 The national broadcasting company and its affiliated stations present the pacific story this is the story of the pacific the drama of the millions of people who live around this greatest sea where the united states is now committed to a long-term policy of keeping the peace this is the background story of the events in the pacific and their meaning to us and to the generations to come australia's heavy industry and right button why not we can produce steel just as cheap as they can might be cheaper and look at our potential market hundreds of millions of customers in the pacific basin yes even in india africa south america in the middle east we've got the oil and the coal to do it and that's all we need and for good measure we've got two other important things spirit and enthusiasm dear dad for a long time now i've been wanting to write you this letter i've had plenty of time to see australia since i've been stationed here and what i found out i want you to know having grown up with the steel industry in america as you did i know you'll want to hear it in many ways the story of australian industry is like the story of american industry back in 1883 in the region of a ramshackle mining community called silverton and new south wales if all the silver that is mined out of their silver barrier will go like in california what's that grim looking hogback hill over yonder what's called broken hill strange looking ain't it so black and burnished nothing but vulgar scrub growing on it desolate thing most people around here haven't anything but contempt for old broken hill well i feel different about it how's that well you know besides boundary riding i do a little prospecting on the side i've been overall broken hill pretty thoroughly i believe that hills practically solid black oxide of tin tin hey that ought to be looked into well charles rasp and james pool did look into this hill of tin and soon afterwards rasp paid a visit to one george mcculloch manager of the sheep station for whom rasp worked i'm uh i'm resigning mr. mcculloch i'll please have my pay aren't this a wee bit sudden in your part trust oh yes i suppose there's i've got a good reason it's over me i'll now want to work on you wouldn't object to telling your old friend and employer now would you man oh i suppose not fact is i've staked out a claim on old broken hill broken hills right did you really broken hill what for what do you expect to find in that chunk of mullock tin mr mcculloch tin really now that's there all right quite a bit of it too james pool and david james are in with me we're gonna develop it but what we use you blokes of hardier father your name will somehow get the necessary finances maybe i can finance you tell me more about this well dad that night at the mount gypsy station the first broken hill company was formed the next day mcculloch and rasp staked out the remaining blocks on the hill did you hear the george mcculloch is putting money into that black burnished hill of mullock broken hill that's a good one he'll never get a hate me out but within a few short months the worthless hogback landmark in new south wales with its masses of lead and silver was to make insignificant by comparison the already prospering silver mines in the region and that infant organization the broken hill proprietary company limited was to become the synonym for australia's iron and steel industry one of the largest in the world about 25 years later in 1910 when the usefulness of the broken hill silver and lead mines was already in sight another very strange thing happened at a boarding meeting of the bhp as the broken hill proprietary company gentlemen as you all know for several years we have been seeking iron stone flux for our port perry smelters and toward this end we have acquired from the south australian government a lease over iron monarch and iron knob hills at this time i wish to present to you mr h l y brown government geologist who has an interesting report to make report is simply this gentleman it in surveying iron knob and iron monarch i have found hitherto unsuspected quantities of iron and manganic iron ore have an unusually high grade please please gentlemen let mr brown finish i am finished mr dawning except to say that i'd estimate the quantity of this or to be in the neighborhood of 21 million ton and gentlemen it isn't necessary for me to tell you that the importance of mr brown's discovery is something which has never been equaled in australia mr chairman i recommend that someone be appointed immediately to make an extended survey of iron and steel industries in great britain sweden and the united states and to ascertain if it would be feasible for australia to maintain such an industry all reports were favorable for an australian iron and steel industry and so bhp decided to go ahead with it for the job of supervising the planning erection of the first bhp plant we have selected an american mr david baker formerly a consulting engineer in philadelphia i present mr baker who will tell you about our plans first of all after deciding upon the best side for the industry we'll import from the united states an iron and steel plant we'll ship it here in pieces lock stock and barrel but here in australia dad has everywhere else there has been trouble between management and labor as early as 1892 the miners and the managers of the bhp you can't cut our wages down anymore we won't stand for it but when they reached out the other way there's a depression and our room prices are being forced down we won't stand for it we'll strike some of the leaders of the striking miners were thrown in jail hey you blocks read what