Company to mark 100 years of sugar production

Press, 16 August 1984, Page 14

Company to mark 100 years of sugar production

The New Zealand Sugar Company will celebrate its centenary next month. Production started at the Chelsea refinery on the shores of Waitemata harbour, Birkenhead, Auckland, in September, 1884. At that time, it was producing 150 tons a week. Before 1884, New Zealand imported all the sugar it used, most from the Colonial Sugar Refinery in Melbourne. By the 1880 s the growth rate in both New Zealand and Victoria threatened to surpass the capacity of the refinery. The development of the Fijian sugar plant made refining sugar in New Zealand a commercially viable prospect. The continued interest of local businessmen meant that the construction of a company was possible. The New Zealand Government then offered a prize for the first sugar refined in the country. A trans-Tasman company was formed between three partners. These were the Colonial Sugar Refinery Company, of Sydney, the Victoria Sugar Company, and a group of Auckland businessmen.

The Colonial Sugar Refinery was the largest company in Australia and the New Zealand Sugar Company was the third company in which it had an interest. The others were in Sydney and Melbourne, and were the only refineries in the southern hemisphere at the time.

The Victoria Sugar ComK functioned in Melse and was largely owned by the Colonial refin-

ery. The Auckland businessmen included such persons as J. C. Firth, Sir Frederick Whitaker, L. D. Nathan, W. S. Wilson, A. G. Horton, and Thomas Russell. For these men sugar refining was just one of many investments in the 1880 s. In 1887 and 1888, the New Zealand Sugar Company and the Victoria Sugar Company amalgamated (with the Colonial Sugar Refinery. Next month’s centenary celebrates 100 years of sugar production at Chelsea, which was originally known as Wawaroa. When the site was settled by Europeans, ’the name was changed to Duck Creek.

The site was chosen for three reasons: it had a good supply of fresh water, the land could be levelled, and it had deep water adjacent to it which would permit deep-water ships to unload. All this was within four miles of the city. The name, Chelsea, was given by a customs officer at the refinery because he saw resemblances between Duck Creek and his native Chelsea.

The refinery was built from 1.5 million bricks made from the clay spoil created when the site was levelled. The same bricks are there today. The refinery was built by Mr James Muir, an engineering with the Colonial Sugar Refinery, and 150 men. It took 18 months to complete. A village for the workers containing 30 cottages, a church, a store, a reading room, and a school were also built by the company. Until then many workers had lived in a tent town on the foreshore. At that time the population at the Chelsea village was well over 150 while the population of Birkenhead was under 500.

In 1905, the cottages were declared unsanitary and many were demolished. Some still Stand today. More cottages’ were built in 1909 and after that workers were offered housing loans with repayments over 25 years.

Today the Chelsea refinery is still the only one in New Zealand and produces 4000 tonnes of products a week. This includes white sugar, brown sugar, coffee crystals, castor sugar, treacle, golden syrup, molasses, and industrial products. Raw sugar for the consumer is brought in from Fiji and repacked. Raw sugar is supplied to New Zealand from _ Fiji, Queensland, Java, Thailand, and Cuba. The refinery now employs more than 350 people. To celebrate "the centenary, the company will release a new pack of golden Syrup on August 20. The pack will feature a logo based on the Centennial masthead design. Other products will be a collectors’ 2kg canister pack of white sugar and an apron with the centennial design, each of which will be a limited offer.

The company will also be having an employee dinner in September and an open day at the refinery in February.

It has also sponsored a photography exhibition. Five photographers have been commissioned to produce a series of images of the refinery for an exhibition which will be shown at the Auckland City Art Gallery. The exhibition will then tour most of New Zealand’s art galleries.