Holden Retirees Club

Birkenhead, Adelaide

1926 -1965   

On 1^st June, 1926, General Motors Australia leased 5½ acres of land at Birkenhead for ten years, from the South Australian Harbor Board. In fact, GMA (and later, GMH) never actually owned the land, but leased it from the South Australian Harbor Board the whole time they had a factory on the site. A letter dated 11th November, 1955 says the latest renewal was to "31st May, 1957, renewable to 1968." The title does not show renewals beyond 1957, but GMH clearly occupied the site until around 1980, so renewals must have been made.

In August, 1958, GMH also applied to the Harbor Board for an additional 60 foot strip of land adjacent to the western boundary of their property. On 7th October, 1958, the Board approved an additional lease of a 100 foot strip for two years with renewals until terminated by either side, but said that "it was not proposed to draw up a formal lease in this case, but to to rest on agreement in correspondence".  This possibly how the lease for the main site was also extended.

In October 1926, GMA Pointers magazine reported: "The South Australian plant is being erected at the corner of Birkenhead Road (now Nelson Street) and Rann Street (now Semaphore Road), Birkenhead, adjacent to the Port River, and with easy access to the Port Adelaide G.P.O. and railway. The building is two-story, with a frontage of 215 ft.; 14,000 sq. ft. of the ground floor area of 61,272 sq. ft. are allotted to warehousing space and 47,272 sq. ft. to assembly operations. 6,660 sq. ft. on the first floor are devoted to executive Staff. The warehouse is fitted with a modern electric traversing crane of 5 ton capacity, of Australian manufacture. This allows a clearance of 26 ft. for high stacking operations. The major portion of the factory structure is composed of local hardwood framing, sheathed with galvanised iron, with ample allowance for steel sash windows in the walls.

Special praise is due to the architects, Messrs. David Williams and Son, of Port Adelaide, and to Messrs. Emmett and Sons Limited, of Forestville, the contractors, for the speed in which building` operations have been carried out. Negotiations for the lease of the site were finalised on June 1st, the contract for building operations was signed and foundation work started on June 2nd. The building is now complete, and the interior work and installation of assembly equipment are proceeding apace. This plant will have a capacity of 35 cars per day, and will employ 100 workmen."

The General Motors [Australia] Birkenhead Plant was officially opened on 6th December, 1926 although not quite complete.  The water tank which was to become a local landmark was lifted to the top of its 60 foot steel tower on 26th March, 1927, to service the fire sprinkler system.

 However, the Staff were in full swing.  It was reported in March 1927 that they had formed football, cricket, baseball, tennis, dance and Social Clubs.

The Plant received many official visitors, including the State Premier Mr Butler and a party of Parliamentarians on 26th April, 1928.  Mr. White (Acting Manager) thanked the Ministers for their presence.  He said that his company had had an almost romantic growth. Less than two years previous the site had been a reclaimed swamp. Now the average number of employees in office and plant was 240, with a weekly payroll of £1,200.

The visitors were particularly impressed by a novel electrical brake testing system, which ensured all four brakes were active and applying even pressure.

A major announcement was made on 13th June, 1928.  "Increased   efficiency is anticipated through building extensions involving an expenditure of about £25,000, to be made at the works of General Motors Australia Proprietary Limited at Birkenhead.   

The additions to the buildings will provide a 40 per cent increase in floor space.  These will house the latest equipment obtainable for the production of motor cars, nearly all of which is being manufactured in Australia to the specifications and blue prints of General Motors. When the existing building was erected it was felt that it would be sufficient for some years to come for the production of General Motors cars and trucks: but to give effect to the policy of the corporation, the up-to-date equipment already installed will have to be greatly augmented.   

The travelling crane will have to be extended to make provision for the extra 133 ft. which is being added to the present storage warehouse.  In this warehouse, besides the space needed for storage, will be the boiler room, air compressors, modern machine shop, and smith shop.  There will also be a riveting assembly department for chassis frames, tyre carriers, battery boxes, and so on, which formerly were assembled before arrival in Australia. Under the new operation they will come completely knocked down.

As soon as .the buildings are complete and the new departments operating, it is intended to build a test track at the rear of the plant; in the centre of which will be a recreation field for employees. All this will mean the employment of many men, and when the new departments in the plant proper are ready to operate, still more hands will have to be engaged."  