the worker says in his editorial today members of the government who support the government after its action in regard to the broken hill miners deserve the contumely of every white worker from one end of australia to the other never was the issues clearer than at the present and woe behind the traitors every labor man who supports premier dibs while the government keeps these men in jail helps to rivet the fetters around his mates he is a dog on site meaner than the dirty scab who works in the barn the situation simmered for the next 20 years or so dad sometimes there were lockouts and management side sometimes there was rioting on labor's side in new south wail the upper house the legislative council where the conservatives had a majority was openly hostile to labor and the lower house the legislative assembly where the labor party had a majority was hostile to the upper house look here i'll be limiting to eight hours a day the time a man can work underground has been tossed out by the council what they voted it down yes booted it down or something must be done as fast as we enact built here in the assembly they knocked them down in the council yes they knocked down the early closing bills and the bill for a melka meeting up banks and making our money safe when is this going to stop it's not going to stop until we make it stop they even rejected the bill providing the tenants get a share in the value of the improvements they're making property we've still got an ace in the hole plank six that's right plank six of the labor platform state ownership of industry if we put this one through we'll be working for the state and that means working for ourselves not bhp then all these benefits will come to us anyway by 1911 the labor movement had grown into quite a political giant in australia particularly the industrial state of new south wales on the southeast coast and it appeared that plank six of the labor platform had a fair chance of going gentlemen of the board of directors as manager of vhp i cannot too much impressive on you the necessity of defeating this movement for state ownership of the iron and steel industry in australia mr del pratt it seems doubly unfortunate that such a thing would even be considered by the government at this time just when we're about to establish a private iron and steel industry quite right and furthermore i'm informed that the new south wales government not only has appointed an english expert mr fw paul to inquire into the possibilities of developing the iron and steel industry in new south wales but that mr paul has made a favorable report that is favorable for the government and labor unfavorable to bhp can you give us any details mr del pratt only this the royal commissioner mr paul was satisfied that in new south wales at katie alone there were deposits of ore in such immense quantities and of suitable quality as would warrant the capital outlay for the equipment of blast furnaces and an iron and steel works for manufacturing the whole of the iron and steel requirements of the commonwealth but could the state produce iron and steel at advantageously and the cheapest private enterprise did mr paul go into that he did he reported in that respect that existing agreements between private enterprise in the state were not beneficial to the state then bhp is already beaten we're beaten before we even erect our pound that's true we certainly can't erect plants in new south wales and compete with the government and new south wales is probably the best place to erect plants because of new castle curl on the other hand if we ship new castle curl to the smelters at port period in south australia well even then we can't compete in the market with the government what you say is perfectly true but considering the present menace to bhp of a state-owned enterprise at new castle then i would believe it would be better for us to um beard the lion in his den as it were and establish bhp plants at new castle right in new south wales just so what do you mean mr delpeth how do you propose to beard the state lion in his den i'm not sure it can be done but it's certainly worth a truck you see i have a plan that i'd like to very soon after this meeting mr delpratt wrote a letter to the government of new south wales in which he figuratively pointed the gun at the government and i'd like to know if the government would be inclined to give bhp an extended lease and government land in new castle and if we could count on the goodwill of the government to assist us in a friendly way to this letter i would appreciate a speedy reply as we have very little time to make our decisions spec for yours you're pretty smart gentleman that delpratt i must say you might be well aware of the present decline in the new castle curl industry and the count is so much michael and co being important and he's also aware of labor's grumbling to the government to do something about it and that the co-workers will welcome an iron and steel industry and new castle without the norm and let the bhp can establish a plan a lot quicker than the government because they'll have no right type to contend with and because bhp already has a head start with their plans and machinery well maybe you can guess what happened after that dad the new south wales government wrote a letter to mr delpratt and let me assure you that's any industry that may be established in the state of new south wales will receive encouragement and consideration from the government and we americans boast about what swell poker players we are but dad the poker party wasn't over yet having raked in one big pot k g mr delpratt started playing his cards