Number Six Raw Mill at Kandos Cement Works, a ball mill sits heavy in the half-light, its riveted steel drum tilted toward.

01 Kandos Cement WorksKandos2016

ISO 1006sf/8.014mm

Series · 40 prints

Kandos Cement Works

Photographed 2016
Frames 40
Camera NIKON D7000
Location New South Wales, Australia
Status Disused industrial site, partly demolished
Years 1916 to 2011
Specs 95 years of continuous cement production · Sole cement supplier to Sydney Harbour Bridge (1928-1932) · Portland cement via dry-process rotary kilns
01 ABOUT THIS SERIES

Series story

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

The town's first name was Candos, an acronym of the directors' surnames at the NSW Cement Lime and Coal Company. They bought 100 acres from local farmer John Lloyd Junior for £2,000 in 1913 and had surveyor James Dawson lay out the township. The Postmaster General ruled the name change to Kandos in 1915, and by August 1916 the kilns at the new cement works were firing.

The original plant was meant to come from Krupp Bremen. The order was interrupted by the outbreak of WWI in 1914, and the machinery was interned in Portuguese West Africa. Managing director Frank Oakden travelled to the United States and England to source replacement plant, and the works that started cement production in 1916 was the second one Kandos had bought.

From 1928 to 1932 Kandos was the sole cement supplier to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Lawrence Ennis, Director of Construction at Dorman Long, confirmed it in his 1932 souvenir booklet Bond of Empire and publicly ruled out the Tasmanian competitor in July 1929. The bridge cement came out of Kiln 5.

Cement Australia closed the plant in September 2011 after 95 years of continuous production. Sibelco salvaged the mid-section of Kiln 5 for the Charbon lime plant; the rest remains the subject of a Kandos Museum campaign to save it. The site has no statutory heritage listing, and was sold in June 2025 to a developer proposing a waste-to-fuel plant.

International Cement Review (Kandos closure), Engineering Heritage Australia (Ennis 1932 cite) and Cenagen Fact Sheet

02 TIMELINE

Chronology

1913
1914
1915
1916
1920
1928
2007
2011
2013
03 PRINTS

Prints in this series

Hand-signed limited editions, printed from the original RAW file. Editions run from 100 down to 25 and are not reissued once they sell through.

