Portland Cement Works

The former Portland Cement Works site commands the skyline of this peripheral settlement with a set of silos, century-old workshops, and variously aged auxiliary structures. These industrial remnants sit directly in the centre of town on Williwa Street, one of the two main thoroughfares dissecting the community. Portland, New South Wales located just west of the monumental and oft-visited Blue Mountains is nestled in the mining heart of the state, the Central Tablelands; and it is known as ‘the town that built Sydney’ due to the quarries, kilns, processing, and cement production that occurred there beginning in the early 1900s until the Works shut its doors in 1991. So essential to this place is the industry found therein that the town owes its name to a common type of cement used around the world.

It is fair to associate this industrial prominence with the feelings, connections and character that imbues the people living in this place on the fringes. Many here have strong connections to the Cement Works having worked as its labourers, mechanics, fitter and turners, riggers, office staff, shift foremen, blacksmiths and quarrymen. This defunct industrialism and its effects were the natural starting point to explore the nature of this area and how the residents in this town are connected. Spending time in Portland affirms that the past and the memories it has afforded are an ever-present part of conversations, life, and the quotidian nature of this small town.

While many of the memories shared during this project are unique accounts in to the rise of industry, labour conditions, and the simple togetherness that a single-industry town creates, there were also stories and grave memories of personal tragedy, poor working conditions, and devastating loss. By visiting with many different Portland locals, a history of the place was pieced together from their words, scrapbooks, and shared consciousness. The anecdotes shared by the people throughout this project have given unique insight and intimate connections to the design and resulting artwork. Sitting down to speak with various labourers, workers, supervisors, and townsfolk as they shared their photos, newspaper clippings and recollections afforded a unique insight in to how much this Site has affected the ebb and flow of the town.

At its zenith, the Portland Cement Works provided a solid livelihood and drew people from all over the region to work in the quarries and processing facilities. It is a vast property with brimming lakes occupying the old quarry sites, multiple kilns including the original brick bottle kilns – now heritage listed, and numerous silos from the original ‘ninebins’ demolished mid-century to make way for the still-standing 8-bins – the canvas for the artwork. Many of the buildings at the site are heritage listed, some built at the turn of the 20th century with the advent of the Cement Works. Whilst the Works provided employment opportunities for much of the town as well as many civic contributions for the community to enjoy including the local pool, this place still contains a darker, devastating side. As with many other industrial and manufacturing industries, workplace injury and death have made their mark on this town and its people. Read on to hear about some of the affects these tragedies have created.

The six individuals represented in the artwork are all former employees who shared their recollections of working at the Portland Cement Works and how their lives have been impacted by the industry in their town. From smoking breaks to municipal pools and company cottages, forbidden swimming holes, tragic losses, and unions, their anecdotes have given a unique insight in to life in a small town, labour and the affects that unencumbered industry can play in the daily lives of people. To give a sense of the background that helped shape the artwork, it is prudent to explore insights of the many Portland people who shared their anecdotal histories for this project including Herb Coleman, Tommy Fitzgerald, and Ernie Jeffrees. These longtime Portland residents worked in various roles at the Cement Works including as quarrymen, fitter and turners, labourers, mechanics, foremen and supervisors. The stories they shared were in the vein of a “thick, fragmented history telling.”⁴

From a family deeply rooted in Portland, Herb Coleman built the house he and his wife still live in which lies directly next door to the plot of land where he was born in 1939. Walking through his workshop, immense kitchen garden and orchard, Herb recollected of his life in the town and his nearly thirty-year career as a fitter and turner, shift foreman and later yard foreman at the Cement Works. The career trajectory he shared is a classic example of that of regional industrial workers at the site: upon leaving school he took a labourer job within the local industry, learning and moving in to his eventual skilled role as a fitter and turner. As output at the Cement Works shrank and fiscal incentive began to decline in the eighties, Coleman – with the promise of better money – moved on to a coal mine in a nearby town. The drive of industry for Coleman was down to a bottom line, his livelihood and providing for his family. Relocating his skillset to another operation was down to the economic reasons and leaving the centre of his hometown to work more remotely affected mostly the time he spent commuting.

