Thread: End of an era as Toowoomba Foundry closes..

It does make you wonder what's going on RC. CMI closed its doors here in Ballarat and put a lot of people and apprentices out of work. Then cut 8 million dollars from the local apprentice school. Then increased the funding at the prisons here to give the prisoners trade skills.
Go figure.

Phil

A friend of mine who's in his late 80's started his first job at Toowoomba Foundry. He has some interesting stories about the various jobs he had there including working in their laboratories, learning pattern making and working in the tool and die shop on dies to cut the steel laminations to make AC electric motors for the Foundry's refrigerator production. He spoke about their prototype aircraft project and how it crashed, about the designer and how he drew plans. Also he spoke about working on a simple centrifugal jet engine project and a small very high speed diesel engine for a WW2 project as well as making gearboxes for the boss's motor launch. He went on to own and run a local foundry and machine shop in Cairns after the war.

Greetings chaps Yes I wondered my self at the news that TAFE colleges were having their funding cut. Here in Melbourne when I started my apprenticeship there was the Naval Dockyard, The Railways, Sunshine Harvester ,Vickers Ruwolt All the Munitions works, The Tramways (my home) The PMG, SEC, Most of which you wouldn't know they had been in existence. These were the places where many of our tradesmen cut their teeth. When I was at Vickers Ruwolt we made United States Industries Clearing presses. These presses are still in use at Ford and GMH although for how much longer. I seriously doubt if we could make a Clearing press in Australia now. As one of our former Prime Ministers said Life was not made to be easy. I have heard it said it was not made to be this hard either. I am rather glad I am retired and past it all now. Yours 4-6-4

Well, that's the final nail in the coffin of a truly great Australian company, the kind that truly built the nation.They built the first steam loco's for the Trans Australian Railway, and made a huge range of essential gear that the country depended on. Southern Cross had a South African division as well, and some manufacturing capacity over there also.
Their windmills, pumps and irrigation gear were second to none, and I think they were the last firm to maintain diesel engine production in this country. Production records in WW2 were quite amazing, and they even built their own machine tools when the need arose.
For those interested, an author named Rob Laurent has a book still in print called "Southern Cross Engines" which is an excellent history of a family owned company from its earliest times,(1890's?) till the takeover by CMI. Many enthralling stories of the people wh worked there, the designs, the products and the challenges they overcame. The book includes a full production history of every engine model, serial number, basic spec's and production dates. A useful reference work, but also an inspiring and entertaining story.
Sadly, the headline to this thread has ruined my day. Commiserations to all.
Combustor.

Sad news. I didn't know that they were the manufacturer of Southern Cross Pumps. One step closer to a banana republic. One day all the holes in the ground will run out of minerals or, the bottom will once again drop out of the resources market and we will end up like Greece, importing everything and manufacturing nothing. Oh I guess we won't be retiring at 65. I think I'll be chasing retirement for the rest of my life as progressive governments of the day increase the retirement age. Maybe if I live to 90 I can enjoy a fulfilling and healthy retirement? Wow, I'll retire with a couple 'o mill and not very long to enjoy it!

Simon

Sad news indeed :c
I was just assembling a southern cross split case water pump the castings are pretty complex. I hope manufacturing doesn't completely 'die out.

Well I post this somewhat hesitantly...

I have an idea of what went wrong here.

On the 23rd of April this year I received a quotation from this foundry as our local foundry could not handle the length I required and stated that they believed Toowoomba foundry was one of the last left that could.
I had planned on getting some blanks cast to make some straight edges for those scrapers amongst us. A very simple design, a Cast SG Iron "I" beam about 100 mm wide and 770 mm long, with a few lightening holes.
Nothing too complex at all, and I had planned on having 10 of these made. Heres the kicker, I was quoted $3550 tooling cost and $795 each for the beams if I got 10. Oh and a 10 week wait from date of order, which coincidently would have been in a few days time. Sorry but $11,500 + GST + freight was a little too steep for me so I guess I may have contributed to this companies downfall.

