The influence of gold-mining on the development of engineering manufacturing in Victoria during the 19th century

© 1988 Matthew Spencer ChurchwardThis thesis is a study of how gold-mining contributed to the growth of Victoria's engineering industry prior to 1900. It examines how the demand for the repair and manufacture of mining machinery encouraged local engineering firms to improve their expertise and reputation and to increase their productive capacity. It is argued that the demand for gold-mining machinery provided not only the main initial stimulus for the establishment of the industry during the 1850's and 1860's, but also that it was an important ongoing influence in the later decades of the 19th century, particularly in the non-metropolitan region of Victoria. In the course of this study, extensive use was made of several statistical sources, principally the Statistical Registers of Victoria (for a record of manufacturing establishments and import and export trade), and the Mining Surveyors & Registrars' Statistics (for a record of the quantity of mining machinery employed on the various goldfields). The picture gained from these statistical sources is extended and filled in with descriptive information from newspapers and mining reports which provide a better indication of the effect of technological developments, personal enterprise, and the associations which developed between gold-mining companies and local engineering firms. Ballarat, Castlemaine and Bendigo are identified as the three most important centres in Victoria for the manufacture of mining machinery prior to 1900. However, it is also recognised that a number of important manufacturers existed in Melbourne, and in some smaller country towns such as Clunes, Stawell, Maryborough and Geelong. It is argued that the success of firms in Ballarat, Castlemaine and Bendigo can be largely explained by two factors: the size and continuity of local demand; and the central location of these towns, which minimised the cost of railway freight but still provided convenient access to most of the Victorian goldfields. A discussion of factors such as cost competitiveness, technical innovation, and specialisation of reputation, helps to explain why Victorian firms, both in these towns and elsewhere, came to dominate the supply of mining machinery throughout Victoria by 1900. In the later sections of the thesis, an examination of diversification and the development of export markets explains how the Victorian heavy engineering industry was able to cope with a gradual decline in the demand for mining machinery on many Victorian goldfields after 1875