Cuming, Smith & Co.

And associated businesses

Founded in 1872, Cuming Smith was one of Australias most influential chemical and industrial businesses for 100 years.

Started by Melbourne Blacksmith James Cuming, 'Cuming, Smith & Co.' Fertilised vast regions of Australian agricultural land.
Primarily active in the states of Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia, Cuming Smith also had operations in New South Wales, Queensland, New Zealand, and interests elsewhere.

At the height of its operations and in partnership with British Petroleum (BP), Cuming Smith British Petroleum (CSBP) was bought out as the most expensive corporate takeover in Australian history. It had one of the highest market capitalisations on the Australian Stock Exchanges. 

Today, no longer a family business, CSBP continues its legacy as a leader in Chemical, Agricultural, and Mining Solutions.

Cuming Smith & Co.: From Acid Works to Agricultural Titan

Cuming Smith & Co., an industrial enterprise born in the Inner-West of 19th-century Melbourne, grew from a modest sulphuric acid producer into a cornerstone of Australia’s agricultural and chemical industries. Its evolution (through partnerships, mergers, and an eventual absorption by Wesfarmers) charts a course through the nation’s economic history, reflecting the ingenuity and ambition that shaped its rural and industrial landscapes. From its founding in 1872 to its modern incarnation as part of Wesfarmers’ chemical empire, the company’s story is one of adaptation, scale, and lasting impact.

Origins in Industrial Melbourne

We begin in 1872, when James Cuming (1835–1911), a Scottish emigrant trained as a farrier and chemist who arrived in Melbourne in 1862 via New Brunswick, Canada, joined his brother-in-law George Smith and merchant Charles Campbell to acquire a small sulphuric acid plant in Yarraville, a burgeoning industrial hub on Melbourne’s western edge. Nestled among the “noxious trades” (abattoirs, tanneries, and the like) the site offered cheap land, river access via the Saltwater (now Maribyrnong) River, and proximity to factories hungry for acid. Sulphuric acid was the lifeblood of Victorian industry: sugar refiners, leather tanners, and candle makers all relied on it, and with Melbourne’s population swelling, demand soared. Cuming Smith swiftly modernised, adopting European designs utilising lead-chambers to ramp up production, forging early ties with the industrialists of Footscray and beyond. By 1881, George Smith had left the partnership, leaving James Cuming and Charles Campbell to steer the venture.

The Pivot to Superphosphate

In the mid-1870s (specifically 1875) the firm seized a new opportunity: fertilizers. Australia’s soils, notoriously poor in nutrients, posed a challenge to Victorian farmers expanding into virgin lands. Enter superphosphate—a potent mix of phosphorus-rich materials and sulphuric acid that promised richer harvests. Cuming Smith, leasing adjoining bone mills, became Australia’s first superphosphate manufacturer, starting with “bone dust” from animal remains, then importing Peruvian guano, before turning to phosphate rock from Pacific islands like Nauru. This shift slashed costs and scaled output, feeding a growing agricultural boom. By the late 19th century, farmers from Victoria to South Australia clamoured for its superphosphates, boosting yields of wheat, oats, and other staples—it was a lifeline for the then agricultural-heavy economy.

Expansion and Alliances

The company’s ambitions stretched beyond Yarraville. In 1897, it merged with Felton, Grimwade & Co., a chemical and pharmaceutical giant with its own acid works in Port Melbourne. This union brought capital, wider distribution, and access to markets in New Zealand, cementing Cuming Smith’s status as a fertilizer powerhouse. 

Earlier, in 1882, James Cuming’s son, Robert Burns Cuming, had planted a foothold in South Australia with the Adelaide Chemical Works, launched on July 22 on a 5.5-acre site in New Thebarton (later Torrensville). Built of wood to resist acid fumes for £7,500 with Alfred Felton, F.S. Grimwade, and Charles Campbell, it initially produced sulphuric acid before venturing into superphosphate by 1884. 

Despite an 1889 River Torrens flood, it expanded with a modern brick plant in 1896 and, in 1900, a second facility at Port Adelaide (11.5 acres designed by Mari Anthony Cuming) spurred by bulk phosphate shipments from Ocean Island (Banaba) in 1901. Registered as the Adelaide Chemical and Fertilizer Company Ltd in 1904, it peaked at 45,000 tons of fertilizer annually by 1917 under Robert Burns Cuming Jr., who succeeded his father in 1910. 

Competition from Wallaroo-Mt Lyell and Cresco Fertilisers led to a 1917 market-sharing deal, with Torrensville closing in 1933 as focus shifted to Port Adelaide, a legacy enduring through its 1965 merger into Adelaide and Wallaroo Fertilisers Ltd. Meanwhile, a 1910 venture of Cuming Smith in Western Australia tapped the wheat belt’s nascent potential, while operations like the Britannia Creek wood distillation plant (1907–1924) and the Bassendean Works (opened 1909 under the “Florida” brand) broadened its industrial reach. These moves met regional needs with industrial precision.

The next leap came in 1927, when Cuming Smith joined forces with Mount Lyell Mining & Railway Co. and Westralian Farmers Superphosphates to form Cuming Smith Mount Lyell (CSML). This alliance dominated Western Australia’s fertilizer scene, producing nearly 2 million tonnes of superphosphate in its first two decades. As wheat acreage in WA surged from 285,000 acres in 1908–09 to over 3.5 million by 1933, CSML supplied farmers and underpinned a rural transformation, once inarable land was now arable.

