In 1943, the state government chose Wundowie as the site for a new iron processing plant. The area was picked because it had a local supply of limonitic ore, plenty of timber from nearby forests (even if it was low in quality) and was well positioned near both the Goldfields Water Supply pipeline and the east-west railway line.

 

It soon became clear that the ore was not suitable for large-scale iron production. Limonite is a hydrated iron oxide, usually yellow-brown in colour and although it has been used for iron-making since ancient times, its variable composition and relatively low iron content made it inefficient for modern blast furnace operations. As a result, higher-grade hematite ore had to be hauled in from Koolyanobbing in the Yilgarn region, adding cost and complexity to the operation.

 

Early days

Known officially as the Wundowie Charcoal Iron and Wood Distillation Plant, the facility was unlike anything previously attempted in Western Australia. It was the state’s first iron-processing operation and the birthplace of WA’s iron ore industry.

 

Construction began in the mid-1940s and the official opening took place on 15 April 1948, with production of pig iron commencing in the same year. Pig iron is the raw product of a blast furnace, later refined into cast iron or steel. The Wundowie plant relied on charcoal rather than coke, using timber from nearby forests to fuel its blast furnaces. Alongside iron production, the site also included a wood distillation refinery, which extracted chemicals such as methanol and charcoal by-products from timber.

 

At its peak, the complex included:

• two blast furnaces

• metal foundry

• sawmill​

• charcoal retorts

• power station

• wood distillation refinery

 

To support the workforce, a planned garden town was built nearby. Wundowie was purpose-designed to house plant workers and their families and was located about 65 kilometres east of Perth, roughly 30 kilometres west of Northam. At its peak, the town’s population exceeded 1,100 people, while the plant itself employed more than 400 workers.

 

Expansion and losses

Despite its scale and ambition, the operation struggled financially almost from the start. Demand for iron products was high but production costs were higher. In an attempt to improve output, the plant was expanded in 1955 with a second blast furnace and additional supporting infrastructure.

 

Management of the site shifted over time. From 1966, the plant was privately managed by Australian National Industries (ANI) and workers became its employees. ANI was established in Sydney in 1911 as a motor vehicle business before growing into one of Australia’s largest heavy engineering and manufacturing conglomerates, with interests in metals, rail and structural steel.

 

Even with new management, iron production continued to remain unprofitable at the Wundowie plant. The state government made several unsuccessful attempts to sell the operation before finally divesting it in 1974.

 

Agnew Clough

In 1974, the plant was sold to Agnew Clough Limited, a Western Australian resources and industrial company formed in 1970 through the merger of Sir Garrick Agnew’s mining interests and Clough Holdings. Under Agnew Clough, parts of the operation were modernised but major changes followed.

 

The wood distillation refinery was shut down and new forest conservation laws eventually forced the closure of the sawmill, undermining the charcoal-based model the plant relied upon. In an effort to swing things around, Agnew Clough constructed a vanadium pentoxide plant on the site in 1980.

 

Vanadium is a hard, silver-grey metal used primarily to strengthen steel and is critical in high-performance alloys, aerospace components and modern energy storage systems. Initially, the vanadium operation showed promise and produced a product that was relatively easy to sell. However, following a global collapse in vanadium prices, combined with serious production issues, the plant closed down in 1982.

 

The Foundry Carries On

Although the main ironworks closed, the foundry managed to survive. It continued operating under a number of different owners before being acquired by the Clough Group in 1990 and become the Wundowie Foundry Pty Ltd. In 2006, the foundry was sold to Bradken for $8 million. A Notice of Proposed Deregistration – Voluntary was published on the ASIC website for the Wundowie Foundry Pty Ltd on 12 May 2023.