for another in the form of what we americans would call a fat government contract meanwhile from labor's iron and steel faction if not from the coal miners the hue and cry swelled for a state-owned iron and steel enterprise the question was burned to a parliamentary select committee and mr delpratt was summoned to present his side of it this time his bluff was even better than before to begin with the state has no iron deposits and secondly i think that when the government carries out such works the cost is much more than if a private firm carries them out the fact that bhp is taking up this added new castle would not affect the state government and taking up another side mr delpratt no in the event of the state government starting an iron works would that interfere with the bhp not in the slightest would it not interfere with you in the market only in new south wales but that is only a small matter suppose the state catered for the federal government the state could never get a contract if we competed against them but in the event of the state getting it that would interfere with the material yes i suppose if the state got a federal contract it would mean so much less for us but there would be plenty of scope for bhp even after that how much of this mr delpratt himself believed is not quite clear but his testimony had a marked psychological effect on labor itself it seems that the state ownership plan was never so much formally abandoned as it was gradually forgotten by 1914 when the archduke burden has been assassinated this means war construction of the bhp steel and iron works at new castle had progressed so far that even the world confusion and consequent dislocation of shipping couldn't hold up the trade it's my great pleasure to tell you men that today the bhp has received a commendation from his majesty for our production of steel rails urgently needed for transporting the alive western front and a munition steel for the manufacture of shell body you said it might if it wasn't going to be hb plant a new castle australia will be without steel now and gentlemen of the board here is some more good news about bhp according to the latest figures and chiefly because of the high purity of our australian war we are now producing steel at less than half the cost of imported steel but dad if the first world war had favored bhp's new iron and steel plant now after the armistice with men i'm sorry to have to tell you this but overseas accumulations of iron and steel have now been loosed upon the commonwealth in huge quantities selling prices have fallen through overseas deflation and the lower cost of manufacture there's only one thing to do we must cut to the bone reduce output and reduce the employment of you men in our plant from 5500 to 840 then in 1923 because of adjustments of wages and cold costs things began to improve until 1930 and 1931 during the worldwide depression but the next three years reflected the returning confidence of the australian people i'm happy to announce to you men that the demand for steel products has again so increased that the bhp plant will resume normal operations again i must emphasize the fact that bhp and australian heavy industry are synonymous with a few minor exceptions bhp is australia's heavy industry these Aussies aren't so dumb back in 1937 they began to look about them at world affairs and particularly in asia i say the Japs aren't going to stop at a mere conquest of manchuria and china they want to carve out a whole empire in the eastern hemisphere perhaps even the world you mean you think they have designs in australia i do that is if we make it easy for them they'll grab whatever and as much as they can close their fists around they've already indicated well a very keen interest to say the least in our huge ore deposits in koolen and cockatoo islands up in yampy sound in the northwest oh what do you recommend we do to make it uh not so easy for them one of the japanese objectives in our commonwealth would be our heavy industry well naturally and if we should lose the newcastle area or if the operations of the plants there should be in any way impeded we'd be at sore lack to put up further resistance without steel it's true all of our iron and steel eggs are in one basket so to speak that's precisely my point i believe that the iron and steel industry should be more decentralized another great iron and steel works established in an entirely different locality well where do you propose such a site look at this map i'd say right here why particularly there yeah think you know why i guess you can see it right here on this map or in south australia yes at the top of spencer's gulf hmm yes you see near why ala there are the great iron knob ore fields yes that would minimize the shipping problem it would be almost as economical to ship coal from newcastle to why ala as why ala's order newcastle that's right and there's the matter of security that is a big factor located on the inner reaches of spencer's gulf by mines and other military defenses why ala could be made inaccessible to the japanese nation this is a great decision as you a steel man yourself can understand that we wrecked and operate so vast a piece of industrial apparatus has a blasphermis at the edge of what is almost a desert today in may 1941 as i look around me here where stands this great industrial enterprise on which but three years ago was desolation at budflats i repeat that we australian people have been most proud of this great contribution to the world's industry with our new iron and steel plant here at why ala then only a few months later on december 7th that same year the