Holden Retirees Club

Pagewood Plant (Sydney)

1940 -1980   

 During the 1930's it became obvious that the Marrickville (Sydney) Plant was too small for the growing demand, so GM-H decided to build a new, large, modern Plant to serve the NSW market.  A site was chosen in the Eastern Suburbs at Pagewood, at the intersection of Heffron and Maroubra Bay Roads. Work started in February 1939, and the foundation stone was laid by the Premier, Mr B.S.B. Stevens on 1^st August, 1939. The plaque records that “From the foundation of New South Wales in 1788 this land was unoccupied until purchased by Crown Grant by General Motors Holden Limited as the site for these works.”

The Plant was designed and erected by the GM-H Construction department. By mid-October, twenty three weeks after construction had commenced on the new Plant, 1,200 tons of steel had risen from the 283,000 sq. ft. of concrete foundations, and Holdens were able to set the date for moving in as December 1939.  

Pagewood vehicle assembly plant started trial production in January 1940 producing Pontiac Sedans, and was officially opened by the Prime Minister, Robert Menzies on 15^th February, 1940. A video of the opening is available here.

Between 1950 and 1959 , the Plant was extended three times, increasing the area under buildings to 680,000 sq, ft.  The first of these was to add a Body Shop, which made Pagewood the only Plant outside Woodville that could assembly bodies from sheet metal panels.

In 1963/4, a new Touch-up (paint repair) Building was erected in the North-West corner of the site.  It also included a Sales and Vehicle Distribution area where Dealers could come and pay for their vehicles and drive them away.

The document section includes the first publication publication of  The Rise and Demise of Pagewood, by Neil Pogson who was intimately involved in the plant production planning and facilities requirements.

This page is divided into four sections (use links below):

Publications

Photo Albums

Documents

Photographs

Publications    

Photo Albums

(Some large downloads here - In a few cases you may see a notice saying that the file is too big to preview or virus scan.  However if you just click the download link you will be able to view the file.  All files are virus free.):

 Documents:

 Photographs:      

 Aerial Views: