Our History

BHP’s Newcastle Steelworks is completed and opens in Newcastle. The first large scale steelworks in the nation, it will run for the next 84 years and help industrialise the nation.

The first coil of wire was drawn at Newcastle. This marked the birth of the plant now known as the Newcastle Wire Mill.

ARC was formed from the British Reinforced Concrete Engineering Co. Ltd. (B.R.C.) and in 1920, purchased land along Ballarat Road in Sunshine where it became the first Australian manufacturer to produce fabricated steel mesh.

As for all Australians and Australian businesses, the war years were a difficult time for ARC. With Australian, British and US forces using steel mesh and reinforcing for a number of applications, 98 per cent of the Company’s output was dedicated to the war effort.

ARC was part of an essential industry, so its workers weren’t required to enlist. That didn’t stop nearly one-third of the workforce from serving in the military with distinction.

There is only one Australian structural steel long products producer, BHP Steel (which also make flat products). BHP Steel owns 99% market share.

Smorgon Steel opens the Laverton Steel Mill.

In 1982 ARC was acquired by concrete pipe manufacturer Humes Ltd. In 1988 Humes was then taken over by Smorgon Consolidated Industries (SCI), which had a growing presence in the industry.

BHP acquires BORAL STEEL which is renamed REOSTEEL

BHP Steel opens a new EAF and Bar Mill at Rooty Hill in Sydney.

BHP combines Aquila Steel, Reosteel, Queensland Welded Mesh, and Fibresteel into BHP Reinforcing Products.

BHP acquires Tubemakers.

BHP spins out Steel Long Products to become OneSteel, then later BHP spins out their Flats Products Division to form BlueScope Steel.

Smorgon Metal Recycling and Metalcorp Limited merge to form Smorgon Steel Recycling.

Our Recycling business increased their capacity in the Newcastle region with the commissioning of a heavy duty scrap metal shredder.

Smorgon Steel Group and OneSteel merge. Smorgon Steel Reinforcing rebrands to The Australian Reinforcing Company in the following year.

The OneSteel Corporate business name changes to Arrium.

Current and past employees of the AusTube Mills Newcastle site were joined by local dignitaries to commemorate the business' achievements over the past eight years. Read More: Celebrating 80 years of quality steel manufacturing

The GFG Alliance, headed by Sanjeev Gupta purchases Arrium. The Business is renamed Liberty.

Liberty OneSteel becomes InfraBuild.

Read more: Newcastle Wire Manufacturing Turns 100

Tonkin Steel & Steelforce are acquired and added to the InfraBuild brand.

The Australian Reinforcing Company (ARC), responsible for supplying steel used to construct international landmarks including the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House, celebrates a century of continuous manufacturing in Australia. Read more

When brothers Roy and Leon Midalia first started collecting scrap metal in 1951, little did they know their family business would grow into one of WA’s largest steel suppliers. Read more