In 1890, the glass-making company Australian Glass Manufacturers (AGM) opened a factory at Spotswood, moving from the South Melbourne site that it had occupied since 1873.
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| Westgate Bridge & AGM, Spotswood | |
AGM's move is (just!) part of the glass-related history of the Bellarine Peninsula because in 1959, AGM started to take delivery of up to 1,000 tons of shell grit a week from the Laker's processing plant near Point Lonsdale.
The Melbourne Glass Bottle Works
AGM's new Spotswood factory was known as the Melbourne Glass Bottle Works. In its first decade, the Bottle Works grew rapidly, until it employed five hundred staff and
occupied five acres.
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| AGM worker & milk bottles, 1958. |
The site was serviced by a railway line that led from the Spotswood railway station to the Spotswood Pumping Station. From there it curved to the east, running directly into the AGM site via a purpose-built railway siding. It was at this siding that, between 1959 and 1973, trains carrying shell grit from the Bellarine would terminate their journey. (See "1959: Shell grit for Melbourne glass works re-opens Bellarine rail line". 27 November 2014 on this blog.)
In 1973, the Spotswood siding ceased to receive shipments of shell grit from the
Bellarine, as AGM changed its suppliers for a company in New South wales. In 1998, the
Spotswood siding fell into disuse altogether, as railway shipments of
sand from Nyora, South Gippsland (via the Koala siding) ceased.
The Spotswood siding was decommissioned in August 2001, but parts of it remain in place, buried under concrete driveways and hardstand on what is now private land.
AGM in Sydney
By the late 19th century, glass production had become one of South Sydney’s main
industries. Glassworks were established at
Redfern and Alexandria and the Australian Glass Manufacturers opened a glass
works on South Dowling Street, Waterloo.
AGM's Waterloo plant manufactured bottles for the pharmacy,
brewing, distilling and winemaking industries; and jars for domestic preserving and
pickling fruit and vegetables. By the 1920s, AGM had a monopoly on glassmaking in
Sydney.
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| AGM display vehicle, Sydney, 1930s |
In 1926, AGM launched a subsidiary company - Crown Crystal Glass Pty.
Ltd. - to produce crystal, cut, pressed and blown glassware (including pyrex) for
industrial and domestic use. By the late 1930s, the company was producing 9,634
different types of glass bottles and containers.
In 1968 Crown Crystal Glass became partners with American
company Corning Ltd., becoming Crown Corning Ltd. The partnership ended in
1988.
Sources
http://www.sydneybarani.com.au/sites/australian-glass-manufacturers/
