![]() The company become the largest private employer in the colony, a cornerstone of the union movement and birthplace of the Australian Labor Party (then the Labor Electoral League), founded at this dock in 1891 by Balmain Unionists, who fielded 4 candidates in State elections. Ship construction and repairs continued at the dry dock and immediate surrounds. Dock manager James Peter Franki continued to manage the dock for 50 years finally retiring in 1922. Balmain had become a focus for activity because of the dock, where at least two unions were busy. ![]() When McArthur died, Mort sold his shares to his foreman and his manager, possibly to guard against growing unionism, or improve flagging productivity. Mort had ceased partnership with Rowntree and taken another partner in Thomas McArthur, superintendent engineer of the Australian Steam Navigation Co. In 1867, Mort's Dock became principally an engineering facility including the construction of steam locomotives, ship machinery, mining equipment and steel pipe for the Sydney Water Board. Growth of general engineeringÄespite being the only commercial repair facility for steamers, the dock was not as profitable as expected and by 1861 Mort and Rountree had leased the majority of the surrounding land for cargo storage, minor engineering and an iron and brass foundry. The elite who had settled the area from the 1840s objected to pollution and industrial impediments to "their" marine views. By 1877 80% of the estate was settled by a working class population. When the dock needed extensions (18), he met costs with more sales. Mort had bought large tracts and as needs arose, sold. The first vessel serviced at the new Mort's Dock was the SS Hunter, a coastal mail steamer running between Sydney and Newcastle. Subdivisions and sales of Waterview Bay land followed the development, values spiraling when it opened. The dock was operational by March 1855, one year before the Fitzroy Dock at Cockatoo Island Dockyard. He offered incentives: on completion, workers got a freehold block of land. Recognising the need, and despite the Government building a dry dock at Cockatoo Island, he started. Rowntree and Mort formed the Waterview Bay Dry Dock Company (later Mort's Dock & Engineering Company) in 1853 and built Australia's first dry dock and patent slip on the site. In 1854, Mort and Rountree purchased an area of land at Waterview Bay on the northern side of the Balmain peninsula and excavated a dry dock measuring 123 by 15 metres (404 by 49 ft). Steam ships had first appeared in Sydney Harbour in 1853 but no repair or maintenance facilities existed to cater for the new vessels. Mort's Dock was the brainchild of industrialist Mort and former steamship captain T. By 1850 Mort was Sydney's leading auctioneer with a fortune from land speculation in search of port space for his wool vessels. Mort's Wool Store at Circular Quay was designed by Edmund Blacket, on the site of today's AMP centre. Organising wool sales in London, he was one of our first exporters and laid a pattern for future wool brokers. By late 1843 Mort was organising wool auctions (the first to be held solely for wool), later of livestock and property. Born in Bolton, Lancashire and comfortably raised, he'd arrived here in 1838, working as a clerk and rising rapidly. ![]() Building a dry-dock here, he created a building boom and large-scale development. Proprietor and landlord Thomas Sutcliffe Mort had a flair for money-making. Mort further recognised the necessity for Sydney to provide docking facilities for ships needing repairs in the Colony, as at that time there were no such facilities south of Bombay (modern Mumbai), India. He'd built the "Lizzie Webber" to carry English passengers to the goldfields and for Australian coastal trading. Rowntree had arrived in NSW in 1852, owning much land. With partner, merchant J.S.Mitchell, Rowntree had formed the Waterview Bay Dry Dock Company. To finance his venture, Rowntree sold his ship the "Lizzie Webber" and in doing so, met auctioneer, Thomas Sutcliffe Mort. The land was then sold to Captain Thomas Rowntree in 1853, who recognised the site as a prime location for a patent slip. In 1842 James Reynolds purchased from Curtis an area of land bounded by what is now Curtis Road down to the water front between Mort and Church Streets, dammed the stream, built a stone house called "Strathean Cottage" and sold fresh water to the ships anchored in the deep calm waters of the Bay. ![]()
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