Commonwealth Fertilisers and Chemicals

Commonwealth Fertilisers and Chemicals Pty Ltd

Company type	Private
Industry	Fertilisers; industrial chemicals
Predecessor	Cuming, Smith & Co.; Wischers Pty Ltd; Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company Ltd; Nobel (Australia) Pty Ltd (ICIANZ)
Founded	1929
Defunct	Later absorbed into ICIANZ
Fate	Amalgamated into ICIANZ operations
Successor	Imperial Chemical Industries Australia and New Zealand
Headquarters
Area served	Australia
Products	Superphosphate; fertilisers; sulphuric acid; industrial chemicals

Commonwealth Fertilisers and Chemicals Pty Ltd (CF&C) was an Australian fertiliser and chemical manufacturer established in 1929 through the amalgamation of Cuming, Smith & Co., Wischers Pty Ltd, Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company Ltd, and Nobel (Australia) Pty Ltd (the Australian arm of Imperial Chemical Industries). ^{[1] [2]}

The company was created to consolidate fertiliser manufacture in Victoria and to improve competitive strength against rival producers such as Pivot Farmers’ Co-operative. Cuming, Smith & Co. retained a controlling interest, and its managing director, William Fehon (W.F.) Cuming, continued to lead the amalgamated firm. ^[3]

Production was centralised at the Yarraville works in Melbourne, with older facilities including the Port Melbourne plant closed following the merger. This rationalisation allowed the company to expand capacity and lower costs while serving Victorian and interstate agricultural markets.

In subsequent decades, CF&C was drawn into the expanding structure of Imperial Chemical Industries Australia and New Zealand (ICIANZ), which absorbed its assets and operations as part of ICI's broader Australasian presence in fertilisers, chemicals, and explosives. ^[4]

See also

• Cuming, Smith & Co.
• Imperial Chemical Industries Australia and New Zealand
• Pivot Limited
• Wischers Pty Ltd
• Nobel (Australia) Pty Ltd

References

1. "Big Fertiliser Merger". The Herald (Melbourne). 16 October 1929. p. 1. Retrieved 6 September 2025– via Trove.
2. "Commonwealth Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd". Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation. Retrieved 6 September 2025.
3. "Cuming Smith and Company Ltd". Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation. Retrieved 6 September 2025.
4. Blainey, Geoffrey (1970). The Peaks of Power: A History of the ICI in Australia. Melbourne University Press. ISBN   0522840191.

Further reading

• Blainey, Geoffrey. The Peaks of Power: A History of the ICI in Australia. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1970. ISBN 0522840191.
• Birrell, Bob. Melbourne’s Western Suburbs: An Historical Geography of Growth and Community in the 19th Century. Melbourne: University of Melbourne, Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, 1987. ISBN 0868395806.
• Frost, Lionel. The New Urban Frontier: Urbanisation and City-Building in Australasia and the American West. Sydney: UNSW Press, 1991. ISBN 0868400640.
• Stannage, C. T. (ed.). A New History of Western Australia. Perth: University of Western Australia Press, 1981. ISBN 0855641813.
• Serle, Geoffrey. The Rush to Be Rich: A History of the Colony of Victoria 1883–1889. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1971. ISBN 0522840539.
• “Big Fertiliser Merger.” The Herald (Melbourne), 16 October 1929, p. 1. Available via Trove: nla.gov.au.