APM Plaque at Southbank, Melbourne
( Source: AMCOR Website )
But . . . we have not done a very good job recognising our heritage. I think we can do better in this area. Our cover this month shows a collage of scenes depicting the 'then and now' of New Zealand's industry. My interest in this was sparked on a recent holiday in my hometown, Dunedin in the South Island when I learnt more about New Zealand's first papermill. Woodhaugh is a flat area in the beautiful wooded Leith Valley. Leith Stream flows down the steep sided valley and in the 1870's Edward McGlashan chose this site for his papermill. The Central Government and the Otago Provincial Government wanted to promote industrial development and so provided incentives of £1,500 each for the first to produce and sell 50 tons of paper. Two men took up the challenge - James Bain in Southland, who set up the Mataura Falls Paper Mill Company, and Edward McGlashan. The story is a fascinating account of competition, perseverance and struggle. The Otago Paper Mills Company at Woodhaugh started up on 1 May 1876 making coarse brown wrapping paper. The Mataura mill followed at the end of June that year. Production increased at both mills, which amalgamated in 1905 and a greater range of products was manufactured. However, high production costs and severe import competition caused the Board of Directors to close the Woodhaugh mill in 1936 and concentrate all production at Mataura.
The sad thing to me is that there is nothing tangible to recognise this pioneering effort by McGlashan and to recognise the beginnings of the New Zealand industry.
What about Australia? Well Kiwi readers, I have to tell you that the Australians beat us. Papermaking started in Australia in 1818 with hand made paper being produced. The first commercial machine paper was made in 1868 at the Australian Paper Company mill in Liverpool, New South Wales and at Ramsden's mill in Melbourne. Ramsden's mill was opposite Flinders Street Station, where Southbank now is. It later became the APM Melbourne Mill and the first head office for APM. Ian Dench tells me if you sit in Walters Wine Bar you are close to where the headbox of No. 2 Machine stood. The "Evening Star" was printed on the first hundred sheets of paper from the mill on 4 May 1868. The main product was wrapping paper but newsprint, fine writings and coloured papers were made using old rags, sacks and recycled paper. The mill ceased production in 1968 after a century of papermaking on the site. There is nothing along the Yarra site today to show where Samuel Ramsden began papermaking in Australia in 1868.
What is there today to recognise the birthplace of our industry? The sad fact is - very little. I would like to have some form of recognition for our heritage in Australia and New Zealand. Our industry is a major player in the economy of both countries and it seems appropriate that Appita initiates some recognition of our beginnings. Perhaps this could best be done in tandem with local councils and heritage organisations. Let me know what you think about this. And how you feel we can best recognise our Proud Papermaking Heritage.
Tony Johnson, President.
( CAppital Letter, 2003 )
Source:
APPITA Journal Vol. 57, No. 1 (APPITA, Carlton, Vic., 2003)
I would like to touch on my pet topic - our heritage - which I spoke about at the New Zealand One-Day Conference last year. We are very good at acknowledging our people, including recognition of Ron Bain, through this year's Oertel Nadebaum Award. We also have our 25 and 40 year Membership Certificates, our Young Speaker's Contest, and our awards. While we have many mechanisms to recognise our people and we do that quite well, we do a very mediocre job recognising our heritage and where our industry came from.
In Victoria, Australia, the first mill struggled into existence on the banks of the Yarra and started up in 1868. There was an earlier mill in Australia, but Samuel Ramsden's South Melbourne mill continued to operate and grow as the forerunner of what became Amcor. The mill initially made coarse board grades and was beset by many difficulties, including a major flood of the Yarra River in 1891. When you go walking around today, there is no sign at all of our proud beginnings. I walked up and down Southbank and could find no evidence at all of the fact that this was a site of the birth of Australia's papermaking. Walter's Wine Bar may contain memories ( Ian Dench says this is where the No. 2 paper machine headbox was located ) but there is no evidence that there was a paper industry started here.
In New Zealand the paper mills came along about 10 years later. There was a Provincial Government incentive of £1,500 and a further £1,500 Central Government bonus for the first mill to produce and sell 50 tons of paper sparking strong competition between Edward McGlashan in Dunedin and James Bain further south in Mataura. They both managed to start up a mill, but McGlashan ( in 1878 ) was first by about 6 months.
McGlashan's mill made a similar product to Ramsden in Melbourne - a coarse board grade that was used for wrapping and shopping bags. A converting plant was later added on the site. I went looking for it because I am from Dunedin and have a particular interest. I lived there all my life and never knew about the paper mill up the Leith Stream. When you look in the valley now there is no sign whatsoever that there was ever a paper mill there. Nothing! So I think we have a duty to recognise our heritage a little better and maybe try to lift the profile of the industry in the communities we live in. A challenge for Section Committees!
Tony Johnson, President.
( Presidential Address to Appita 58th Annual General Meeting, Canberra, 20 April 2004. )
Source:
APPITA Journal Vol. 57, No. 3 (APPITA, Carlton, Vic., 2004)
Note: A plaque was placed on the site of Ramsden's Paper Mill some years ago but was removed during renovations and has not been replaced.
APM Plaque at Southbank, Melbourne
( Source: AMCOR Website )