The history of the development of Portland cement has been well documented. An overview of the period 1824-1924 is provided by A. C. Davis (1924), while A. J. Francis (1977) gives an in depth review of the industry in Britain. Cement was introduced in two stages in Australia. Firstly as an import and secondly as a locally manufactured material (Geological Survey 1969, McKay 1977). Historical details are scant concerning the introduction of cement as an engineering material to the Australian market. These details are necessary to appreciate the development of Australian concrete construction during the period 1870 to 1920. This period saw the rapid development of technology in general and cement and concrete technology in particular. Concrete from imported and locally produced cement provided a material for the construction of essential engineering structures in remote locations essential for the development of Australia. Some structures, for example concrete dams for water supply, are still in service over 100 years later. The concrete problems with the Bare Island fortifications may have been a good lesson for the expanding construction industry. Fortunately the guns of Bare Island never fired in anger and the impact strength of the concrete fortifications remains untested. As trade developed the choice of imported Portland cements available in Australia increased from just British products to include other European, American and Asian products with a wide range of qualities, and each with its own trade mark and/or brand name. Quality variability was the result of product sourced from different manufacturers using different raw materials and produced to different specifications. Australian produced cements were comparable to imported cements with respect to quality. The development of the Australian cement industry has been similar to the British cement industry with many small local cement works being replaced by a few large manufacturers demonstrating the economy and product uniformity of large scale production. Delivery of imported and locally produced cement was a problem. Imported cement had the problem of long and expensive transport by sea. Both imported and locally produced cement had the further problem of delivery to remote locations in Australia. The time and cost associated with imported cement was an incentive to local production. Imported cements matured during the long sea voyage to Australia to eliminate the free lime problem. Local manufacturers claimed that some imported cements had been landed in Australia as shipsu27 ballast equivalent to subsidised transport costs thus giving unfair price competition. Packaging developed to suit market conditions, from heavy wooden and steel drums to eventually paper lined jute bags, the precursor of the current multi-walled paper bag. The decrease in both the cost and mass of packing containers represented a reduction in the delivered price to the consumer. The use of semi-circular steel drums for delivery by camel was a unique Australian development to suit local conditions.
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