japanese began their long prepared smash southward and the aussies knew that their commonwealth was one of the japanese goals australian heavy industry particularly the plants at newcastle and why ala sprang to life and this great iron and steel industry gave birth to other industries i know that you men are not shipbuilding in fact i suppose some of you are farmers and sheet men but today we fight not only for australia but for freedom and the world and a lot of fighting is going to be done with ships are you willing to learn to build ships here in our warfare takes men to fly the planes but it takes a lot more men to build them and to build them takes a lot of learning the learning of highly technical jobs do you men think you have the patience to study and learn the job in the next few weeks we've got the double hour output of 25 pounder shells small shell bodies and treat the aircross cylinder assemblies do you think you can do it world war two transformed australia speeded up its industrial developments by 15 to 20 years almost overnight in the region of why ala they're sprang into being large machine shops blacksmiths forges electrical plants and shops boiler factory and shipyards under the slogan fight work or perish the aussies fell too with boundless enthusiasm industry heavy and light big and small spurred it ahead and toward the latter months of war when danger was passed i suppose the australian people couldn't help but look ahead to a post war commonwealth through rose colored glass we can do it the wars proved why we've got mass production established in industries that never even existed here before war think of it a country that never before built an automobile and we turned out thousands of tanks and armored cars and planes including the motors at 53 types of radios giant searchlights 75 types of ammunition and every main type of gun i'll say we can do it and now that the aussies have proved they can do it new days lie ahead probably difficult days but brighter days australian industry faces a brighter future than ever before the federal government has just put in hand the tremendous job of relaying the rails of all australian railroads 27 000 miles all the multiple gauges in the different states will be unified this will mean almost complete remaking of all australian railing stock and australian iron and steel will be used for the job the shipyards are being kept in production too yes and the aircraft factories open during the war have been guaranteed contracts to supply both combat and commercial aircraft for the empire soon australia will be making its own automobiles our big hope is in the markets which geographically should belong to us especially if the people who live in these places like the netherlands indies and india gets something like a fair share of the wealth of their countries the question is largely one of how quickly these countries recover from the effects of the war so the industrial future as it looks to me is bright the other day i talked with an australian journalist australia has a long way to go to real industrialization well how would you or or could you compare australia's progress with america's precise parallel they're impossible of course but roughly speaking i would estimate that six years ago just prior to the war australia was industrially advanced about as far as the united states was in 1860 that was quite a long time ago in american industrial history today we are probably at the stage where you were around the turn of the century that's progress we weren't any industrial midget then indeed not and relatively we are gaining compressing many aspects of the years well do you think you'll ever overtake oh i wouldn't make any such wild speculation as that it's interesting to observe that until very recently we were almost entirely what you once were before you became an industrial nation a primary producer our chief products were and still are wool butter farm produce hide and wheat this year we're aiming at 200 million bushels of wheat there is one other side to the picture that i've scarcely touched upon dad and it's in my opinion tremendously important this is the indomitable spirit and enthusiasm of the Aussies we can do it you bet we can we've got everything we need plenty of all left in south australia millions of more times up there on cockatoo island in northwest australia and another big confession 30 million times in new caldonia give us the people and we'll find the market for our good so you see dad it's full steam ahead for australia and that's the reason i'm going to stay here and work out my destiny in the industry of australia as you worked out your destiny in america i want to work out mine here i know you'll understand all the best to you your loving son joe you have been listening to the pacific story presented by the national broadcasting company and a affiliated independent station to clarify events in the pacific and to make understandable the cross currents of life in the pacific basin for a reprint of this pacific story program send 10 cents in stamps or coin to university of california press berkeley california may i repeat for a reprint of this pacific story program send 10 cents in stamps or coin to university of california press berkeley california the pacific story is produced and directed by arnold marquess the original musical score was composed and conducted by thomas paluso the role of joe was played by hank macune programs in this series of particular interest to servicemen and women are broadcast overseas to the worldwide facilities of the armed forces radio service this is nbc the national broadcasting company