Colonial Ammunition Company
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The Colonial Ammunition Company (CAC) was an
ammunition Ammunition, also known as ammo, is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. The term includes both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines), and the component parts of oth ...
manufacturer in
Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...
, New Zealand. Its predecessor, Whitney & Sons, was established by John Whitney with government encouragement in 1885 during the Russian Scare. Whitney later recruited investors to expand his factory in 1888. The other shareholders were Messrs Greenwood and Batley, of Leeds (owners of the Greenwood & Batley cartridge company); T. Hall, Esq., of Mount Morgan; J. D' Arcey, Esq.; Captain de Lusada, R.N.; J. Clarke, Esq.; and T.Y. Cartwright of Notts. They formed the Colonial Ammunition Company, the first ordnance manufacturer in
Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...
. Components were made in New Zealand and Australia, shipped to England, and then assembled at the Greenwood & Batley plant in Leeds. The finished cartridges were then shipped back to Australia and New Zealand for sale. It later expanded in other business directions from 1925 on. In the Second World War, it was New Zealand's only industrial manufacturer of ammunition (having temporarily increased its workforce from 230 to 900), with production in countries like Australia having long since overtaken the small size of the New Zealand market for ammunition.


History

Major John Whitney John Whitney (27 June 1836–6 September 1932) was a New Zealand industrialist, who established the Colonial Ammunition Company. Born in England, he served as an officer in the British Army for several years, mainly in Ireland. In 1884 he and his ...
established an ammunition company with
gunsmith A gunsmith is a person who repairs, modifies, designs, or builds guns. The occupation differs from an armorer, who usually replaces only worn parts in standard firearms. Gunsmiths do modifications and changes to a firearm that may require a very ...
William Hazard; however, the business failed and Whitney was left in debt. Whitney then established his own company Whitney & Sons the same year. This business was based on a site on the slopes of
Mount Eden Mount Eden is a suburb in Auckland, New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Z ...
and was the first factory producing munitions in
Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...
. The business was successful and was rebranded into the Colonial Ammunition Company in 1888. The building initially employed
children A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...
but this was outlawed by the Factories Act 1891, Whitney hired mostly women after this. The Colonial Ammunition Company first branched out of munitions production in 1925 when it started producing crown seal bottle tops. In the 1950s it had started production of cosmetic products and aluminium foils. Further increasing the diversification of products were the acquisition of RodField Woollens in 1954 and Meredith Bros in 1961. In June 1942, some ammunition manufacturing had been transferred to
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...
. This production returned to Mount Eden after the end of the war. During the 1960s the company was acquired by Holeproof Industries who sold it to the
Imperial Chemical Industries Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British Chemical industry, chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. Its headquarters were at Millbank in London. ICI was listed on the London Stock Exchange ...
in 1965. It finally closed in 1982. Two buildings from the Colonial Ammunition Company remain, these are a bluestone building at 26 Normanby Road and the Colonial Ammunition Company office at 49 Normanby Road. The latter has a category I registration with Heritage New Zealand.


Shot Tower

The company built a rare steel-frame
shot tower A shot tower is a tower designed for the production of small-diameter shot balls by free fall of molten lead, which is then caught in a water basin. The shot is primarily used for projectiles in shotguns, and for ballast, radiation shielding, ...
with a 30-metre drop in 1914 for the creation of lead pellets. Used in the
shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, peppergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which discharges numerous small ...
shells of New Zealand hunters, they had previously been imported, mainly from the United Kingdom. The tower was erected by local blacksmiths W. Wilson and Company, and initially operated by Mr. Lylie with his two daughters (who had previously been supplying CAC with limited quantities of shot from
Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...
). The tower could produce up to of 1,000 tons of shot per year. It remained in profitable operation until after World War II, when it allowed the company to keep production levels high after military ammunition requirements had dropped off. The tower was the only 20th-century shot tower in Australasia, and the only remaining shot tower in New Zealand. The CAC vacated the premises in the early 1980s. The tower was registered as a Category I heritage building by
Heritage New Zealand Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust; in ) is a Crown entity that advocates for the protection of Archaeology of New Zealand, ancest ...
. It was demolished in 2023 after concerns it would collapse due to
Cyclone Gabrielle Severe Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle was a powerful and destructive tropical cyclone that devastated parts of the North Island of New Zealand and affected parts of Vanuatu and Norfolk Island in February 2023. It is the costliest tropical cyclone ...
. Following the entry of the Japanese Empire into the Second World War, there was concern that the site at Mount Eden would be too exposed to a coastal attack. In light of this, the production of munitions was transferred to
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...
. After the equipment was relocated and buildings constructed and manufacturing at a site on Dey Street, production commenced in June 1942. The facility was closed after the end of the war and equipment and production were transferred back to Mount Eden.


Australian factory

A factory was built in 1888 in
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
at
Footscray, Victoria Footscray ( ) is an inner-city Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, west of Melbourne's Melbourne City Centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Maribyrnong Loca ...
. It was founded by Captain John Whitney of CAC New Zealand in a joint venture with several of English partners and was a separate entity from the commercial New Zealand company. The Australian government leased the facility from CAC on 1 January 1921 and bought the facility outright in 1927 and renamed it the Small Arms Ammunition Factory No.1. Five other facilities were briefly opened during World War 2: a new factory at Footscray (SAAF No. 2), two more built at Hendon (SAAF No. 3 & No. 4), one built at Rocklea (SAAF No. 5), and one built at Welshpool (SAAF No. 6). The SAAF No. 1 facility was finally closed in 1945 and was replaced by the nearby SAAF No.2 facility. The facility is now more commonly known as Ammunition Factory Footscray (AFF).Footscray Ammunition Factory, Maribyrnong, Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) Number H1154
/ref>


References


External links


C.A.C. bar & eatery
(now occupying a remaining heritage building)
Photographs of Colonial Ammunition Company
held in Auckland Libraries' heritage collections. {{coord, -36.868665, 174.763421, type:landmark_region:NZ, display=title Buildings and structures in Auckland Heritage New Zealand Category 1 historic places in the Auckland Region Manufacturing companies established in 1885 New Zealand companies established in 1885 Weapons manufacturing companies 1910s architecture in New Zealand 1880s architecture in New Zealand Defunct manufacturing companies of New Zealand Shot towers Albert-Eden Local Board Area 1982 disestablishments in New Zealand