Boyer Newsprint Mill - Engineering Heritage National Landmark #10 Boyer, Tasmania, Australia
By Team MavEtJu on 10-Oct-15. Waypoint GA7549

Boyer Newsprint Mill - Engineering Heritage National Landmark #10

Until 1941 Australia had imported its newsprint from those countries with an abundance of softwood, as the relatively long fibres were eminently suited for the manufacture of paper. Tasmania has a large resource of eucalypt timber which was considered unsuitable for making newsprint because of its hardness and shorter fibres. Finding a feasible method of using hardwood for newsprint presented a significant challenge.

After many years of experiments, a viable process was developed and that led to the establishment of the Australian Newsprint Mills Pty Ltd (ANM) in Tasmania. The government assigned a large forest concession to ANM for the long term supply of eucalypt timber. ANM was the first mill in the world to produce newsprint from eucalypt hardwood.

ANM also pioneered the use of high ash content Tasmania coal in large industry in Tasmania and transferred the technology to other Tasmania industries during World War II when there was a critical shortage of shipping to bring coal to Tasmania.

While the mill has been expanded on several occasions, and another mill has been established at Albury in New South Wales, this nomination focuses on the development of the manufacturing process, the original machinery at the Boyer site and the people who made it work.

Contents of the plaque:

BOYER NEWSPRINT MILL

Construction commenced in 1938 and the mill started operation in 1941, using 75% eucalyptus hardwood fibre and 25% imported softwood fibre. The company, Australian Newsprint Mills, was granted extensive hardwood forest concessions in the Styx and Florentine valleys. Logs were delivered by rail.

Rolls of newsprint were delivered initially by rail to the port of Hobart, then by barge down the river. It took 20 years of research to find a way of making newsprint from hardwood. The team was lead by Lou Benjamin who became general manager of the Mill. Fellow researcher John Somerville became Chief Chemist. Sir Keith Murdoch was Chairman of the company. Percy Sandwell, a Canadian Engineer, oversaw the design and construction of the Mill.

The Mill produced 20,000 tons of paper in the first year. A second machine was installed in 1952, increasing output to 80,000 tonnes/year. The third machine installed in 1969 raised the capacity to 170,000 tonnes/year. The output had reached 300,000 tonnes/year in 2009 when the use of hardwood fibre ceased, and newsprint was produced entirely from plantation softwood.

When logging this virtual, please add a photo of yourself or your GPSr at the plaque.

For more information, please see the nomination PDF at the Heritage Register at the Engineers Australia website: Nomination and report.