Small Arches

Stone arches stand at Portland Cement Works in Portland, NSW, framing the remnants of the original structure. Dust has settled across exposed concrete. The masonry openings let daylight reach surfaces that once formed part of a working industrial complex. Nothing has been repaired or cleared. What remains is simply what time and weather have left behind. The site has deep roots. Thomas Murray built the first lime kilns at Portland in 1863. By 1889, the Cullen Bullen Lime and Cement Company was producing Portland cement under the "Kangaroo" brand, making it the first firm in NSW to successfully manufacture Portland cement. That operation failed by 1895. After two further failed ventures, British-owned New Zealand Mines Trust purchased the Portland leases in 1899 and appointed Dr August Wilhelm Karl Scheidel, a metallurgist with a PhD from Freiberg University, to rebuild the plant entirely. The Commonwealth Portland Cement Company registered in December 1900. Cement production commenced on 4 August 1902 under the "Union" brand. The rotary kiln technology Scheidel introduced from Germany was, at that moment, at the global leading edge of cement manufacturing. By 1904, the Lithgow Mercury described Portland as "the largest cement-making plant to be found in the whole of the Commonwealth." By 1912, the works accounted for approximately 40% of all Portland cement manufactured in Australia. Production continued under successive owners: Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers UK from the late 1940s, Blue Circle Southern Cement Ltd from 1974, and Boral Limited from 1992. Cement production ceased in November 1991. The limestone quarries remained operational until 1998, supplying crushing material to the Maldon works. The Portland Cement Works Precinct was added to the NSW State Heritage Register on 3 August 2012. This photograph, made in 2018, records the stone arches as they stood that year: intact, unrestored, and still carrying the weight of what the site once was.