1885 Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited mine silver at Broken Hill

1896 BHP buys Hunter River land from Waratah Gas Co

1899 Dutch-born London based engineer and metallurgist Guillaume Daniel (GD) Delprat starts as BHP assistant general manager, based in Broken Hill, Adelaide then Melbourne from 1913

1902 BHP leases extra land at Port Waratah

1908 Federated Ironworkers Association (FIA) formed

1911 Delprat tours overseas steel plants, foresees expiry of Broken Hill ores, recommends BHP enter steel and iron industry

1912 American David Baker appointed first Newcastle works manager. Land earmarked for botanical gardens leased from state under Newcastle Iron and Steel Works Act

1913 Site works start. Old copper smelting works demolished. Government dredges river by 10 to 15 feet (3 to 4.5m), site raised 13 feet (4m) above high tide mark

1914 Plant construction continues. 'Delprat's Cottage', off Industrial Drive near Ingall Street, built for Delprat's visits to Newcastle; WWI declared

1915 January first iron ore shipped in; first blast furnace readied or 'blown in'; first steel tapped, first ingots poured, first rails rolled in mill. Official opening by Governor General Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson. Urgent output to European war effort

1916 Strikes hit plant, new equipment added, wharf extended

1917 Industrial unrest over Sunday work; strike in August, plant at standstill for three months; new rolling mills added, heavy mill converted to improvised plate mill to ease wartime plate steel shortage. Commonwealth Steel Co founded

1918 More plant added, No2 blast furnace 'blown in'. Newbolds refractory (furnace brick) plant moves from Lithgow to Mayfield

1919 Austral Nail Co establishes wire mill

1921 Delprat stands down as BHP general manager, replaced by protege Essington Lewis. UK company John Lysaght starts galvanised steel sheeting plant to BHP. Administration building, Selwyn Street, occupied

1922 BHP unable to compete with imports in post-war steel glut; Newcastle plant shuts in June with 5000 men dismissed. Rylands opens next to wire mill, merges with Austral Nail

1923 Plant reopens in March; BHP Collieries and BHP By-products established; three steamers, Iron Knob, Iron Master and Iron Prince start work

1924 Leslie Bradford replaces David Baker as manager

1925 Australian Wire Rope Works opens near plant; John Darling Colliery at Belmont opens

1926 Essington Lewis becomes managing director, promoted to the BHP board

1927 BHP takes over Titan Nail Wire. Fabrication (work)shop opens, further plant added

1929 US stockmarket crashes October 29. BHP buys 6% of Vickers-Comsteel; takes control of Lysaghts. UK firm Stewarts and Lloyds sets up near steelworks

1930 Great Depression hits Australian economy

1932 Jobless rate 32%. Plant output halved from 1930 to 195,000t; 80% of Sydney harbour bridge steel from England, the rest, 10,500t, from Newcastle; Burwood and Lambton collieries bought to supply works

1934 No1 blast furnace capacity lifted by 40% cent; BHP in 49/51 joint venture with Stewarts and Lloyds to produce pipe and tube products

1935 BHP takes over Australian Iron and Steel, lifts shareholdings in Australian Rope Works (91%) and Comsteel (59%). Newcastle produces record 520,000t; Leslie Griffiths replaces Bradford as manager; future Steel River site used as a steelworks dump

1936 Newcastle world's lowest cost producer; shell-making starts as war concerns grow; Leonard Grant replaces Griffiths as manager

1937 No11 open hearth furnace starts

1938 Whyalla steelworks design starts at Newcastle; plant producing 500 10-pounder shells a week

1939 Heavy industry expands with WWII effort; Newcastle largest integrated steelworks in British Empire; output includes 3500 shells a week on 24/7 production

1940 Essington Lewis appointed Commonwealth director general of munitions; Newcastle metallurgists find new way to make bullet-proof steel after imported additives cut off

1942 Workforce reaches nearly 9000

1943 Manpower shortages, delays in raw materials as BHP ships are sunk; workforce down to 8200; Keith Butler replaces Grant as manager

