Story: Manufacturing – an overview

Wilson’s Cement works at Warkworth, shown here in 1902, was set up in 1886. At the back of the complex are kilns, built between 1895 and 1899. Wilson’s was the first commercial manufacturer of cement in New Zealand, and the company did well. Despite a series of mergers and takeovers, Wilson’s continued to trade under that name until 1988, when it became known as Golden Bay Cement, after a small plant at Golden Bay, Nelson. In the early 2000s it was part of the Fletcher Challenge group.
Using this item
Reference: 1/2-071393-F
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.
How to cite this page
Ian Hunter, Manufacturing – an overview – Manufacturing boom, 1880s and 1890s, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/25102/cement-works (accessed 27 October 2025).
Story by Ian Hunter, published 14 April 2010.