**Rant on**
If this is really the cost of manufacturing in Australia then we should all be ashamed that we have let it get to this stage.
We all want safer work environments, shorter work hours, higher pays and cheaper products but complain about local industry shutting down.
Manufacturing in this company is going to come to an end as no one wants to compromise their way of life.

Most of us have seen the nicely cast straight edges from the USA. Yes they are only 18" long but they are also only $75 each.

Nothing we can do about it except start waving goodbye as it wont be much longer before there is nothing left to wave to
**Rant Off**

Sorry about that. I apologize in advance if this post offends anyone...

Jayson out.

That's a famous name I actually thought that they had already gone because I had not seen their pumps go into a plant room for a long time.

They are quite a complex casting as are pumps in general

As for the economy booming, all I see is building, nothing is being produced which produces an ongoing income and the country is going further into hock buying what we don't produce as well as paying interest and dividends on all that we have borrowed or sold off previously. I call it Naaru economics, Naaru does not even own Naaru house anymore when the bird dung ran out reality kicked in.

I recall being a kid in the 1950's with the name "Toowoomba Foundry" and "Southern Cross" all around me.

My Dad was a plumber and sheet metal worker in Charleville and he used to make big corrugated iron tanks in his workshop, load them on the back of his Morris Commercial truck and take them to sheep properties all around south western Queensland erecting them together with Southern Cross windmills.


Indeed, after he died in 1972, amongst his papers, I found an ancient letter from the Toowoomba Foundry awarding him what seemed to be a franchise for installing Southern Cross windmills in the area.


He had started erecting windmills during the depression when he had been traveling north from Sydney towards Darwin seeking work. A property owner in Roma asked him to erect a windmill for which he was very handsomely paid for the effort involved. Dad was very fast at his trade and very competent and he found enough work with those windmills to never complete his trip to Darwin.


So I am sorry to see a historic, old icon like the Toowoomba Foundry go, also.



.

Originally Posted by Jayson

Well I post this somewhat hesitantly...

I have an idea of what went wrong here.

On the 23rd of April this year I received a quotation from this foundry as our local foundry could not handle the length I required and stated that they believed Toowoomba foundry was one of the last left that could.
I had planned on getting some blanks cast to make some straight edges for those scrapers amongst us. A very simple design, a Cast SG Iron "I" beam about 100 mm wide and 770 mm long, with a few lightening holes.
Nothing too complex at all, and I had planned on having 10 of these made. Heres the kicker, I was quoted $3550 tooling cost and $795 each for the beams if I got 10. Oh and a 10 week wait from date of order, which coincidently would have been in a few days time. Sorry but $11,500 + GST + freight was a little too steep for me so I guess I may have contributed to this companies downfall.

**Rant on**
If this is really the cost of manufacturing in Australia then we should all be ashamed that we have let it get to this stage.
We all want safer work environments, shorter work hours, higher pays and cheaper products but complain about local industry shutting down.
Manufacturing in this company is going to come to an end as no one wants to compromise their way of life.

Most of us have seen the nicely cast straight edges from the USA. Yes they are only 18" long but they are also only $75 each.

Nothing we can do about it except start waving goodbye as it wont be much longer before there is nothing left to wave to
**Rant Off**

Sorry about that. I apologize in advance if this post offends anyone...

Jayson out.

It can't be too offensive Jayson as I really can't see any lies in what you say

Phil

Reality is that straight edge order is a tiny one-off, I'd suspect the US ones are Chinese made, more than likely manufactured in the thousands and you'd be lucky to buy the materials here for what they are finished and ready to ship in China. For a point of reference, was after a 1m steel straight edge 20? years ago, was ready to berate the girl behind the counter when it didn't arrive, but then she mentioned it was quoted at 3.5k and thought I might baulk at that! Needless to say, I got an aluminium one.

BHP in Wollongong was turning out huge numbers of apprentices in the 70s, last I heard, somewhere around 50 a year now and all the workshops are closed and yet Government wonders why industry wants to import skills. I think Crossfeed's Nauru narrow based economic model prognosis is quite close to the truth.

