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| Industry | Construction |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1882 |
| Headquarters | |
Area served | Australia |
| Revenue | $1.5 billion (2020) |
| $148 million (2020) | |
| $95 million (2020) | |
| Website | www |
Adbri, formerlyAdelaide Brighton Cement, is an Australian manufacturer ofcement,lime and dry blended products.
Adbri operates manufacturing and distribution facilities inSouth Australia, theNorthern Territory, andNew South Wales. Associated brands and companies include Cockburn Cement, Sunstate Cement, Northern Cement, Independent Cement & Lime, and Building Product Supplies. The company's Geelong Cement works, atFyansford, was closed in 2001.[1]
The company delisted from theAustralian Securities Exchange in 2024 followingCRH becoming a majority shareholder in the company.
William Lewis, aWelsh immigrant, establishedlime kilns in 1880 on an allotment near the corner ofBrighton and Shoreham Roads,Adelaide,South Australia. Several kilometres south, what is nowMarino toReynella andHallett Cove, were richlimestone deposits. The rocks formed part of the greatPrecambrian limestone formations known geologically as the Brighton Series.
Two years later, Lewis built a larger kiln, closer to the limestone deposits, fifteen feet square and twenty feet high. So began the Brighton Cement Works, which were officially opened on 12 December 1882. There was a bright future for the production of local cement, as at that time, South Australia was importing 8,000 tons ofportland cement a year.
But the promising start soon faded, with Lewis closing the works in 1883 due to poor sales, attributed to the local product being too expensive and not as good quality as the imported cement.
However, other colonists took up the challenge.Brompton brickmaker, William Shearing became involved. Some years later, asyndicate includingJohn Howard Angas andSimpson Newland bought the Works. In 1896, quality of the local cement appeared solid, with the product being used in the construction of theHappy Valley Reservoir. By 1900 the company had 813 acres (3.29 km2) and were selling over 3,500 tons a year. A major setback occurred on 7 November 1909, when the works were consumed by fire.
Carting rock and coal was a significant task, with horse anddray being a familiar sight. In 1913, the company owned 74 horses. Stablehands began at 4 am with grooming and feeding. Drivers were ready at 6:45 am for the11+1⁄2 hour trip from the Works to the city carrying cement, returning via Bromptom, wherecoke was loaded. Horse-drawn trolleys were also used to cart additional stone from the Reynella quarries[2][3][4][5] to the Reynella railway station, to be freighted to the Marino site by rail. Eventually the Reynella horses were replaced by theFlying Fox.[6] This labour-saving aerial ropeway became somewhat of a tourist attraction.
The Brighton Cement works moved toAngaston in the 1950s. Brighton Cement merged with Adelaide Cement Company to become Adelaide Brighton Cement in the 1970s.