1944 Shortland research building finished

1945 Coal scarce, low quality iron ore and limestone, production down to 822,000t

1947 Wagon repair building completed

1950 Reclamation work begins on Platts Channel

1952 John Norgard replaces Butler as manager

1954 No 4 coke ovens battery starts production

1956 George Bishop replaces Norgard as manager

1957 Shortland laboratories open

1958 New coal cleaning plant opens

1959 BOS (Basic Oxygen Steelmaking) furnaces replace open hearth furnaces

1960 Newbolds Mayfield producing 18 million refractory bricks a year

1961 New works canteen opened; apprentice training centre opened

1962 New rod mill built on reclaimed Platts Channel

1963 Robert Coulton replaces Bishop as GM; employees credit union formed (today's Hunter United). IBM 1401 computer installed to keep track of stock

1965 Apprentice of the year awards begun; June 30, 50th anniversary of plant; BHP employees retirement plan announced; last open hearth production

1966 First industries established on Kooragang Island

1967 Koppers formed to use blast furnace coal-tar by-product

1968 William Burgess replaces Coulton as GM; Tourle Street bridge finished

1969 BHP1 and BHP2 wharves dredged to 40 feet; Murray Dwyer orphanage at Mayfield West bought

1970 Brian Loton replaces Burgess as GM, becomes BHP managing director 1982-91, chairman 1992-97. Computer centre opens with two computers costing $US220,000 each.

1972 Zero defects program introduced plant-wide

1973 Cecil Hall replaces Loton as GM; women's amenities installed in two mills

1974 BHP buys Australian Industrial Refractories (Newbolds)

1975 BHP Shipping moves into Lysaghts building

1976 Works sewage plant finished

1977 Rodney Harden replaces Hall as GM

1980 John Risby replaces Harden as GM; natural gas connected to works

1981 Plan for Kooragang blast furnace deferred indefinitely; Essington Lewis: I Am Work, by Newcastle playwright John O'Donohue, debuts without BHP sponsorship

1982 BHP threatens to exit steelmaking entirely by 1987 if Canberra can't help; big job cuts at all three steelworks; first Christmas shutdown since 1930s

1983 Justice W (Bill) Fisher's inquiry into BHP's retrenchments handed down; Hawke government launches five-year Steel Industry Plan (SIP, or Button Plan, after industry minister John Button); Comsteel shareholding cut from 86% to 38%

1985 Newcastle becomes head of Rod and Bar Products Division; BHP centenary; record monthly BHP steelmaking productivity 349 tonnes per employee per annum (tepa) in October

1986 Bill Farrands replaces Risby as GM; BHP declares $1b profit

1987 Older steel plants keep closing around the world, including 22 of 45 US integrated steel plants since height of steel boom in 1974; continuous bloom caster commissioned

1988 BHP and FIA work on three-year National Steel Industry Development Program Agreement (SIDA) to succeed Button Plan

1989 PM Bob Hawke visits plant; Rob Chenery replaces Farrands as GM; productivity target of 44% improvement by 1992; 'greening' program starts; December 28 earthquake rocks plant

1990 Steelworks 75th birthday; skelp mill shuts

1991 Paul Jeans (now University of Newcastle chancellor) replaces Chenery as GM; Business Improvement Process introduced; Steel Industry Business Improvement Agreement developed for the three plants

1992 Newcastle Steelworks Improvement Agreement negotiated with unions, linking wage increases to efficiency gains: BHP used consultants McKinseys, 5000 cost-cutting ideas proposed; Sydney Mini-Mill commissioned

(still providing feed to Liberty Steel's Mayfield mills)

1993 Bob Kirkby replaces Jeans as GM

1994 Single logo unites BHP

1995 Coke Ovens biological treatment plant; electric arc furnace promised to replace Newcastle blast furnaces; Former steelworks dump site earmarked for Steel River industrial park.

