Nobel (Australia)
| Formerly | Nobel (Australasia) Ltd |
|---|---|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Explosives; industrial chemicals; fertilisers |
| Founded | 1897 (as Nobel (Australasia) Ltd); predecessor works established 1875 |
| Fate | Fertiliser interests amalgamated into Commonwealth Fertilisers and Chemicals (1929); explosives and chemical operations later absorbed into ICIANZ |
| Headquarters | Deer Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
Area served | Australia |
| Products | Dynamite and blasting agents; black powder; sulphuric acid; superphosphate |
| Parent | Nobel’s Explosives Co. (later Nobel Industries); subsequently Imperial Chemical Industries (via ICIANZ) |
Nobel (Australia) Pty Ltd (contemporaneously often styled Nobel (Australasia) Pty Ltd) was the Australian arm of the British explosives and chemicals enterprise founded by Alfred Nobel. It operated major works at Deer Park on Melbourne’s western fringe, supplying dynamite and other blasting agents to mining and construction, and manufacturing acids and fertilisers (including superphosphate) for agriculture.
Contemporary press frequently referred to the company—and to accidents at the site—as “Nobel (Australasia) Pty Ltd” or “Nobel (Australia) Pty Ltd”, underscoring that both forms were in use for the Deer Park concern.
Nobel’s fertiliser interests in Victoria were merged in October 1929 with Cuming, Smith & Co., Wischers Pty Ltd, and the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company to form Commonwealth Fertilisers and Chemicals Pty Ltd, a consolidation reported at the time as controlling a majority of the State’s trade.
Following the creation of Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) in Britain in 1926, the Australian explosives and chemicals businesses associated with Nobel were progressively integrated into ICIANZ. Contemporary heritage and industrial histories identify the Deer Park works as one of the principal sites brought under ICIANZ management in the late 1920s.