Bluescope Lysaght
John Lysaght (Australia) Pty Ltd was founded in 1918. The company pioneered modern steel coating technologies (Galvanization). Its coated steel building products were sold under the ‘ORB’ brand and contributed to Australian architectural style.
History
John Lysaght established his iron working business at St Vincent's Works, Bristol and commenced manufacturing corrugated iron in 1857. The firm exported to many countries including Australia and South America. By 1880 Lysaghts was exporting so much corrugated iron to Australia that it established a central selling agency in Melbourne.
In 1897 the company publication, the Lysaght Referee, detailed the products Lysaghts sold. The original Lysaght brand of corrugated iron was Orb, followed in 1897 by a cheaper version of Redcliffe. Both brands were exported in large quantities to Australia. Globe was a brand produced for American and African markets but some quantities ended up in Australia.
Lysaghts manufactured galvanised sheet and plate between 1880 and 1912 at the Eskbank steelworks at Lithgow, New South Wales. The brand was Crown and it appears these sheets were not corrugated for roofing.
In 1920 John Lysaght Ltd was acquired by the steel giant GKN, while a wholly owned subsidiary John Lysaght (Australia) commenced manufacture of corrugated iron in 1921 opening a sheet rolling and galvanising works next to BHP at Newcastle, New South Wales.[1] In 1936 a further plant was opened at Port Kembla, New South Wales, and by 1939 these two plants were meeting 100% of the local demand for galvanised sheeting.
In 1972, Lysaght commenced production at a new steel plant in Hastings, Victoria. A hot strip mill was added in 1978.
In 1979, the company was fully acquired by BHP Steel (subsequently spun off into BlueScope Steel Limited (ASX:BSL). In 2003 the business changed its name to BlueScope Lysaght. It remains a division of Australia's BlueScope Steel.