These days, Australia’s steel industry is more illustrious than ever, with companies like ours benefiting from the discovery of rich natural resources, both in this country and abroad. This isn’t a success that happened overnight, though. Join us as we take a brief trip through time to look at how steel manufacturing became the prosperous industry it is today. https://www.shapecut.com.au/blog/a-short-history-of-australias-steel-industry/

1. A SHORT HISTORY
OF AUSTRALIA’S
STEEL INDUSTRY

2. STARTING AT
THE BEGINNING
IN 1840, IN IRON KNOB AUSTRALIA, A GREAT MANY IRON ORE
DEPOSITS WERE FOUND. ALTHOUGH THOSE THAT MADE THIS
DISCOVERY WEREN’T TO KNOW IT, THIS WAS TO MARK THE
BEGINNING OF A BRAND-NEW INDUSTRY IN AUSTRALIA.
At the time, there just weren’t the expertise or facilities available for
manufacturing to make anything of this rich new discovery. Poor
attempts at the creation of pig iron just couldn’t compete with superior
products being produced in countries such as Great Britain.

3. HAVING A BLAST
IN 1901, AUSTRALIA’S FIRST BLAST
FURNACE BEGAN ITS CAREER.
This development was a sign of the times,
as there was heavy demand for steel up
and down the country. With railways being
built, and local industry demanding more
and more steel products and machinery,
current manufacturing methods just
weren’t sustainable anymore – there was
the need for something more powerful.

4. THE STEEL BOOM
IN THE YEARS BETWEEN THE
1960S AND THE 1980S, DEMAND
FOR STEEL INCREASED MASSIVELY.
The struggles of the second world war
were long gone, so this was a time for
regeneration and rebuilding. Demand
for steel production jumped from 4.6
million tonnes to 10 million tonnes, in
less than 20 years.

5. COMPETITION
FROM OVERSEAS
IN THE 80S, IT BECAME APPARENT THAT LOCAL
INDUSTRY JUST COULDN’T COMPETE WITH THE
MUCH CHEAPER PRODUCTS OFFERED BY OVERSEAS
SUPPLIERS SUCH AS CHINA.
This pressure from South East Asia made it necessary for
industry leaders in Australia to consider how steel production
could be revamped. New, more productive technologies and
organisational procedures were introduced, and efforts were
made to create a more sustainable steel industry.

6. THE STEEL
INDUSTRY TODAY
THINGS HAVE CHANGED A LOT
SINCE THE BEGINNINGS OF
AUSTRALIAN STEEL PRODUCTION.
These days, most steel is manufactured
on foreign shores, then sent here to be
processed and fabricated by quality steel
cutting services such as ShapeCUT.

7. WWW.SHAPECUT.COM.AU
1800 ShapeCUT (1800 742 732)