Daddy Cool Traditional Cache
bshwckr: This one has had a good run. Thanks for all the finders.
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A micro and a history lesson.
Brief History of Email (now Electrolux) in Orange
The Origin of the Plant as a Manufacturing Unit
On June 3, 1941, in an atmosphere of rising national concern at the prospect of Japan’s entry into World War II, the Department of Interior commended excavation on a 27 acre site located one mile south of the city of Orange, purchased by the Federal Government from the Moulder family – name which has ranked prominently among the pioneers of the Orange district for well over a hundred years.
The late W.F. (“Wally”) Dawson used to vividly recall the earliest days on the site, including the fact that the first telephone was installed one day after the first sod was turned – on June 24, 1941.
Shocking weather prevailed during the period of excavation. Conditions were in fact so bad that it became necessary to remove all tractors and mechanical equipment from the site and replace them with fifty horses and drays to negotiate the slush and mud.
On August 4, 1941, the McConnell Building Company of Sydney moved onto the site to commence construction on what was to be known as the Orange Small Arms Factory. Old timers used to recall this commencement date, which was the 27th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I hostilities.
By March 17, 1942, the new Small Arms Factory was ready to receive the first consignment of manufacturing equipment from the Lithgow Small Arms Factory. To suggest that no time was wasted in moving into production of .303 rifles so urgently needed on overseas battle fronts where Australian troops were serving is a modest understatement. The records show that on the very same date as the first manufacturing equipment arrived and was placed I position, manufacturing operations at the Orange Small Arms factory actually commenced.
For several weeks, lathes, grinders, benches and a wide range of mechanical equipment was transported from Lithgow to Orange and uncrated at the rate of four semi-trailer loads per day.
From 1942 until 1946 the Small Arm Factory maintained a maximum output, around the clock for seven days a week.
In full production, the factory’s labour strength was 2488 employees, of whom no less than 1000 were female operators. They came from throughout NSW and interstate. To accommodate them the Government took over several hotels and at least two hostels to provide full accommodation including meals for personnel manning continuous shifts.
There are still many people in Orange who have reason to recall the midnight shift at the old Small Arms Factory particularly during the cold winter months.
On the occasion of the Small Arms Factory Ball held in Orange on a very cold winter night, the master of ceremonies would interrupt proceedings to announce:
“Ladies and Gentlemen, all those engaged on the midnight shift are advised that your buses to the factory are waiting at the door!”
By early 1945, with the prospect of an end to World War hostilities within a matter of months, the Prime Ministers, Mr J.B. Chifley, turned the Federal Government’s attention to the problem of effectively utilising war time munitions plants dotted the nation, to maintain employment stability for hundreds of thousands of people who had become accustomed to a manufacturing environment. The Federal Government formally approached the board of directors of Electricity Meter and Allied Industries Limited (later to become Email Limited) with the suggestion that the company should consider a leasehold of either the Orange plant or a smaller Small Arms manufacturing unit at Bathurst.
Prior to World War II, Electricity Meter and Allied Industries Limited had been assembling refrigerators and clothes washers from componentry imported from overseas under a licence agreement from the Westinghouse International Company in the United States.
The board finally resolved to acquire a lease of the Orange plant, which was equipped with a railway siding, the agreement was duly executed on September 1, 1946.
The company proceeded immediately with the development of the Small Arms Factory as a self-contained manufacturing unit handling high-volume production of major domestic appliances, completely manufactured under licence agreement to Westinghouse International.
After a few more changes of ownership, Electrolux is still manufacturing refrigerators at this location. Fighting against the tide, the factory currently employs around 550 locals and now also exports large refrigerators to China!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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