1996 Rod and Bar (Newcastle) merges with Long Products (Whyalla). McMaster Review into BHP steelmaking commissioned, never publicly released

1997 Transition Steering Team (TST) meets in January; Closure of steelmaking plant ('front end') announced on April 29, mills to stay open; 24,000 take part in BHP steel strike on May 15; PM John Howard visits Newcastle, ocmmissions report on future jobs strategies for Newcastle

Clive Palmer proposes $2.8 billion Austeel steel making plant for Tomago using iron ore from his WA magnetite leases (the source of his subsequent fortune); Lance Hockridge replaces Kirkby as GM in October; coal washery, steel foundry, desulphur plant demolished; first public word of multi-purpose shipping terminal as BHP replacement; BHP sells half-stake in Koppers

1998 CSIRO to move energy research division from Sydney to Steel River. Planning for Ribbons of Steel closing festival. debate continues over closure as internal BHP documents indicate Newcastle instrumental in Rod, Bar and Wire profit of $42m in seven months; production records set final two years; Hunter Valley Research Foundation (HVRF) report for Newcastle City Council says steelworks put $2.8b a year into Hunter economy, generating 8390 'direct and indirect' jobs. Hunter Steel wants to buy and revive steelworks but BHP shows no interest

1999 Four-week slowdown after power plant explosion halts production; Report to PM Howard in April warns of social unrest, saying 10,000 jobs needed to replace plant. New BHP CEO Paul Anderson questions '$700 million' cost of Newcastle shutdown; Shipping firm P&O goes cold on shipping terminal, an early sign of difficulties to come. John O'Donohue's play, No More the Fur Elise, No More the Bullied Bloom, commissioned by BHP through Ribbons of Steel. Muster Point installation by Newcastle sculptor Julie Squires unveiled. Newcastle steelmaking plant officially closes, September 30. Protech proposes $1.5 billion steel plant on Kooragang Island. Other plans include $460 Boulder Steel plant at Steel River and Austeel, none will eventuate. Remediation of Steel River site 'almost complete'. November: auctioneers start selling 10,000 steelworks items, estimated value $14 million

2000 BHP announces plans to 'spin off' Whyalla, Sydney mini-mill and Newcastle mills. Demolition of steelworks starts. July: BHP signs Newcastle 'exit' deal with NSW government. State to get 2400ha of BHP land and $100million for steelworks remediation. 150ha at steelworks, 230 ha on Kooragang, 500 ha at Belmont, and 1500ha straddling F3 at West Wallsend. Lodges DA in August for multi-purpose terminal. September: HVRF says feared economic downturn did not eventuate. October: Film Australia closure documentary, Steel City, screens on ABC TV.

2001 Spinoff company OneSteel launched on stock exchange; BHP merges with Billiton to become BHP Billiton; Steel River sold to Newcastle consortium. NSW government signs Austeel agreement with Clive Palmer, pledges to spend $240 million on transport

2002 Pathways boss Paul Cartledge says more than 800 of 900 BHP workers who signed up to the program found work within 12 months, half in full-time jobs. Newcastle company Innova successfully removes carcinogenic hydrocarbons from 3000 tonnes of highly contaminated sinter plant soil.

2003 January: NSW government says Innova-style full clean-up 'too expensive', with 'cap and fill' the likely option. October: Premier Carr pushes MPT expectations out to 2016-23. BHP completes its exit from the steel industry by putting Port Kembla into BlueScope Steel, which lists on stock exchange. December: BHP and NSW government at odds over costs of Hunter River clean-up

2004 March: Clive Palmer abandons Austeel plan. May: Moltoni Adams finishes steelworks demolition, site levelled. Instead of remediating steelworks 'hot spots', BHP opts for deep underground 'wall of China' on three sides of site to stop north-flowing groundwater taking contamination offsite

2005 November: Blow-out in BHP decontamination costs confirmed, with state to pay the extra despite BHP making $8.6b profit

2006 OneSteel buys Melbourne-based competitor, Smorgon Steel (which also owns Comsteel)

2008 BHP Billiton gets approval to mix contaminated river sludge with ash and cement, forming solid blocks to be stored in 'lined facility' on Kooragang. OneSteel shuts former BHP bar mill in September. BHP Billiton reveals Shortland lab has been analysing 'low level' radioactive waste from its Olympic Dam uranium mine since 2006. Nathan Tinkler-backed Buildev announced in December as preferred tenderer for 62ha 'Intertrade' site on former steelworks (the land not dedicated to MPT)

2009 BHP Billiton says steelworks channel clean-up will cost it $780m. Company already involved in river dredging for Newcastle's third coal terminal, NCIG on Kooragang, in which it had a 35% stake.

