Publisher's Synopsis
Australia's age of iron started in the 1840s when the first attempts were made to reduce Australia's dependence on Britain for imported iron. Australian iron ore was abundant and of good quality, and the technology was adequate, but Australian iron had difficulty in competing with cheaper imports. This book analyses the efforts made to smelt iron from native ores, and examines in detail the physical remains of those pioneering ventures, in New South Wales (the Fitzroy Iron Works near Mittagong, the first modern blast furnaces at Lithgow and the "forgotten" furnace of Bogolong), Tasmania (near the Tamar), Victoria (the Lal Lal furnace near Ballarat), and South Australia (Mount Jagged). It is based on a decade of archival research and fieldwork and brings together little-known source material placed in broad historical context.;The book has been written with the general public in mind and should appeal to anybody with an interest in Australian history and industrial archaeology. It is sufficiently detailed to be of use to specialists and teachers at both secondary and tertiary levels.
