town lies between three small mountain reserves, Mount Alexandra 780 metres (2,560 ft) above sea level , Mount Gibraltar 888 metres (2,913 ft) above sea level and Ninety Acre Hill (part of

2200-408: The 1830s. The outer shell of the furnace was constructed of sandstone blocks and stood 46 feet high to its open top. The base of the furnace was a 28 ft square with the upper part being cylindrical and banded with iron bars holding the courses of blocks in place. It was lined with fire-bricks which were made at the works using clay quarried on the site. The blast furnace was located at the base of

2288-480: The Fitz Roy Iron Works Company, when four prominent new shareholders joined; John Keep, John Frazer , Simon Zöllner , and Ebenezer Vickery . Of these four, only Simon Zöllner had any previous working experience in the iron-making industry, although John Keep—later John Keep and Sons—was an ironmonger and Vickery had in his youth been apprenticed to an ironmonger. In late 1862, the company

2376-605: The Fitzroy Iron Works became available in Sydney, in early December 1863, and it was being produced at a rate of 36 tons per week. Production continued for some months, at a rate of about 30 tons per week. As construction of the blast furnace proceeded, preparations for its operation went ahead. The works advertised for limestone in February 1864 and coal miners in March 1864. A 2.5-mile-long horse-operated tramway had been constructed to bring coal from where it outcropped in

2464-427: The Fitzroy Iron Works in early 1863. He agreed to construct a blast furnace—capable of producing 120 to 150 tons of iron per week—at his own cost, in exchange for shares in the company. Lattin chose Enoch Hughes to supervise the construction of the furnace. It seems likely, however, that it was Hughes that had been working to interest Lattin in providing the financial backing for the venture—since late 1862 at least—with

2552-540: The Gib Lookout and Ninety Acre Hill Lookout. Mount Gibraltar can also be seen up close when travelling to Bowral from Mittagong along Bowral Road. The Southern Highlands Shale Forest and Woodland vegetation community lies within the town. Today, the town offers visitors the chance to explore its history, scenery, small waterfalls, bushwalks and its famed " Waratah " flowering in November. A chamber music festival

2640-469: The Moss Vale AWS (Airport) since 2001. [REDACTED] Media related to Mittagong, New South Wales at Wikimedia Commons Cupola furnace The bottom of the cylinder is fitted with doors which swing down and out to 'drop bottom'. The top where gases escape can be open or fitted with a cap to prevent rain from entering the cupola. To control emissions a cupola may be fitted with a cap that

2728-578: The NSW Government in 2013 for the cruel practices suffered by many of the children who spent time in this institution. The institutions alumni are now in the process of having one of the homes donated by the government as a museum and dedicated building to remind of the injustices perpetrated against children. The Catholic teaching order, the Marist Brothers , conducted a juniorate (high school for intending brothers) from 1906. A teacher

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2816-534: The Principal Overseer of Government Stock, Chief Constable and Poundkeeper in the Cowpastures. A memorial plaque to Chalker was unveiled in May 1988 as a Bicentennial project; the plaque overlooks an area once known as Chalker's Flat and later known as Lower Mittagong . As early as February 1841 an attempt was made to sell land in a subdivision called the "Town of Gainsborough", followed by

2904-409: The alteration of the blast furnace, to hot-blast operation, had begun. Only 80 tons of iron were made using the cold-blast process. Drainage trenches were cut into the rock around the base of the furnace, the furnace was relined with new fire-bricks and one 'stove' added to convert the blast furnace to hot-blast. Hampshire designed and supervised the hot-blast modifications himself, skillfully upgrading

2992-549: The antiquated cold-blast furnace's design. The upgraded blast furnace first made pig-iron using a hot blast, on 2 May 1865. Although production problems would emerge later, the furnace made iron—in taps of three to six tons and occasionally ten tons at a time—at an initial production rate of about 90 tons per week. Hampshire claimed that the ore—after it had been roasted in open heaps to remove moisture and extraneous matter—was producing 60% metal, an indication of its relatively high iron content. This initial success came just in time;