He shared his memories of helping build the municipal pool, how he built his house adding on over decades, reworked vintage automobiles, as well as some of his memories building many of the newer auxiliary structures associated with the Cement Works production lines. The most indelible aspect of speaking with Herb Coleman was his ability to speak on wide variety of aspects about Portland: including the history of the Cement Works’ buildings and production, the town’s local history and sayings, and even the famous snow of 1965 during which his eldest daughter was born. His memories reflected those of many of the other people who shared their perspectives contributing to a collective anecdotal conscious which softly imbues the histories unique to the minds of Portland. At times these recollections were in opposition to one another but all informing a specific and rich narrative of place.

Labourer and former union leader Tommy Fitzgerald, b. 1941, is a character that many people in town remarked as having a significant view on the local perspective and histories. Born, raised, and later bringing his family up on the Cement Works property in a company cottage overlooking Williwa Street, he shared tales and memories from the front lawn of his current home overlooking the vast stretch of land where the Cement Works stands – long abandoned and locked up. Clearly, it is a place that remains a daily part of Tommy’s life and recollections, in many ways embodying more than simply his career there. Throughout the many meetings and time spent with the ever- effusive Fitzgerald, it is clear that the Cement Works shaped his identity.

Not only did Fitzgerald grow up in a company house, but he became an integral part of the union movement in Portland through his career at the Cement Works. Following in his father’s footsteps, he eventually became the secretary of the local union and was a vocal part of securing better conditions for local workers through the labour movement of the area. As his own family grew, they too secured a company cottage for a time with his children eventually following a similar path. Nevertheless, the good intentions and hard work Fitzgerald put in to identifying and implementing safety protocols and representing the well-being of his fellow colleagues through collective representation was unable to save the fate of one of his own children.

Tommy Fitzgerald lost a son to a fatal accident while he was working in one of the onsite quarries. The tragedy of the circumstances has shaped Fitzgerald’s perspective in the years since the accident occurred. However, his story is representative of many families, workers and company towns throughout the overarching Australian 20th century narrative of industry, manufacturing and mining. This personal story of loss was touching to hear and gave the project vital insight in to the plight of blue-collar workers as well as illustrated first-hand the tragedy that has befallen many labourers and working people throughout the history of industry. However, the most poignant memory of time spent getting to know the high-spirited, often-joking Fitzgerald was being able to go on to the closed Cement Works property, unlock the back door and hear his delight at being able to go inside the cottage he once called home.

Further in to the time spent with residents hearing their recollections and histories of Portland brought a visit to the home of Ernie Jeffrees, volunteer firefighter and retired company man. As he mentioned early in our discussion, retiring from the local fire brigade after 47 years in service had significantly freed up his time to reminisce and share about his own experience as a “blow-in”⁸ as well as his long career at the Portland Cement Works. Jeffrees moved to the area as a teenager to be near his family, initially beginning as a general labourer at the Cement Works he then began a mechanic apprenticeship at a private garage in nearby Wallerawang. In 1952, he began working at the Cement Works as a mechanic and he saw the business out in 1991 as a production supervisor when the site was finally closed.

Jeffrees’ career story is one of local success and ambition: moving to the Central Tablelands, learning a trade in the region, obtaining a skilled job at the local employer, gaining responsibility as a shift foreman before finally becoming a production supervisor and relied upon management-track employee. Sitting over cups of tea while he delved in to his own story of rising in the ranks at the Cement Works was enlightening as it was replete with odd protocols, congratulatory dinners with managers, safety risks and sketchy authority. After recounting his trajectory and glimpsing at his collection of Works-related photos, Jeffrees turned to us and cut himself off mid-sentence saying, “Life wasn’t easy, I tell you.”

Visiting Portland gave a unique look in to the lives and cycles of small, regional industrial towns. Nowadays, long time inhabitants of these areas still find themselves joined by new residents looking for new opportunities, a place to settle down. However, it is the collective history surrounding the former industrial site and the impact it has played in the life of the town that remains an underlying influence. The site of the mural, the Portland Cement Works, will leave an indelible mark on the perspective of the town; and regardless of whether industry remains it is a monument to the past of a regional fringe settlement and to histories of the older population still living here. This industrial scene has been transformed and now stands as a monument to the many joys, toils, rewards and losses of the lives in this town. The artwork created out of meeting these former workers and residents stands as a draw card to the potential that these histories can remain for future visitors; and it exists as a backdrop to the ways that towns like Portland strive to create new outlets in the disused spaces off the beaten tracks of rural Australia.