2010 June: Thiess to start $405m contract for 'most contaminated' section of river. August: River clean-up at 'half-way mark'. December : Nathan Tinkler plan for Maules Creek-related coal loader on steelworks site: it eventually features in ICAC's 2016 Operation Spicer report

2011 March: 'Jodi's trucks' leaflets dropped around Mayfield criticising the proposed MPT: pamphlets later examined by ICAC.

May: Newcastle Industrial Heritage Association proposes memorial to 'fallen colleagues' to be ready for plant centenary in June 2015.

August: Bluescope $1b loss, 1000 layoffs at Port Kembla announced, while BHP Billiton posts record $22b profit.

November: OneSteel confirms steel downturn threatens future of Whyalla and Mayfield mills, but not Comsteel at Waratah

2012 April: OneSteel announces company name change to Arrium, with OneSteel brand to remain. July: Approval of master plan to redevelop waterfront 90ha of steelworks site as a 'multigoods' terminal.

August: 'Betrayal' claims as Labor NSW government backs another expansion of Botany terminal. October: Korea's POSCO (eventually unsuccessful) bid for OneSteel values it at $1b, down from $5b in 2007.

November: 90ha of steelworks site remediation finished, including 500,000t of capping on 55ha: Back end (Buildev site) still to be cleaned

2013 February: State moves to rescind Intertrade site agreement with Buildev. March: BHP Shortland labs become university-aligned Newcastle Institute for Energy Research (NIER)

2014 February: State-owned Newcastle Port Corporation to demolish final three steelworks heritage buildings.

May: Port corporation privatised as Port of Newcastle, with conditions later revealed to deter container terminal

2015 April: Anzac Walk unveiled, with $3m of $5m budget from BHP. June: Steelworks centenary commemorations centre on memorial to fallen steelworkers, standing on sandstone from pattern shop, with 2065 time capsule. July: BHP Billiton makes available records of Newcastle steelworks fatalities.

2016 April Arrium (formerly OneSteel) goes into voluntary administration owing more than $3.5b. May: BHP exhibition at Newcastle Museum reopens after a year-long overhaul. July: NSW government finally confirms secret deal to protect Botany from a Newcastle container terminal.

August: ICAC Operation Spicer report released, with section on the container terminal site. November: Arrium administrators sell Moly-Cop at Waratah

2017 May: Having sold most of its Billiton assets, company drops the name and reverts to BHP. September: Arrium sold to British entrepreneur Sanjev Gupta's Liberty Group for reported $700m, rebranded as Liberty Steel

2018 March: Comsteel celebrates centenary at Waratah plant. August: Historic plaque returned to BHP admin building. December: Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announces court action against operator of Port Botany over its end of Newcastle container terminal restrictions. Case set down for hearing in late 2020

2019 July: National Party backs steelworks site container terminal. August: Arrium renamed InfraBuild, but OneSteel brand remains. September: 20th anniversary of steelworks closure

Sources: A Future More Prosperous, The History of Newcastle Steelworks 1912 - 1999, by Christopher Jay

Not Charted on Ordinary Maps, The Newcastle Steelworks Closure, by John Lewer

Newcastle Industrial Heritage Association

Newcastle Herald, Sydney Morning Herald,

A Measure of Greatness, The Origins of the Australian Iron and Steel Industry, by EM Johnston-Liik, George Liik, and RG Ward

The Ironworkers, A History of The Federated Ironworkers' Association of Australia, by Robert Murray and Kate White

Various online sources including ABC, Trove, Wikipedia

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