3080-406: The bottom of the furnace where the iron was melted and then drained into appropriate molds for casting. A modern cupola furnace was made by French scientist and entomologist René-Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur around 1720. To begin a production run, called a 'cupola campaign', the furnace is filled with layers of coke and ignited with torches. Some smaller cupolas may be ignited with wood to start

3168-459: The building of the blowing equipment for Lattin, while in England. Lattin remained for a short period but left when his financial difficulties increased. In late August 1864, quite soon after the blast furnace was finally lit for the first time, Lattin was insolvent, with a deficiency of £33,762 12s. 8d. He claimed that he had spent over £25,000 on the furnace and other works—double the amount that

3256-600: The clay lining so when heated the coal decomposes and the bod becomes slightly friable, easing the opening up of the tap holes. The bottom lining is compressed or 'rammed' against the bottom doors. Some cupolas are fitted with cooling jackets to keep the sides cool and with oxygen injection to make the coke fire burn hotter. Cupola furnaces were built in China as early as the Warring States period (403–221 BC), although Donald Wagner writes that some iron ore melted in

3344-417: The coke burning. When the coke is ignited, air is introduced to the coke bed through ports in the sides called tuyeres . Wood, charcoal, or biomass may also be used as fuel for the cupola's fire. Flammable gases also can be added to air and blown through the tuyere section of the furnace to add fuel to the fire. When the coke is very hot, solid pieces of metal are charged into the furnace through an opening in

3432-424: The company another £3,500. The company purchased from Mr. Povey for £1000, three new tilt hammers that had been brought out from England 16 months earlier, and Povey agreed to take up £500 of shares in the new company. In 1855, the company used its cupola furnace as a small blast-furnace to smelt some iron ore into pig-iron, which was puddled and then sent to the Sydney works of P. N. Russell & Co. , where it

3520-424: The comparative great outlay required in the erection of a blast furnace with it necessary apparatus for blowing, &c.” A reverberatory furnace used coal as a fuel—without first coking the coal as is needed for a blast furnace—and such a furnace could be reused as a 'puddling furnace' later to process pig-iron from a blast furnace; perhaps, as well as capital cost, these were factors in the decision. Foremost in

3608-452: The directors minds was getting iron—even in relatively small quantities—to market in Sydney. In anticipation of the new reverberatory furnaces and rolling mills, sourcing of supplies of coal became a priority for the company. Transport to Sydney, in the absence of a rail connection, was also a significant difficulty for the works. There followed a period of acrimonious dispute between the board of directors and other shareholders, during which

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3696-472: The first blast furnace in Australia made pig-iron—under Hampshire's management—but problems emerged immediately. Moisture in the foundations and lining turned to steam and cooled the iron preventing its being tapped. The furnace had to be shut down and the resulting half-molten mass of iron had to be dragged from the hearth using hooks and metal bars. In September 1864, the company was admitting to "some difficulties with proceeding to production" and advising that

3784-426: The following half-century. In 1857, a shareholder and Sydney contractor William Henry Johnson bought the assets but could not refloat the company. He installed the rolling mill that had been ordered under the previous management but could not proceed further through lack of capital. The rolling mill was powered by a 40-horsepower steam engine and had sets of rolls for merchant bars, plate and double-headed rails . It

3872-612: The gateway to the Southern Highlands when coming from Sydney. Mittagong is situated at an elevation of 635 metres (2,083 ft). The town is close to Bowral , Berrima , Moss Vale and the Northern Villages such as Yerrinbool and Colo Vale . Moreover, Mittagong is home to many wineries of the Southern Highlands which has been a recent growing wine and cellar door region. The name "Mittagong"

3960-468: The greater Gibbergunyah Reserve ) 800 metres (2,600 ft) above sea level. Popular among locals and visitors is a small man made lake, Lake Alexandra, that feeds into the nearby Nattai River . Lookouts are available at all three reserves for viewing. Lookouts on Mount Gibraltar include Bowral Lookout, Mittagong Lookout and Mount Jellore Lookout. Lookouts on Mount Alexandra include Katoomba Lookout and Box Vale Track Lookout. Gibbergunyah Reserve include

