Fake History

Perhaps you remember the blog I posted over a year ago: “When Wiki Got It Wrong – But How Wrong?”

Between then and now I’ve discovered it can take a long time and a lot of energy to redress just one small error in a Wikipedia article. The Wiki article was titled “Sydney Harbour Bridge” and it said that Railton Tasmania supplied the cement for our iconic bridge. AussieLegend wrote the information and he was quite sure he was right. After all, he gave a trustworthy source – The Companion to Tasmanian History, produced by the University of Tasmania.

Did most of you, like me, always believe the cement came from Kandos? I have certainly found plenty of supporting evidence, including newspaper articles, advertisements, the Bridge Pylon Lookout Museum website, a publication produced by the Historic Houses Trust of NSW called Bridging Sydney, and the official Sydney Harbour Bridge Souvenir produced for the opening of the bridge in 1932.

I re-edited the Wiki article to show, with evidence, that Kandos supplied the cement. AussieLegend wasn’t having a bar of it. He re-edited showing Railton and Kandos provided the cement. Wiki was more complex than I thought. I identified myself with a profile page on Wiki but AussieLegend wasn’t engaging.

There were indeed a few things muddying the waters beneath the bridge. First, was the entry on Railton in The Companion to Tasmanian History. It stated that the cement company at Railton “contracted to supply cement for the Sydney Harbour Bridge contract”. Then there was an article in the Launceston Examiner 26/7/1928 which stated “the product of the works [at Railton] is being used in the construction of Sydney Harbour Bridge”. And finally there were four articles which mentioned that there was a contract between the owners of the Railton cement industry and the contractors building the bridge, a contract to supply cement for the bridge.

I had to accept that Kandos had to share the honour with Railton or prove that Railton did not in fact provide any cement. As Professor Bob pointed out, it’s difficult to prove a negative. Further research was needed.

Over the next few months I searched. More publications in the State Library only confirmed Kandos. The Kentish Museum at Sheffield near Railton had no information, though they referred me to Wikipedia. Cement Australia at Railton wasn’t prepared to open their archives. Sam Vellenoweth, former manager at Kandos, couldn’t be located. Sydney and North Sydney historians could offer me nothing further. Nor could NSW State Archives. Everything still pointed to Kandos. Except for those questionable sources above.

I went back to the contract. In 1924, the year that Dorman Long & Co secured the contract to build the harbour bridge, they entered into a contract with Tasmanian Cement Pty Ltd at Railton for it to supply the cement for the bridge. Eventually Dorman Long bought the cement company. Its Director of Construction of the bridge was Lawrence Ennis who also became a director of Tasmanian Cement and their spokesperson. He was confident that soon the quality of the cement would meet the requirements of chief engineer Bradfield for construction of the bridge. In 1928 Tasmanian Cement was reformed as Goliath Cement Company. Again it was in the hands of Dorman Long with Lawrence Ennis as a director. There was further investment and further optimism that the quality of the cement would be acceptable. In the meantime the Mudgee Guardian reported 19/5/1930 “Kandos cement has stood up to the severest tests and the considered opinion of engineers is that it is second to none”.

In July 1929 Ennis admitted “Railton cement is not used in the Sydney Harbour Bridge”. Furthermore, when Ennis wrote his booklet Bond of Empire: Story of Construction of Bridge for the opening of the bridge, he listed on page 48 where all materials for construction came from – “cement – Kandos Cement Company Ltd”.

I have no doubt Dorman Long and Lawrence Ennis hoped their investment in the cement company at Railton would pay off, but it did not. The single article (Launceston Examiner) doesn’t stand up on its own. I went back to The Companion to Tasmanian History and presented them with the evidence.

You will be pleased to know that the sentence in the online version of The Companion has been deleted. As editor Alison pointed out, the entry didn’t actually say Railton provided cement for the bridge, only that there had been a contract. It was AussieLegend who made the leap. The sentence in Wiki stands: The concrete used was also Australian-made and supplied from Kandos, New South Wales.^{[26][27][28][29]}

Sigh of relief! We can confidently continue to brand Kandos as the town that supplied the cement for Sydney Harbour Bridge.

There is an addendum however. On revisiting the Kentish Museum website, I discovered this:
The Goliath Portland Cement Company at Railton started its journey in the 1920’s. Throughout its history, the company has produced the highest quality cement available in the world. This cement has been used in both large and small building projects within Australia, including Sydney Harbour Bridge.

As you can see fake history like fake news is likely to spread and be believed.

The featured image of the Kandos cement works in production was captured by the author c2008.

A-Z of Kandos Management who helped produce the cement for Sydney Harbour Bridge 1924-1932

Anderson, W J – furnace captain and then pay clerk
Cashman, Miss – tracer
Davis, Pat – smelter foreman
Fink, Christopher – secretary; chief clerk in office
Fisher, Charlie – ‘engineer’ come fitter and turner
Ford, Joseph Francis – blacksmith at the quarry
Gallagher, Miss – office machine operator
Glass, A – draftsman
Hall, E K – quarry manager
Hayward, R – junior clerk and boy in fitting shop
Hiscox, H W – chemist
Jarvis, Charles – bookkeeper  
Jones, C H – chemist
Kirkness, C M F – electrical engineer 
Kneeshaw, F P – electrical engineer
Lofthouse, T A – electrical engineer
McTaggert, M I (Ian) – metallurgist
Newman, T – stores clerk
Plenty, W – storeman
Rail, W M – chemist
Robertson, N C – draftsman
Russell, John – engineer
Sewell, Len – assistant chemist
Schroder, W H (Harold) – metallurgist; chief chemist; superintendent
Schroder, E M (Bob) – engineer
Stephinson, W H (Bill) – chief engineer
Teasdale, J W – manager coal mine
Turner, A E – chief chemist
Turner, M R – surveyor
Villegard, Frank – carpenter and concreter

From a paper provided by Bruce Fleming Rylstone – source unknown