In September 1929, the Watersiders were on strike, causing great problems for most industries including GMH.  Mr. E. W. Holden (Managing Director of Holden's Motor Body Builders Limited) said that with the shipping industry held up by the action of the Watersiders his firm could not get its supplies of raw materials or ship away the finished product. This meant that there would be no option but to put off 3,250 men from their plants if work were not resumed promptly. Probably 5,000 men would be affected when all the subsidiary industries associated with Holden's were considered.

But by 2nd October, the strike had escalated if anything and Holden's was forced to shut its plants, putting some 2000 men out of work. A further 250 men at Birkenhead were put off on 5th October, and told to report back to work when the Watersiders went back to work.

This set the pattern for some time to come (really until after the war), with various union groups (e.g. the Coal workers, power workers, Coachbuilders, wood workers, etc) striking for such things as a 44 hour week, better Overtime Rates, objections to GM using stop watches, and the like. And to top things off, came the Depression.

On 1st July 1930, Birkenhead was visited by two GM Executives from New York: Mr C. Evans from General Motors Export Company, and Mr J Sullivan, from Sales Dept. They then visited the HMBB Woodville plant before discussions with local executives.  A side light to this was that Mr A.M. Lawrence, the Managing Director of GM Export in Australia, who had visited South Australia for four days to also place large orders on HMBB, was confronted by a demand from the S.A. Taxation Dept for a return based on 4/365ths of his salary! He had to engage a solicitor, see the Taxation Commissioner, and generally thoroughly upset on his last day in Adelaide, he complained before he could get away, and when he left he told business associates that he would think twice before coming, to Adelaide again. 

He was to address a Sales Conference at Birkenhead the following week, but he did so by telephone with an amplifier rigged up so all could hear him!

Holden's Motor Body Builders at Woodville had been particularly hard hit by the Depression, to the point where GMA had concerns that HMBB would go bankrupt, and GMA would lose their body supplier.  So a merger was agreed between GMA and HMBB, and a new joint company was formed, named General Motors-Holden's Ltd.

However, the Depression continued to affect sales, and GMH decided to close all their plants, except Woodville to supply those bodies that could be sold, and Melbourne to provide Chassis and mechanicals.   An announcement appeared in the press that all staff were transferring from Birkenhead to Woodville on 4th May, 1931, and from that Monday, "the business for the merged firm would be conducted from Holden's Woodville Plant".

On June 16, the Registered Office of General Motors Holden's Ltd was also moved from Birkenhead to Woodville.

The Plant then lay dormant for seven years, except for some storage activities. There had been a false hope held out in November 1935, when E.W. Holden said that there was every possibility that Holden's would reopen the Birkenhead Plant for Motor car assembly.  However, he noted that one of the problems for Birkenhead was its distance from the city, and things would be much more attractive if a bridge which had been recommended by the works committee, would be built.

But it was not until 30th November 1938, that the Finance Director Mr J.R. McKenzie said that "the business in South Australia had grown to such an extent that the temporary premises at Beverley had been vacated, allowing the Company to return to its assembly plant at Birkenhead”.

 The promised bridge was also now coming.  On 7th February 1938, the Government had let the contract to Perry Engineering Co and Adelaide Constructions Ltd for a Bridge measuring 807 feet (246 metres) between abutments, and width a maximum width of 52 feet (15.8 metres) of a double-bascule design - a first erected in Australia. The central opening span was 182 feet (55.5 metres) long and at the press of a switch, it could be opened to its maximum extent in approximately one minute.

Governor Barclay-Harvey officially opened Birkenhead Bridge on 14 December 1940. Following a ribbon-cutting ceremony that included South Australian Premier Thomas Playford, the Governor was accorded the honour of being the first person to drive a car across the Port River to Birkenhead.

One side effect of the new bridge was that in order to align the roadway to the new bridge, Holden's lost the front corner of their land resulting in the angled front facade of their buildings!

Vehicle assembly continued into 1940, and a Dealer Convention was held for the South Australian Dealers, who attended the release of the new Chevrolet.

But the War soon changed their direction to focus on the manufacture of War related equipment, including Military car and truck assembly, reconditioning of Army vehicles, Aerial Torpedo assembly, and 40 foot Diesel Work Boats manufacture.

On 23rd May, 1946, GMH announced that the first car to be assembled post-war was a Vauxhall Senior assembled at the Fishermens Bend Plant, but more new cars would be available mid-June from the Birkenhead Plant.

Before the War, imported chassis had been assembled in Melbourne and shipped to Adelaide to have a Woodville body mounted on them. In the new program, chassis would come directly to Adelaide from Canada, England, and America, assembled at Birkenhead and built into complete cars with local bodies.  