4048-520: The highway was diverted in 1992. The opening of the bypass was expected by some to negatively affect business in towns bypassed like Mittagong, but instead the location has become a rest stop for drivers and a daytripper destination from Sydney , only around one hour away. Moreover, Mittagong can be accessed from the Hume Highway in the north via the Aylmerton / Braemar ramp and in the south via

4136-403: The metal flow into a ladle or other container to hold the molten metal. When enough metal is drawn off the "tap hole" is plugged with a refractory plug made of clay. The cupola tender observes the furnace through the sight glass or peep hole in the tuyeres. Slag will rise to the top of the pool of iron being formed. A slag hole, located higher up on the cylinder of the furnace, and usually to

4224-403: The molten metal. Likewise, ferromanganese melts and is combined into the pool of liquid iron in the 'well' at the bottom of the cupola. Pea-sized raw ore of metals such as iron, copper, lead, and even those containing precious metals can be melted in the cupola or blast furnace. Vannoccio Biringuccio describes how to separate metals and slag by pouring the melted ore contents from the furnace into

4312-466: The name 'Fitzroy Iron Works' became almost synonymous with lost opportunities, repeated failure, lost capital, misplaced trust, and general misfortune. The Fitzroy Iron Works was—several times—a commercial failure, but it played a part in laying the foundations of the later success of the Australian iron and steel industry, and it was important in the growth of the township of Mittagong . Relics of

4400-517: The old iron-works were discovered during excavations for redevelopment of its site, during 2004, have been preserved and are on display. There are also some remnants and a commemorative cairn at the adjacent site of its former blast furnace. Just southwest of the current Mittagong town, the original mine deposit was located just south of the Main Road. The Iron Works were established on the north side of Old Hume Highway and Mt Alexander. In 1833,

4488-438: The oxygen in the air to form carbon monoxide . The carbon monoxide further burns to form carbon dioxide . Some of the carbon is picked up by the falling droplets of molten metal which raises the carbon content of the iron. Silicon carbide , ferromanganese , ferrosilicon , or other alloying agents, often in the form of briquettes, may be added to the charge materials. Silicon carbide dissociates and carbon and silicon enters into

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4576-558: The plant—including adding two more blast furnaces and increasing the power of the rolling mills— in early 1866, failed and, consequentially, the merger did not proceed. Although the works were to linger in partial operation for several more years (see below), the works were completely idle in 1869. Mittagong Mittagong ( / m ɪ t ə ɡ ɒ ŋ / ) is a town located in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales , Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire . The town acts as

4664-452: The production, samples may be taken from the metal and poured into small molds. A chill wedge is often poured to monitor the iron quality. These small, approx 18 mm ( ⁠ + 3 / 4 ⁠ ") wide × 38 mm ( ⁠1 + 1 / 2 ⁠ ") tall triangular shaped pieces are allowed to cool until the metal has solidified. They are then extracted from the sand mold and quenched in water, wide end first. After cooling in this manner

4752-461: The prospect of the rail contract as the key incentive. Indeed, Hughes was already the works manager of the Fitzroy Iron Works, in October 1862, prior to Lattin's involvement. The arrangement between the company and Lattin was described as follows to a parliamentary inquiry in February 1864; "we have leased the mines to a person of the name of Lattin, from Melbourne, to carry on the mines, giving him

4840-452: The rear or side of the tap hole, is opened to let the slag flow out. The viscosity is low (with proper fluxing) and the red hot molten slag will flow easily. Sometimes the slag which runs out the slag hole is collected in a small cup shaped tool, allowed to cool and harden. It is fractured and visually examined. With acid refractory lined cupolas a greenish colored slag means the fluxing is proper and adequate. In basic refractory lined cupolas

4928-476: The reduction of the ores of the Fitz Roy mines, has been, first, to crush into small pieces, and with 25 per cent, of charcoal it is placed in a reverberatory furnace similar to that employed in England for puddling, and the iron before you this evening is the produce of this mode of manufacture. This plan has been adopted (although producing but small quantities) owing to the slight cost of construction compared to

5016-514: The region since the 1980s due to the soil and climate of Mittagong which is believed to be perfect for viticulture . Mittagong is home to an abandoned historical building complex known as "The Maltings". In the past, The Maltings served as malthouses for the old major beer company of New South Wales, Tooth and Co. One of the malthouse buildings can be seen when entering Mittagong on the Old Hume Highway from Braemar . This building

5104-445: The right of working them for twelve months, in consideration of his putting the works in proper order so as to be capable of producing a certain amount of iron per week from the ore; and if at the conclusion he succeeds, we are to give him 2,000 of our paid-up shares, but if he does not succeed he is to get nothing. From a conversation I had with him I believe he will spend from £12,000 to £13,000." A contemporary report states that it

5192-567: The rolling mill was being reinstalled on more solid foundations. However, in December 1865, with there being ongoing problems with the blast furnace (see below), shareholders voted in favour of a merger with P. N. Russell & Co , a large Sydney foundry and ironworks, which was a large customer buying Fitzroy iron. The merger would result in George Russell taking over the management of the works. An attempt to raise new capital to expand

5280-441: The slag is brown. When the operation is over, the blast is shut off and the prop under the bottom door is knocked down so that the bottom plates swing open. This enables the cupola remains to drop to the floor or into a bucket. This material is allowed to cool or quenched and subsequently removed from underneath the cupola. A 'campaign' may last a few hours, a day, weeks or even months. The cupola can be used over and over. During

5368-468: The surrounding villages, had a population of 5,767. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 1.7% of the population. 76.2% of people were born in Australia. The next most common country of birth was England at 5.2%. 87.1% of people only spoke English at home. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 27.9%, Catholic 22.1% and Anglican 21.7%. Mittagong is on the Old Hume Highway , which linked Sydney , Canberra and Melbourne , but

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5456-509: The surveyor Jacques noted the presence of iron ore in course of making a deviation of the Old South Road to the new town of Berrima. The deposit was located near a bridge (Ironstone Bridge) on what was later called Iron Mines Creek and was associated with carbonated chalybeate (iron-rich) mineral springs . Compared with contemporary English iron ore resources , the deposit was a rich one, with grades between 44% and 57% iron. In 1848,

5544-413: The top. The metal is alternated with additional layers of fresh coke. Limestone is added to act as a flux . As the heat rises within the stack the metal is melted. It drips down through the coke bed to collect in a pool at the bottom, just above the bottom doors. During the melting process a chemical reaction takes place between the fuel, the blast air, and the metal. The carbon in the coke combines with

5632-409: The trade known as ' blackbirding '—officially called 'indentured labour' but in practice a disguised form of slavery—and met his death at the hands of some of his victims. Enoch Hughes had knowledge of iron working but little working experience of blast furnaces and their operation. The blast furnace he constructed was an old fashioned design—cold blast with an open top—similar to a Scottish design of

5720-516: The works and in 1865 town allotments were sold in the town of 'New Sheffield', which helped raise additional cash. In February 1865, the capital of the company was reduced by half, effectively writing off much of the earlier investments in the company. In November 1865, it was reported that the works was supplying iron to P. N. Russell & Co. and to customers in Melbourne for use in manufacturing, that larger puddling furnaces were being erected and

5808-404: The works continued to operate, but little progress was achieved in improving the plant. By 1855, only a total of only three tons of wrought iron had been made. Once the chairman resigned in 1856, and tried to foreclose on his mortgage over the works, operations ceased. In late April 1856, William Povey became the first of those who would be bankrupted through their involvement in the ironworks over

