By Anna Donne
I love fireworks. There’s something about the colours and the noise and the exploding stars in the sky that feel magical. I also have dogs, so I know fireworks aren’t everyone’s cup of tea!
If you were in Melbourne on New Year’s Eve or Lunar New Year you would have been hard-pressed to miss the multitude of celebratory fireworks.
Some of us are also old enough to remember the days of ‘cracker nights’ when anyone aged 13 and above could buy fireworks from the local milk bar. Guy FawkesNnight was the highlight of the year. A massive bonfire would be built, and kids of all ages would run around with sparklers or the more serious ‘penny bungers’, basically a small version of a dynamite stick! Unsurprisingly, multiple injuries to hands and eyes meant health and safety rules were implemented, and the days of easily accessed fireworks were shut down.
As one of the kids who ran around with mini dynamite sticks, I was interested to check out the Black Powder Mill in Cairnlea. During the Second World War it manufactured black powder, a key component of both fireworks and firearms.
Black powder is known by several names, including gunpowder and blasting powder, depending on its use. All varieties are mixtures of saltpetre (potassium nitrate), charcoal and sulphur.
In the 1870s Victoria started to manufacture black powder, primarily for use in gold mining and the construction of railways and roads. The first of these factories was established by Jones and Co in Deer Park. This Deer Park facility was Australia’s primary, and for a long time only, commercial manufacturer of high explosives.
In 1896 the explosives factory was bought by Nobel (Australasia) Ltd that continues to operate under different entities today. Explosives manufactured at Nobel’s Deer Park facility were used in all of Australia’s wars, however with the commencement of the Second World War, more explosives were required and an additional factory site, at what is now Cairnlea, was built.
This new site comprised ten buildings, including the Black Powder Mill. It was constructed in 1942 specifically for the safe manufacture of gunpowder for use in the Second World War and closed in 1945 with the end of the war. The Black Powder Mill is the last building to remain on the Cairnlea site.
As we know, during the First and Second World Wars, large numbers of men went to war, leaving women to take up what had previously been male dominated roles, many of which were in explosive factories.
In an interview conducted by the Living Museum of the West, Mrs Minnie Maloney, who worked in an ammunition factory until the 1940s, talked about the challenges of working with volatile materials.
‘I was… a charger, which was a highly explosive job… the composition, or powder as we called it, used to come in as a clay lump. They used to weigh it out while it was wet and put it on a little handkerchief made out of Fuji silk on an electric heated table.
‘We weren’t allowed to work in our ordinary clothes. We had to change into a sort of serge uniform, and we had to take the hairpins out of our hair, take our rings off and wear a special pair of shoes without any nails.’
Despite these precautions, working with explosive materials remained precarious. In 1944, an explosion occurred at the Black Powder Mill, killing one worker and injuring another.
The Black Powder Mill in Cairnlea is listed on the National Trust Heritage Register for both its cultural significance and engineering principles. It is the only explosives processing building open to the public where these engineering design principles can be seen and appreciated.
This year, the Black Powder Mill, located on the corner of Parklea Avenue and Grassy Point Road, Cairnlea will open its doors on April 18th from 1–3pm. No need to book, just turn up.
Come and check it out. It’s well worth a look!
Anna Donne represents the Sunshine and District Historical Society.