Meanwhile on the East Coast a similar story was playing out. From the ashes of the collapse of Mt Morgan Mining Co. Ltd, and Electrolytic Refining & Smelting Co. of Australia Ltd. came a new state of the art facility based in Port Kembla. In 1928 Cuming Smith & Co., together with Mt Lyell Mining and Railway Co. and Nobel Australia Ltd., acquired Australian Fertilisers Limited (including their new state of the art facility). Port Kembla rapidly became a vital hub. Despite an early closure during the Great Depression, the facility quickly reopened and underwent major capacity upgrades through the 1930s and again after World War II. By the 1950s and 1960s, Port Kembla was producing up to 90,000 tons of fertiliser annually. It remained a significant asset throughout the transition into ICIANZ. 
Both Incitec Pivot and Ixom (descendants of ICIANZ) still operate in Port Kembla.

Transformation into CSBP

By 1964, global currents reshaped the firm. British Petroleum (BP) bought into CSML, creating Cuming Smith British Petroleum (CSBP). BP’s investment fuelled modernisation, notably the 1967 Kwinana plants near Perth, which churned out sulphuric acid and fertilizers with newfound efficiency. In 1970, CSBP swallowed rival Cresco Fertilisers,tightening its market grip and (by progress’ double edge) closing older sites like Bassendean by 1971. This era marked a shift from local titan to global player, though it foreshadowed a loss of autonomy.

The Wesfarmers Takeover

The company’s independence ended in 1979, when Wesfarmers (a farmer-owned cooperative then known as Westralian Farmers) completed a $60 million takeover, then Australia’s largest corporate deal. The 1977 bid, led by Wesfarmers’ John Bennison, was audacious; the co-op’s valuation was a fraction of CSBP’s (one third). Yet by 1986, Wesfarmers bought out BP’s stake, securing full control. For Wesfarmers, CSBP was more than a prize—it was a springboard. The acquisition ensured fertilizer supply for its members while diversifying into industrial chemicals, propelling Wesfarmers from a rural co-op into a conglomerate spanning retail, mining, and beyond. 

Leadership and Civic Roots

Behind the industrial saga stood human figures. James Cuming Sr., a Footscray council stalwart and two-time mayor (1885–86, 1890–91), doubled as a philanthropist, funding a veterinary theatre at the University of Melbourne in memory of his father and a new ward at the Williamstown & Footscray Hospital. From 1895 to 1911, he served as the inaugural president of the Footscray (now Western Bulldogs) Football Club (still a record tenure) unveiling its first premiership flag in 1898 via his daughter Grace and earning a 2010 Hall of Fame induction. After his 1911 death, locals commissioned sculptor Margaret Baskerville to craft a marble bust in his honour (a fixture now at Yarraville Gardens) while the Victorian Chamber of Commerce established the James Cuming Memorial Scholarships at Melbourne University in 1930—in memory of their former president. 

His son, Robert Burns Cuming (1859–1910), also a two-time mayor, Thebarton (1893–94, 1901–03) Adelaide. His son-in-law, Sir Alexander Stewart (1874–1956), joined the Cuming Smith board in 1911 after marrying Grace in 1905; knighted in 1937, Stewart’s leadership in firms like Commonwealth Fertilisers and his role in Melbourne’s Collins House group amplified the company’s industrial network. James Sr.’s son, James Jr. (1861–1920), drove innovations like the full pivot to rock phosphate. 

While later generations, including William Fehon Cuming and Harry Wilson Cuming (both noted in the 1922 “Who’s Who of Australia”), and Mariannus Adrian “Mac” Cuming (1901–1988), steered expansions into Western Australia and beyond. Mac, CSBP chairman from 1943 to 1971, director of BHP (and ICIANZ) from 1955, earned a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1962 for his business and community contributions. 

Ties to Melbourne’s scientific elite (chemists like Sir David Orme Masson) kept the firm sharp, invested in the community, and with technical edge.

Scale and Legacy

At its peak, Cuming Smith and its successors employed hundreds, swelling from 30 workers in 1890 to over 400 by 1911. Its fertilizers didn’t just enrich soil—they built economies, turning marginal lands into breadbaskets and spurring growth in towns and ports. Today, as part of Wesfarmers’ Chemicals, Energy and Fertilisers (WesCEF) division, CSBP thrives at Kwinana, producing not just superphosphate but chemicals like sodium cyanide for mining. This evolution (from Yarraville’s acid vats to a modern industrial hub) walks in step with Australia’s own journey from colonial outpost to diversified powerhouse.

The company’s imprint endures in more than profits. Its superphosphates shaped rural livelihoods, while its founders’ civic zeal (hospitals, scholarships, and public art) wove it into community fabric. In 2024, the Cuming Clan Australia, under Lindsay Cuming AM, resolved to chronicle this history, ensuring its legacy endures. From humble beginnings among Melbourne’s “noxious trades,” Cuming Smith & Co. rose to fuel a nation’s fields and fortunes, its story etched in the land it nourished, and the industries and enterprises it spawned.