Annex Toilet

In a forgotten annex of the Portland Cement Works Precinct, a toilet sits rusted and dust-covered, untouched since the plant fell silent. The bowl is marked with long rust streaks running from the cistern. Dust has settled thick across every surface, undisturbed for years. The Portland Cement Works Precinct occupies approximately 5.9 hectares on Williwa Street, Portland, in the City of Lithgow. The site was established by the Commonwealth Portland Cement Company, registered in December 1900, and cement production commenced in 1902. At its operational peak in 1911, the workforce reached 608 employees and the town population stood at 2,376. By 1912, the company was producing approximately 40 percent of all Portland cement manufactured in Australia. The precinct contains Federation and Inter-War period industrial buildings constructed in brickwork with fine steel trusses. Across nearly 90 years of operation, the site expanded steadily, passing through successive owners: Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers UK in the late 1940s, Blue Circle Southern Cement Ltd from 1974, and Boral Limited from 1992. Cement production ceased in November 1991. The limestone quarries continued operating until 1998, supplying crushing material to the Maldon works, before the site was fully decommissioned. Spaces like this annex toilet were functional necessities for a plant of this scale, built to serve a large industrial workforce through decades of continuous production. They were not designed to last as monuments. What remains now is the accumulated weight of disuse: rust, dust, and the particular stillness of a room that has not been needed for a long time. The Portland Cement Works Precinct was listed on the NSW State Heritage Register on 3 August 2012 (SHR #01739). This photograph was made in 2018.