A PRIDE in Australia's achievements prompted Mittagong townspeople in 1948 to celebrate the centenary of the Fitz Roy Iron Works, the nation's first iron smelting venture.

To honour the town as the birthplace of the iron industry, a four-day program of events was held and, to commemorate the Iron Works, a cairn and tablet of polished trachyte was unveiled on October 2, 1948. In attendance were members of BHP, the Historical Society and the Mittagong Iron Week Committee. The cairn was situated on a rock foundation where the engine-room of a blast furnace had once stood. This furnace, built in 1863 and converted to hot-blast in 1865, was shut down in 1877. The site gradually fell into ruin and the furnace was demolished in 1922. By the time of the centenary, this second stage of the Iron Works was thought to be the only site. The oversight is understandable because an earlier site, commenced in 1848, had fallen into ruin, was covered with scrub and forgotten.

The area that the cairn overlooked along Ironmines Creek had also became scrubland, being where iron ore was sourced from 1848 to 1877 and again during World War II.

Surrounding these former Iron Works sites, the township spread and expanded. It was not until 1973 that a major section of the old site was levelled to create a sportsground named Ironmines Oval (today a soccer field). Another section on a prominent rise was taken up in 1978 by the Mittagong RSL to build its new clubhouse.

TODAY the Iron Works venture is fittingly remembered with the commemorative cairn in the reserve overlooking Ironmines Oval and with the RSL Club featuring the history in various ways. Furthermore, extensive remnants of the earlier workings that commenced in 1848 have been on display since 2007 in the carpark under Woolworths Marketplace. These were uncovered prior to excavation for the building and were deemed a protected site. Most have been conserved and are on permanent display.

Heritage consultants prepared archaeological advice for Woolworths Ltd after in-depth research by Mittagong-based historian Dr Leah Day and local historical researcher Tim McCartney provided the impetus for this significant discovery.

As part of the Iron Works Conservation Management Plan a thematic history was compiled by Ray Christison. It includes a description of how the Fitz Roy Iron Works shaped Mittagong. Some edited extracts follow here:

"The Iron Works established at Nattai in 1848 was a testament to the vision of colonial entrepreneurs who saw the potential of smelting Australian iron ore to feed the demands of a growing economy. Undercapitalisation, poor transport links, problems with fuel supply and inappropriate siting of the works on swampy ground hampered development. When added to the chronic colonial industrialists' dilemma of cheap British imports and the free trade policies of successive NSW governments, these issues virtually assured the failure of the venture."

"The Iron Works, however, was the catalyst for the creation of the town of Mittagong. The first employees of the 1848 works lived in tents while the village of Nattai was established. Houses for workers had been constructed by 1852. The recorded employment of 70 men at the works in 1863 must have created additional demand for housing. This and ongoing difficulties in raising capital led directors to release land for sale in 1865. Lots sold from 10 pounds at a time when workmen's wages were 10 shillings a day."

"Ebenezer Vickery, Simon Zollner and other directors of the Iron Works Company had planned the creation of a model township in 1864. The name 'New Sheffield' was adopted for a town comprising quarter-acre lots set around a one-acre lot set aside for a Wesleyan church. The town was laid out with streets 20 metres wide and lanes of 10 metres width."

"This created a townscape very different from most country towns and strikingly different from the nearby government town of Welby or from the later much closer subdivision of Nattai between the Southern Road and the railway. By its presence the ironworks had ensured that a railway station was built at Mittagong in 1867 and it drew people to Mittagong for employment and trade."

"The Iron Works played, therefore, a critically important role in producing Mittagong's rather strange urban design."

This unique urban landscape was celebrated by Mittagong townspeople in 1948, the Iron Works centenary year. Next year residents are celebrating the 150th anniversary of the events that took place in 1865 - including the release of the New Sheffield sub-division that became the hub of today's Mittagong.

This article compiled by Phillip Morton is sourced from the archives of the Berrima District Historical & Family Society.

Phone 4872 2169  •  Bowral Road, Mittagong

bdhsarchives@gmail.com  •  berrimadistricthistoricalsociety.org.au