Huddart Parker Limited
(Est. 1876)


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Huddart Parker Limited was an Australian shipping company trading in various forms between 1876 and 1961. It was one of the seven major coastal shippers in Australia at a time when shipping was the principal means of interstate and trans-tasman transport. The company started in Geelong, but in 1890 shifted its offices to Melbourne. By 1910 Huddart Parker had grown to rank 24th of the top 100 companies in Australia by asset value.

The company was founded on the 1st August 1876 in Geelong as Huddart, Parker & Co. Pty. Ltd, by James Huddart, T.J. Parker, John. Traill, and Captain T. Webb. Earlier, in the 1850s, James Huddart's uncle, Captain Peter Huddart had made his fortune importing coal for use in the Victorian goldfields. He was the first major operator handling coal from the port of Geelong. Mr. T.J.Parker, was a merchant who arrived in Geelong from London in 1853. The trading activities each built up through the gold-rush era and beyond led to a linking of the businesses of their descendants and successors, to become Huddart Parker & Company.

After 1876 Huddart Parker expanded rapidly. By 1886 it had inaugurated the Melbourne-Adelaide shipping service and in 1882 entered the Sydney Melbourne trade. During the early 1890s its steamers were running to the principal ports of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania, and in 1893 it was also trading with ports in New Zealand.

One of the original directors, John Traill, had survived the other directors by 1886, and remained chairman until his death at 92, in 1916.By 1890, Traill had moved the company from offices on the wharves at Geelong to 466 Collins Street, in the heart of Melbourne.  The company registered in Victoria in 1889 as a proprietary company and converted to a public company in 1911. In 1921 Huddart Parker came to an agreement with the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand to establish a joint venture operation on the Bass Strait where both companies owned a 50% stake in the company Tasmanian Steamers.

Tasmanian Steamers operated passenger ferries across Bass Strait between 1921 to 1959. Their ships had many trials and tribulations over the 38 years of operations, including the Second World War
, when some of their ships had already been through the First World War. During this time, one of their ships, the S.S. Taroona was a troop carrier for Australia and New Zealand for a short time. The company was wound up in 1959 when the state owned Australian National Line took over the services.

During the First World War five of the company's vessels were requisitioned for the war. Then again in the Second World War three of the company's passenger ships, Zealandia, Westralia and Wanganella were pressed into war service.Huddart Parker was finally taken over by Bitumen and Oil Refineries Australia Limited in October 1961.


It later changed its name to Boral Limited using the acronym of the company's name. In February 2000, Boral Limited was demerged from the original company and now has a diverse area of operations within the building industry, including asphalt, road line marking, concrete, plasterboard, timber, windows, quarry, transport, roof tiles, bricks and pavers. Boral also produces cement via Blue Circle Southern Cement. Also in 2000 the original company comprising all the energy assets was renamed Origin Energy.

Thus Huddart Parker Limited, which had started off back in 1876, and was one of the British Empire's great shipping lines, disappeared due to mergers and consolidation in the shipping industry and globalisation. It is truly the end of a glorious era.

Origin Energy
http://www.originenergy.com.au/

Boral Limited
http://www.boral.com.au/



        (c) The AJN Transport Britain Collection 2008                                                                                                                                                                                 A Edward Elliott