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HAWKESBURY HISTORY
with Michelle Nichols & Jonathan Auld
The sand and gravel industry
As a consequence of the alluvial flats of the Hawkesbury River system , it is no wonder gravel and sand extraction were identified as a key activity many years ago . Extraction of both commenced much earlier in the Penrith district , with the Emu Boulder Company established in the 1880s at Emu Plains .
After World War I , the improvement of infrastructure was markedly noticeable . Australia was determined to make economic changes and post-war development began . Civil construction boomed with new dams , bridges , roadways , tunnels and rail extensions on the drawing board . The use of reinforced concrete in both structures and road making after the war was more prevalent .
In the Hawkesbury , despite agitation for an extension to the Richmond rail service to Kurrajong , it was not given approval by the NSW Government until 1919 . The actual construction of the line commenced in 1923 with the service officially opening in 1926 .
Leading up to this , William Percival acquired a mining lease in 1924 , consisting of 85 acres , on the sandy island at Yarramundi Falls at the Nepean and Grose Rivers junction and established the Nepean Sand & Gravel Company Limited .
Percival , with his large family , moved to Clarendon Park on the outskirts of Richmond in the early 1900s where he successfully ran a dairy . Also on the board were representatives from James Hardie Limited and Concrete Constructions , both major shareholders .
Originally it was intended that an aerial ropeway or flying fox would be installed to connect the island to the processing plant , as opposed to a bridge which could be affected by flooding along the Hawkesbury . The company would then operate a private rail line which would later connect to the Kurrajong line .
There were teething issues for the company in the early stages including the supply of electricity . It was believed the company could get electricity supplies from the Hawkesbury Agricultural College ( now the Western Sydney University ), but after a commotion with Richmond Council and the college , the company eventually built their own powerhouse .
A low-level timber bridge officially opened at Yarramundi in 1925 which provided many benefits to the local community . It was also a stroke of luck for the company providing an advantageous thoroughfare .
Opening in 1925 , the site was always referred to as ‘ The Island ’ and was linked to ‘ The Depot ’ at the railway sidings just before the Richmond Bridge .
The sand and gravel were processed at the plant at The Depot then taken to Richmond via the Kurrajong rail line .
John Oakes , author of Sydney ’ s Forgotten Quarry Railways described The Island in the early days :
On The Island , sand from the quarry was loaded into two-foot gauge skips , and these were hauled by horses to the bins at the start of the aerial ropeway . Buckets hanging from a cable took the sand to The Depot , where large bins were erected to store sand and gravel . A conveyor belt took the stone from a receiving hopper to the top of a crushing plant . Screens sorted the crushed gravel into sizes to suit the customers . A weighbridge was located on one of the railway sidings , and a capstan was used to haul individual rail wagons under the bins for loading . The privately owned siding linked to the Richmond-Kurrajong line , and operated along a track diverging from the “ railway line along Kurrajong Road , Richmond and then ran along Yarramundi Lane and across the Yarramundi Bridge to the sand and gravel pit at Yarramundi ”.
Shareholders for the Nepean Sand and Gravel Company also included members of the company constructing the Sydney Harbour Bridge . Sand was sourced locally and used in the construction of the bridge , it was used to make concrete along with crushed granite and cement . Engineer Dr John Bradfield paid a visit to the site in 1925 to view what was on offer . The work on the City Circle rail line accounted for thousands of tons of blue metal and sand from Yarramundi .
As business expanded there were some sizeable acquisitions made by the company , including the purchase of two locomotives . When floodwaters damaged the flying fox ropeway in 1927 , investigations were made to replace it with something more efficient and a rail
Gravel bins , Nepean Sand & Gravel . Image : courtesy Australian Railway Historical Society collection , held by the University of Newcastle Special Collections .
line from the existing sidings to The Island , was built .
During the 1930s there were a large number of civil projects taking place in NSW . As well as the Harbour Bridge , other projects included Bunnerong Power Station , Woronora and Cataract Dams , and the underground rail line in Sydney .
Various trains serviced Nepean Sand and Gravel and the company also had a large stockpile of wagons adapted for the use of transferring gravel . Some of the well-known locomotives included ‘ Little Mary ’ ( scrapped in 1937 ) and ‘ Big Emma ’ ( decommissioned and then scrapped in 1952 ).
The company was fortunate to weather the 1930s Depression , but only just . They continued to use the railway line but road transport was also used . In 1946 the quarry manager arranged road transport when the railway department could not supply sufficient numbers of wagons .
From then on trucks became the preferred transport . The rail service to Kurrajong operated at a loss and closed in 1952 , the reason given was the damage from landslides .
In 1948 negotiations about a merger was
reported by directors of Nepean Sand and Gravel . The majority of shareholders approved the merger with NSW Associated Blue Metal Quarries Limited .
Two years later this company merged with Blue Metal Industries Limited . Managing director Mr J T McKern was with the company for over 25 years when he retired in 1949 . Long term employees Bill Tierney , Cecil Dews and Les Bickford had a combined service of just under 100 years with the company .
Extraction may have had a major impact on our waterways and environment including habitat degradation , alluvial deposits and erosion , but gainful employment was an advantage to many in the Hawkesbury district during the twentieth century .
Nepean Sand & Gravel , Yarramundi Quarry . Image : courtesy Australian Railway Historical Society collection , held by the University of Newcastle Special Collections .
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10 ISSUE 162 // NOVEMBER 2023 theindependentmagazine . com . au THE HAWKESBURY INDEPENDENT