Mr J.R. Holden, chief executive of the company's South Australian operations, said on 15th July, 1946 that a considerable and immediate expenditure on additional plant and equipment would be made following a decision to assemble complete cars at their Birkenhead Plant. Five times the amount of labour for each car produced would be required in this departure from pre-war policy. 

Almost immediately, advertisements appeared calling for experienced Assemblers to apply for work at Birkenhead.  A news item on 5th February, 1947, reports that complete cars were now being assembled in Birkenhead, another on July 31st describes a visit to the factory. Photos appeared of Chevrolet cars coming off the Assembly line. The manufacture of complete vehicles in the one plant was part of the strategy for the build of the New Australian Car.  Body and chassis components from Woodville and engine and transmission components from Fisherman's Bend would be finally assembled into complete Australian cars in the various States. The cars for South Australia would be assembled at Birkenhead.

The 48_215 Holden commenced production in early 1949, and Birkenhead produced the 50,000th Holden on 25th November, 1951.  By then, Australia wide production had reached 112 cars per day, up from just 4 cars a day in 1949.

However, the plant was beset with the usual problems, typical of the times.  There was a strike on 27th March 1950, over a staff man being seen to do a job usually done by a wage hand. It was quickly settled when the Company agreed to derate the staff man for disobeying company orders. On 20th November, there was a small fire in the Lacquer spray booth, but it was quickly extinguished without any real damage. In April 1952, the Power workers went on an overtime ban, resulting in the City being zoned so that a part of the city had a scheduled blackout n a given day to conserve power.  This shut down all industry in the zone, including the GMH Plants.

On 28th November, 1952 an £11 million expansion of GMH manufacturing and assembly facilities was announced on the fourth birthday of the Holden. The programme was already well underway to lift the output of Holden sedans and utilities from 155 a day to 200 a day late in 1953. 

 In August 1954, a further major expansion was announced for Woodville, with rearrangements and modernisation for Birkenhead. There was a further three bay extension at Birkenhead started in 1956, which added warehousing space plus a new and upgraded Sheet Metal Paint shop. 

The Credit Squeeze of 1961 meant that volumes fell significantly, resulting in the closure of Birkenhead and Dandenong Assembly Plants for ten days in August to reduce stocks.  There had been retrenchments in February and June which reduced the labour force by 13.9%, but the close down was seen to be a better way to reduce stocks than retrenching more men. The Company would re-employ the men dismissed as soon as the volumes allowed it.

As things were slowly returning to normal, on 1st October, 1964, workers at Fishermens Bend and Dandenong went on strike over a pay claim for an additional £3 per hour wage increase. This resulting in the standing down of 4,000 workers in the South Australian Plants.  The strike then became national, but at meetings on 30th October in Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane, and a rowdy meeting in Melbourne, the men voted to return to work, ending a month long strike.

 The new Elizabeth Plant was in construction and as it drew to completion, activities from Birkenhead and Woodville were transferred to the new plant. Elizabeth started building full cars on 19th January, 1965, while Birkenhead continued to build out CKD models.  The last car, a Pontiac, was driven off the line at 4:03 PM on 13th August, 1965, by "Jock" Charles, a wiring group mechanic who had worked at Birkenhead since 1926.

The GMH Facts booklet for 1967 says that Birkenhead was "a Miscellaneous plant, ground area 4 1/2 acres, building area 106,490 sq. ft."

The Plant was then turned into an Export boxing area, and a storage area for NASCO service bodies. Sands Directory shows the site still occupied by NASCO in 1972.

In 1969, Terex (GM's Earth Moving Equipment arm) commenced assembly of large mining equipment at Birkenhead for a time. 

Sands Directory shows the site still occupied by NASCO in 1972, which is as late as the Directories are available online.

However, the GMH Facts booklet for 1976 says “Birkenhead did assemble TEREX earthmoving equipment but is now used as a Parts and Accessories Warehouse. It is the last of the original General Motors Australia assembly plants still being used by GMH".

In 1978 and again in the 1980 issue of the Facts books, it says the Birkenhead Plant was a "Parts and accessories warehouse. Total employment 51".

The 1982 Facts booklet makes no mention of Birkenhead.

Eventually, it became disused and derelict. A large fire in 1989 gutted the building, and by 1990, it was considered to be in a dangerous condition and calls were made for its demolition, even though the facade had interim Heritage protection. It was demolished in 1991.

All that remained was the "GMH" tile mosaic from the front foyer floor.  The developers who eventually bought the land stated that they would preserve and reuse the Mosaic in their new buildings, and on January 31, 2020 they removed it from the site and took away to be restored and preserved.

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