5896-575: The works had a contract to supply castings for the supporting columns of the Prince Alfred Bridge at Gundagai. It had been delivering these castings at such a slow rate that the construction of the bridge was affected. The first castings had been made using the cold-blast iron but more iron had been needed to complete the work. The blast furnace had made 2,394 tons of iron, by the time it was shut down in January 1866. Ebenezer Vickery ,

5984-474: The works still lacked a blast furnace—the essential first part of the commercial iron-making process—although in other respects it had, by then, the remaining elements of an integrated ironworks. The discovery of coal nearby, in 1853, and potentially lower transport costs to Sydney—as the railhead of the Main Southern Railway moved progressively closer to Mittagong—led to renewed optimism that

6072-427: The works to produce iron rails. In December 1859, prospectus for the ‘Fitz Roy Ironworks Company’ was published. The prospectus included reference to another report, by J. H. Thomas, dated 6 June 1859, which was quoted as praising the ore and the iron made from it and mentioned that the iron would be used for repairs to railway machinery. The new company had not raised sufficient capital. It was reformed in 1862–1863, as

6160-400: The works. Vickery promoted the use of Fitzroy iron himself. He used it for the roof trusses of Mittagong's Methodist church and in his own building, 'Vickery's Chambers', at 78 Pitt Street, Sydney, a part of which became the Sydney offices of the Fitzroy Iron Works Company. He set about trying to approve the financial position of the company. In August 1864, a £6,000 mortgage was taken out on

6248-509: The works. The company had produced about 100 blooms weighting in total two tons, when the tilt hammer—critical to the operation—broke and could not be repaired. It became apparent that the use of charcoal as a fuel was expensive and a larger scale of production would be necessary for profitable operation. The capital of the company was increased in 1854 and the company was reincorporated as the Fitz Roy Iron & Coal Mining Company. This

6336-424: Was Br Charles Howard , who became world Superior General of the order. The site is now a retreat and spirituality centre called The Hermitage. In March 2007, the Highlands Marketplace was opened. The complex is located on the Old Hume Highway towards Welby . The building has retail franchises such as Big W , Woolworths , Priceline and many others. It is built upon the original iron works site dating back to

6424-473: Was a tourist attraction mainly during the second half of the 19th century and first few decades of C20th. The town was dominated by trucks and in winter inundated with traffic carrying skiers' on their way to the Australian Alps until 1992 when the Hume Highway opened and bypassed Mittagong and all the towns and villages of the Southern Highlands . The highway bypass was first evaluated as having

6512-476: Was a type of large, powered mechanical hammer that was used to work the 'sponge iron' bloom and convert it to wrought iron, a process known as ' shingling '. In commemoration of Governor FitzRoy's visit in March 1850 to officially open the works, fifty cast-iron doorstops, in the form of a ' lion restant '—the lion being a heraldic animal associated with the FitzRoy family —were cast from imported pig-iron that

6600-608: Was anticipated—all of which he had lost. By October 1865, Lattin was managing the City Iron Works in Sydney, which was re-rolling scrap into merchant bars. Lattin's misfortunes had not ended; he was being sued for unpaid bills at the beginning of October 1869, and it was reported that he was gruesomely killed in November 1869, aboard a French-protectorate flagged barque, in Fiji when about to depart for Queensland. If so, he had become involved—perhaps out of financial desperation— in

6688-543: Was being carried on by means of a Cataline furnace and two shafts had been sunk. The party engaged in operating the mine was living in tents until buildings were erected. The mine was referred to at this time as the Fitz Roy iron mine, doubtless in honour of Sir Charles A. Fitz Roy, the Governor-General. Associated with the iron ore deposit was the Chalybeate Spring , an iron-rich mineral spring that

6776-404: Was engaged as manager and some samples of iron products had been sent to Sydney by late 1848. This was not the first iron smelted from Australian iron ore, but it was the first such iron smelted commercially in Australia. A report of February 1849 says that iron was smelted using a "Cataline furnace". A Catalan forge was a type of bloomery that included a tuyere through which air under pressure