Number Six Raw Mill at Kandos Cement Works, a ball mill sits heavy in the half-light, its riveted steel drum tilted toward.
Number Six Raw Mill
Clinker Shed at Kandos Cement Works, steel trusses span the full width of the shed, supported by heavy columns streaked.
Clinker Shed
Cyclonic Separator at Kandos Cement Works, steel mesh grating covers the floor, open to the darkness below.
Cyclonic Separator
Number Six Ball Mill Drive at Kandos Cement Works, the motor and gearbox that once drove the ball mill, now sitting.
Number Six Ball Mill Drive
Raw Stone Shed at Kandos Cement Works, dark heaps of crusite and stone dust cover the floor, rising in uneven mounds.
Raw Stone Shed
Top Of The Works at Kandos Cement Works, concrete walls rise several storeys on the left, stained dark with mineral residue.
Top Of The Works
Grit Return Screw at Kandos Cement Works, overhead, the ducting twists and bends through the structure - a later addition.
Grit Return Screw
Cement Mill Duct at Kandos Cement Works, thick layers of dust now blanket the cement mill floors, a stark reminder.
Cement Mill Duct
No 2 Process Lab at Kandos Cement Works, this lab was used for testing materials at all stages of the cement-making process.
No 2 Process Lab
Cement Mill Floor at Kandos Cement Works, the years have shaped the dust into something almost alive.
Cement Mill Floor
No 4 Cement Mill at Kandos Cement Works, a massive ball mill fills the ground floor, its riveted steel drum disappearing.
No 4 Cement Mill
Cyclonic Seperator Top at Kandos Cement Works, for apprentices, hauling a full toolset to the top of this towering.
Cyclonic Seperator Top
Cement Mill Conveyor at Kandos Cement Works, a narrow corridor stretches deep between corrugated iron walls.
Cement Mill Conveyor
Fan Casing And Ductwork at Kandos Cement Works, this is the fan casing and ductwork at the top level of the preheater.
Fan Casing And Ductwork
Store Building at Kandos Cement Works, steel trusses span the full width of the building, bolted to thick limestone block.
Store Building
Meal Room at Kandos Cement Works, a kitchenette lines the far wall.
Meal Room
Control Room at Kandos Cement Works, built as an upgrade to safeguard against the Y2K bug, this control room became.
Control Room
Mixing Station Feed Conveyor at Kandos Cement Works, this conveyor once fed raw stone to the mixing station, ensuring.
Mixing Station Feed Conveyor
Dust Screws at Kandos Cement Works, two massive screw conveyors run parallel overhead, their steel housings converging.
Dust Screws
Store at Kandos Cement Works, racks stacked high with spare parts, tools, and equipment, ensuring the machinery never.
Store
Screw Conveyor at Kandos Cement Works, steel hoppers taper to narrow discharge points above a screw conveyor trough.
Screw Conveyor
Former Coal Mill Area at Kandos Cement Works, this part of the plant housed the coal mills, where raw coal was pulverized.
Former Coal Mill Area
Bag Loading Area at Kandos Cement Works, the bag loading hall at Kandos Cement Works opens wide under a corrugated iron.
Bag Loading Area
Kiln Feed Station at Kandos Cement Works, a heavy gearbox drive sits low against the concrete floor, its casing thick.
Kiln Feed Station
Stairs at Kandos Cement Works, looking down the stairwell of the cement mill - one of many that once crisscrossed the plant.
Stairs
Old No 2 Lab at Kandos Cement Works, this was the lab before a newer facility was built behind the upgraded control room.
Old No 2 Lab
Looking South at Kandos Cement Works, a cracked internal road runs south between a corrugated iron shed and a massive.
Looking South
New Cement Silo at Kandos Cement Works, this large silo was built as part of an upgrade that replaced the original cement.
New Cement Silo
Kiln Discharge Cooler at Kandos Cement Works, a large blue cylindrical cooler dominates the right side of the frame.
Kiln Discharge Cooler
Old Store Shelving at Kandos Cement Works, steel pallet racking stands in tight rows across a concrete floor thick.
Old Store Shelving
Compressors at Kandos Cement Works, two heavy compressors crowd a narrow passage deep inside the plant.
Compressors
Cement Silos at Kandos Cement Works, these were the cement handling silos, where the finished product was stored before.
Cement Silos
Kiln Feeder at Kandos Cement Works, this was the feed pump for No.
Kiln Feeder
Dispatch Area at Kandos Cement Works, this was the dispatch area, where trains were loaded with cement before heading out.
Dispatch Area
Plant Services Workshop at Kandos Cement Works, a rusted 44-gallon drum sits against the left wall.
Plant Services Workshop
Preheater Building at Kandos Cement Works, a lattice of steel framing rises several storeys against open sky, its cladding.
Preheater Building
Weigh Feeder at Kandos Cement Works, steel grating covers the floor, its diamond-pattern surface worn dark withite dust.
Weigh Feeder
No 6 Kiln at Kandos Cement Works, a massive rotary kiln stretches deep into the frame, its steel barrel dark with heat.
No 6 Kiln
Store Counter at Kandos Cement Works, the former store counter, once a critical stop for workers collecting parts.
Store Counter
Store Extension at Kandos Cement Works, a makeshift extension of the storeroom, adapted over time to meet shifting needs.
Store Extension
04 ABOUT THE PRINTS

How they’re made

Made to order by Brett in Sydney, from the original RAW file. Each print is hand-signed and numbered before it ships.

Paper

Ilford Galerie cotton rag, 310 gsm. Acrylic on metallic gloss, 260 gsm.

Editions

Open in XS and S. Limited in M (100), L (50), XL (25). From $100.

Print tiers →

Lead time

Unframed: 5 to 10 business days. Framed and acrylic: 10 to 20.

05 FIELD NOTE

From the field

Read all field notes
06 PRESS

In the press

Often I'd find myself looking at the machines and architecture and challenging myself to find one single object designed purely for aesthetics. Craftsmanship made way for efficiency in engineering long before I'd even left school.

The Guardian

Brett Patman·2019

theguardian.com

On the LC archive.

People talk about what it was like to work or stay in these places, who they knew, what they did, how great the Christmas parties were, that store man nobody liked, what all the different machines were, how they worked and what became of them.

Broadsheet

Brett Patman·2016

lostcollective.com

On the LC archive.

There's this sense of wonder you get when looking at abandoned buildings. You try to imagine what these spaces were like when they were filled with busy workers trying to meet production targets. And why did they close?

The Guardian

Brett Patman·2019

theguardian.com

On the LC archive.

See press coverage →
08 BY POST · NO SPAM

Read the full story

Articles when they're published. The history behind a place. The day of a shoot. The work between prints. No marketing, no schedule.

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