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Ordnance Factory Maribyrnong

OFM · Maribyrnong Ordnance Factory · Commonwealth Ordnance Factory, Maribyrnong

1924 – May 1989

Government factory at Maribyrnong, near Melbourne, beside the Explosives Factory, that made guns, gun carriages, shells and other ordnance and gun-ammunition components for the Australian forces.

How it came into existence

Set up by the Department of Defence under the Munitions Supply Board, as part of its inter-war policy of local munitions production, to make artillery and gun ammunition in Australia. The Victorian Heritage Register says it began in 1923 in two converted buildings, with more built in 1925; the Encyclopedia of Australian Science dates it from January 1924, the date used here. It was a new undertaking rather than a transfer from another body.

Changes during its life

  1. 26 April 1939Moved with the Munitions Supply Board to the new Department of Supply and Development.
  2. 11 June 1940Moved to the new Department of Munitions.
  3. 6 April 1948Moved to the Department of Supply and Development when the Department of Munitions was absorbed into it.
  4. 16 March 1950Moved to the new Department of Supply.
  5. 11 May 1951Moved to the new Department of Defence Production with the other government munitions factories.
  6. 23 April 1958Returned to the Department of Supply when the Department of Defence Production was absorbed into it.
  7. 12 June 1974Moved to the Department of Manufacturing Industry when the Department of Supply was abolished.
  8. 22 December 1975Moved to the Department of Industry and Commerce.
  9. 8 November 1976Moved to the new Department of Productivity, which took over the government defence factories.
  10. 3 November 1980Returned to the Department of Industry and Commerce when the Department of Productivity was abolished.
  11. 7 May 1982Moved to the new Department of Defence Support.
  12. 13 December 1984Moved to the Department of Defence as part of the Office of Defence Production when the Department of Defence Support was abolished.

How it ended

Replaced on 4 May 1989, according to the Encyclopedia of Australian Science, when it passed with the other government munitions and clothing factories of the Office of Defence Production to the new Commonwealth company Australian Defence Industries Pty Ltd, which closed the Maribyrnong ordnance works in the early 1990s.

Main functions

  • Manufacture of artillery and naval guns and gun carriages
  • Manufacture of shell bodies and gun-ammunition components
  • Heavy machining and engineering for defence

Where it sits

Last in the portfolio of Department of Defence.

Lineage

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Sources

Some dates or links for this organisation are not fully confirmed. Corrections are welcome.