Summary

The foundation stone of the dry dock (Mort's Dock) at Waterview Bay, Balmain, NSW, was laid in 1854 by T.S. Mort, Captain T.S. Rountree and J.S. Mitchell, trading as Rountree & Co. In 1861 Mort became the sole owner, expanding the dock and establishing an engineering works. Partnership with Thomas Macarthur 1866-69. After a brief attempt to work joint ownership with his employee's, Mort formed Mort's Dock and Engineering Co Ltd in 1875. A floating dock was constructed in the 1880s and another large dry dock at Woolwich in the 1890s. The company had a chequered career in the first half of the twentieth century and was liquidated in 1961.

Archival resources

Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales

• James Peter Franki records, 1880 - 1910, ML Mss 69; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

Noel Butlin Archives Centre, Australian National University, (formerly Archives of Business and Labour)

• Morts Dock & Engineering Company Limited records, 1873 - 1945, 37; Noel Butlin Archives Centre, Australian National University, (formerly Archives of Business and Labour). Details

Published resources

Books

• Mort's Dock: fifty years ago and today, Sydney, 1908. Details

Journal Articles

• Madden, John, 'Mort's Dock & John Fowler Locomotives of the Great Cobar Copper Mining Co's firewood railways', Light railways: the Journal of the Light Railway Research Society of Australia, no. 146, 1999. Details