Cement Mill Conveyor at Kandos Cement Works, a narrow corridor stretches deep between corrugated iron walls.
Cement Mill Conveyor at Kandos Cement Works, a narrow corridor stretches deep between corrugated iron walls.

Cement Mill Conveyor

Provenance

Camera
NIKON D7000
Lens
14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings
17mm · f/8.0 · 1/5 · ISO 100
Paper
Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

A conveyor in the cement mill at Kandos Cement Works, carrying clinker to the mill for pulverising under the steady glow of fluorescent lighting. The plant opened in August 1916 and ran until Cement Australia closed it in September 2011.

Edition
Open edition

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$100.00 AUD
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In situ

Cement Mill Conveyor at Kandos Cement Works, a narrow corridor stretches deep between corrugated iron walls.Cement Mill Conveyor at Kandos Cement Works, a narrow corridor stretches deep between corrugated iron walls.Cement Mill Conveyor at Kandos Cement Works, a narrow corridor stretches deep between corrugated iron walls.Cement Mill Conveyor at Kandos Cement Works, a narrow corridor stretches deep between corrugated iron walls.Cement Mill Conveyor at Kandos Cement Works, a narrow corridor stretches deep between corrugated iron walls.
01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title
Cement Mill Conveyor
Series
Kandos Cement Works
Catalogue
KCW-002
Process
Giclée
Captured
13 February 2016
Camera
NIKON D7000
Lens
14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture
f/8.0
Shutter
1/5 s
ISO
100
Focal length
17 mm
Paper
Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm
Paper size
290 × 200 mm
Location
Kandos, New South Wales, Australia
Authenticity
C2PA verified provenance →
Recognised by
Highly Commended in Multimedia at the 2016 National Trust of Australia (NSW) Heritage Awards
02 LOCATION

Kandos, New South Wales, Australia

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

03 THE STORY

About this print

A cement mill conveyor at Kandos Cement Works runs from the discharge end of one of the cement mills toward the bucket elevator that carried finished cement up to the storage silos. The conveyor is enclosed in steel housing for its full length, with hinged inspection covers along the top and a series of small windows down one side. The drive head sits at the elevator end on a fabricated steel frame, with the motor mounted on rubber pads to absorb vibration. The tail pulley at the mill end is recessed into the floor, hopper-fed from above. The housing is darkened with the bloom of cement dust that escapes from any conveyor in this kind of service. The frame is bolted to the concrete pad of the mill bay.

Conveyors of this type ran throughout Kandos's cement-making circuit, moving raw meal, clinker, and finished cement between stages of the process. Cement is heavy enough and abrasive enough that mechanical handling is the only practical option at plant scale, and a works of Kandos's size ran kilometres of belt and screw conveyor in various configurations. The plant opened in August 1916 and operated for 95 years until closure in September 2011. The reasons given at closure were dated, inefficient technology and high fixed costs, and the considerable distance from the Sydney market. The conveyor stopped on the day the rest of the works did.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

A narrow corridor stretches deep between corrugated iron walls. Steel cross-bracing holds the structure rigid. Overhead, conveyor machinery and support frames crowd the low ceiling. The walkway beneath is steel grating, thick with dried cement dust that has cracked and curled where it lies undisturbed. Light enters from below, pushing up through the mesh floor and throwing hard shadows across the underside of the belt housing. Every surface carries the same pale grey residue.

Brett Patman

Kandos Cement Works

The series

Kandos Cement Works

2016 · 40 photographs

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.

View all in this series →

05 SIZE GUIDE

Print sizes

The anatomy view shows what this finish is as a physical object: paper margin, mat band, frame depth, acrylic profile. The comparison strip shows how each size sits relative to the others at true scale. Click a size or a finish to update both.

Anatomy · true ratio
07 MORE FROM KANDOS CEMENT WORKS

39 other prints in this series

All prints
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 $100.00
Clinker Shed at Kandos Cement Works, steel trusses span the full width of the shed, supported by heavy columns streaked.
Clinker Shed $100.00
Cyclonic Separator at Kandos Cement Works, steel mesh grating covers the floor, open to the darkness below.
Cyclonic Separator $100.00
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 $100.00
08 BY POST · NO SPAM

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