I'd been told by someone in the know that the cheapest cast iron will now cost you $28+ per kilo for getting an item cast, that is if you have the patterns ready to go, that suit whatever process the foundry uses.

One of the antique machinery magazines had an article about the General Manager of Toowoomba Foundry: Wally Hall (up until 1980's-90s?), he still lives in Toowoomba and collects old lawnmowers mostly Southern Cross brand if I recall correctly. My Grandmother had one of their mowers when I was a kid, from memory they were a gold hammertone colour with a handle on top that you wound up a spring with and then folded over to start the mower....I could be wrong about that method of starting.

Edit: Wally Hall was the CEO of Towoomba Foundry not the general manager as mentioned earlier.

I drive past the foundry often, sometimes daily. It is a shame, especially the skills that will be lost, the apprenticeships and the corporate (workshop) knowledge that must have been passed down over all those years. I do know it has been quiet there for years, very few workers' vehicles in the car park, and no longer the row of blokes eating smoko out on the street. The pump and windmill part of the factory (Tyco) moved down the hill to Withcott some years back, no doubt adding to the somewhat vacant air about the place.

We tried a small casting project with them and our sculpture students years ago. I taught the class carving of simple shapes in laminated MDF, in two halves loosely dowelled together. The foundry then made sand moulds and cast them in aluminium. The students cleaned the pieces up and polished them. It had potential, but somehow never took off as a regular part of the curriculum

It will be a sad day when it closes the door the last time.

Originally Posted by Jayson

Well I post this somewhat hesitantly...

I have an idea of what went wrong here.

On the 23rd of April this year I received a quotation from this foundry as our local foundry could not handle the length I required and stated that they believed Toowoomba foundry was one of the last left that could.
I had planned on getting some blanks cast to make some straight edges for those scrapers amongst us. A very simple design, a Cast SG Iron "I" beam about 100 mm wide and 770 mm long, with a few lightening holes.
Nothing too complex at all, and I had planned on having 10 of these made. Heres the kicker, I was quoted $3550 tooling cost and $795 each for the beams if I got 10. Oh and a 10 week wait from date of order, which coincidently would have been in a few days time. Sorry but $11,500 + GST + freight was a little too steep for me so I guess I may have contributed to this companies downfall.

**Rant on**
If this is really the cost of manufacturing in Australia then we should all be ashamed that we have let it get to this stage.
We all want safer work environments, shorter work hours, higher pays and cheaper products but complain about local industry shutting down.
Manufacturing in this company is going to come to an end as no one wants to compromise their way of life.

Most of us have seen the nicely cast straight edges from the USA. Yes they are only 18" long but they are also only $75 each.

Nothing we can do about it except start waving goodbye as it wont be much longer before there is nothing left to wave to
**Rant Off**

Sorry about that. I apologize in advance if this post offends anyone...

Jayson out.

Hi Jayson,

certainly no offence taken at all. However, I'm not convinced that the demise of this company can be totally blamed on our working hours (I think Australians work some of the longest hours in the Western world) or our expectations that we come home safe after each day at work. Higher wages, possibly.

But you are assuming that they had sound business plans, efficient work practises and invested wisely in their business and the owners didn't overpay themselves.

Even a dodgy unsafe workplace that pays under award wages will go broke if they don't manage their business affairs in a professional manor. Sure, our costs of manufacturing are higher than in China, but can you name me a western country that is cheaper than China?

I don't think you can make any real judgements on the company based on a one off order that never got placed, even if it was a ridiculous quote with an equally ridiculous lead time.

When shopping around for manufacturers/suppliers in China for a mill (1 unit), I got some laughable quotes. I think it would have been clear to both them and me that I would never place an order with them. Not worth their while since I wasn't ordering 100 units. I didn't for one minute think it was a reflection on their manufacturing efficiency, cost of manufacturing, work hours of their employees or how many employees were killed each year in their factory.

I hope I haven't offended anyone either.

Now, where do I get one of those (US made) straight edges for $75. I definitely want one!

Cheers,

Simon