Adelaide. Finsbury World War Two ammunitions site. This glavanised iron saw tooth factory became the ROH wheels factory around 1946. Now not a factory only a warehouse for imported tyres..
Finsbury ammunitions works and later industries.
Following the British retreat from Dunkirk in 1940 the Commonwealth government decided that ammunitions production would be decentralised and away from the eastern seaboard. Lithgow was one site and Finsbury/Hendon in Adelaide another site. The Finsbury ammunition factory was set up ready for production in February 1941 on a 50 hectare/123 acre site. It comprised twenty major buildings and many smaller ones that made the metal castings etc for ammunitions but no explosives. Around 4,000 people worked at Finsbury factory during world war Two. The metal castings and arms cases were railed to Penfield by the new spur line from Woodville to Finsbury and the other spur line from Albert Park into Hendon. As late as 1971 there were seven or eight trains a day from Adelaide to Finsbury. That railway station line closed in 1979 and is now the site occupied by Al Khalil Mosque and Islamic cemetery. Immediately after World War Two the Hendon and Finsbury works were closed and the buildings sold off to a range of industrial companies. The first company to take up the former ammunitions buildings was Vactric Electrical appliances which made vacuum cleaners and was later called Electrolux. They were eventually owned by Pope Industries which merged with Simpsons. Across at Hendon the first firm to take over the ammunitions works in 1946 was Philips Electrical Industries Australia which made many items from radios and transistor radios to televisions. Philips eventually took over much of the Finsbury site as well. Other companies at Finsbury made baths, refrigerators, car parts etc. Firestone Rubber Company was another early major occupier of the Finsbury site. Other companies at Finsbury included Chrysler (now gone), International Harvester, Kelvinator, Rubery Owen & Kemsley, Simpson Pope, Tecalemit and Texas Instruments. Some of these companies were still located here recently including - Clyde-Apac (air filtration systems), ROH Wheels Australia (no local production now a warehouse for imported tyres only) and Tecalemit Australasia (lubrication equipment). Tecalemit have recently moved to Cavan.
The Commonwealth government kept the two storey red brick administration offices and some other buildings for use from 1946 for the Department of Supply’s Defence Research Laboratories which were became the Materials Research Laboratories and finally the CSIRO. From the 1940s the government scientific laboratories here carried out metallurgical investigations, X-ray and radium examination of castings etc. and pyrometric calibrations and a general technical information service for industry and government. It closed 2007 and was sold to Ngutu College. This suburb is now called Woodville North.
2 Leeds Crescent was the casualty/infirmary building. Single story date palms in front of it. Used by Ken Metcalfe, Bob Wright & team to develop xerography in 1950s, using liquid developers to copy documents.
4 Leeds Crescent the staff mess building and laboratories. This building became the Defence Research Laboratory after the War and the CSIRO laboratories. Now to be used by Ngutu School.
Adelaide. Finsbury World War Two ammunitions site. This glavanised iron saw tooth factory became the ROH wheels factory around 1946. Now not a factory only a warehouse for imported tyres..
Finsbury ammunitions works and later industries.
Following the British retreat from Dunkirk in 1940 the Commonwealth government decided that ammunitions production would be decentralised and away from the eastern seaboard. Lithgow was one site and Finsbury/Hendon in Adelaide another site. The Finsbury ammunition factory was set up ready for production in February 1941 on a 50 hectare/123 acre site. It comprised twenty major buildings and many smaller ones that made the metal castings etc for ammunitions but no explosives. Around 4,000 people worked at Finsbury factory during world war Two. The metal castings and arms cases were railed to Penfield by the new spur line from Woodville to Finsbury and the other spur line from Albert Park into Hendon. As late as 1971 there were seven or eight trains a day from Adelaide to Finsbury. That railway station line closed in 1979 and is now the site occupied by Al Khalil Mosque and Islamic cemetery. Immediately after World War Two the Hendon and Finsbury works were closed and the buildings sold off to a range of industrial companies. The first company to take up the former ammunitions buildings was Vactric Electrical appliances which made vacuum cleaners and was later called Electrolux. They were eventually owned by Pope Industries which merged with Simpsons. Across at Hendon the first firm to take over the ammunitions works in 1946 was Philips Electrical Industries Australia which made many items from radios and transistor radios to televisions. Philips eventually took over much of the Finsbury site as well. Other companies at Finsbury made baths, refrigerators, car parts etc. Firestone Rubber Company was another early major occupier of the Finsbury site. Other companies at Finsbury included Chrysler (now gone), International Harvester, Kelvinator, Rubery Owen & Kemsley, Simpson Pope, Tecalemit and Texas Instruments. Some of these companies were still located here recently including - Clyde-Apac (air filtration systems), ROH Wheels Australia (no local production now a warehouse for imported tyres only) and Tecalemit Australasia (lubrication equipment). Tecalemit have recently moved to Cavan.
The Commonwealth government kept the two storey red brick administration offices and some other buildings for use from 1946 for the Department of Supply’s Defence Research Laboratories which were became the Materials Research Laboratories and finally the CSIRO. From the 1940s the government scientific laboratories here carried out metallurgical investigations, X-ray and radium examination of castings etc. and pyrometric calibrations and a general technical information service for industry and government. It closed 2007 and was sold to Ngutu College. This suburb is now called Woodville North.
2 Leeds Crescent was the casualty/infirmary building. Single story date palms in front of it. Used by Ken Metcalfe, Bob Wright & team to develop xerography in 1950s, using liquid developers to copy documents.
4 Leeds Crescent the staff mess building and laboratories. This building became the Defence Research Laboratory after the War and the CSIRO laboratories. Now to be used by Ngutu School.