6864-410: Was injected, making it intermediate between earlier bloomery technology and a primitive blast furnace. The fuel used was charcoal . A Catalan forge was operated at temperatures below the melting point of iron and so did not produce molten ‘pig-iron’ (except unintentionally, if the iron melted). The product it made was ‘sponge iron’ ( direct reduced iron ), which accumulated at the base of the furnace as

6952-522: Was made by steam train. Lake Alexandra was originally a water supply dam for railway engines hauling coal from the back of Mount Alexandra to the iron mines. It was drained in the 1890s when the land around it was given to Council by the Mittagong Land Company. The presence of the ironstone was discovered when the deviation of the southbound road was being made through Mittagong in the early 1830s. Fifteen years elapsed before any attempt

7040-576: Was made to work the iron deposit. In 1848 land was taken up and smelting commenced at the Fitzroy Iron Works in a small blast furnace that had been erected. The Sydney Morning Herald of 12 December 1848 said the public had already witnessed the success of the mine by the specimens of manufactured articles exhibited in Sydney. On 2 February 1849 it was stated that a quarry had been opened and stone prepared for buildings in course of erection. A brickfield had also commenced operations. Smelting

7128-487: Was melted in the cupola furnace. One founding partner, John Neale left and 15 new shareholders took up a holding in the Fitzroy Iron Mine Company, which was registered on 16 September 1851. William Tipple Smith had a stroke in 1849; he was not actively involved in the new company and died in 1852. By September 1852, the tilt hammer, and 40 hp engine to drive it, was in the process of erection at

7216-544: Was offered for sale in the township of "New Sheffield" an area which substantially coincided with the central portion of the present Mittagong, being subdivided by the Fitzroy Iron Mining Company. The area between the present-day Lyell and Pioneer Streets was called Nattai and was the postal township for many years before the name Mittagong was generally applied with the advent of the railway in 1867. In 1802, Barralier wrote of establishing his camp at

7304-565: Was presented with "an elegant knife, containing twelve different instruments, of colonial workmanship, (mounted in colonial gold) the steel of which was smelted from the ore taken from the Fitz Roy mine" . The partners had named their works—originally known as the Ironstone Bridge Ironworks— the Fitz Roy Iron Mine in his honour. Meanwhile, the partners went about trying to raise capital to allow operation on

7392-405: Was the first rolling mill installed in Australia for making wrought iron products but—having been left idle—was not the first to enter production. Around July 1858, a trial smelting of ore took place and 16 hundredweight of " No. 1 iron " was smelted from 2 tons 8 hundredweight of ore; it is almost certain that the " blast furnace " involved in this trial was the existing cupola furnace. Indeed,

7480-432: Was the intention to proceed with the rail contract from April 1863, but no rails were made during the 12 months over which Lattin leased the works. The construction of the blast furnace took longer than Hughes had envisaged and Lattin had an urgent need for cash flow. In response, scrap iron was purchased at £4 per ton and—using the existing part of the works—that scrap was rerolled into bars. The first merchant bar produced at

7568-482: Was to allow rolling equipment to be ordered from England but it also involved a change in control of the company, with the Sydney merchant Frederick John Rothery becoming the largest shareholder and chairman of the board. An issue of shares to the public was not as successful as expected, and to progress the work a loan for £6,000 was taken out, with the Directors taking personal responsibility for it. Later Rothery lent

7656-486: Was used to make anchors, which with some ore samples and other manufactured items—including razors and a carriage axle—were exhibits at the 1855 Paris Exhibition . This was probably the first time pig-iron had been smelted from Australian iron ore. The new directors commissioned an engineering report "on the Company's mines, and on the machinery necessary for working them" from Mr. James Henry Thomas, resident engineer at

7744-519: Was working to interest the N.S.W. Government in giving it a contract to supply 10,000 tons of iron rails for the construction of new railways. The price of the rails was to match the landed price of English rails, £12 per ton. However, the works needed more investment, in order to enter larger-scale iron production. Benjamin Wright Lattin was a former wholesale grocer in Melbourne , who leased

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