Bradken Ipswich foundry: Alan Dale, Steve Franklin on Karrabin being shut down

It’s the end of an era. About 180 workers have lost their jobs with the facility closing in stages until it totally shuts down at the end of July

The Bradken foundry in Karrabin closed on Friday.

FORMER workers at the Bradken foundry have lamented the loss of the longstanding Ipswich factory and the state of the wider Australian manufacturing industry after it closed last week.

But some hold on to hope it will be bought by another company and operations will be restarted.

About 180 workers at the Karrabin site have lost their jobs with the facility closing in stages until it completely shuts down at the end of July.

Former Bradken workers had a drink at the Walloon Saloon Hotel after the company shut down its Ipswich foundry on Friday, April 23.

At its peak there were about 400 people working across three shifts a day and pouring about 35 tonnes of metal around the clock.

It was tough work but strong friendships were forged in the heat and dirt.

Now a big day would involve pouring just eight tonnes, with a handful of staff left on site to finish up final jobs over the next few weeks.

Bradken Chief Executive Officer Simon Linge said “declining customer demand, changing market conditions and the decision to focus on mining markets and products” was behind the call when making the announcement last year.

Bradken was acquired by Japanese company Hitachi Construction Machinery in 2017.

Moulder Alan Dale finished up at the foundry on Friday after 33 years working for Bradken over two stints.

He started there as an 18-year-old and it was where two of his sons did their apprenticeships as well.

“The moulding side is the first one to go,” he said.

“It’s a bit sad.

“It’s bought me a couple of houses and set me up.

“It’s the end of an era.”

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Mr Dale, 60, is one of the lucky ones who is able to retire but for some of his colleagues it is an uncertain path ahead.

“A lot of the guys still have mortgages and families and it’s going to be hard on them to try and find work,” he said.

“There’s not a real lot of young guys left. Most of them are older guys in their 50s so they’re going to struggle to find work at that age, especially when all they’ve done is work in a foundry.

“The only nearest one is in Dalby. The Runcorn foundry (owned by Bradken) shut down about two years ago as well.”

Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union state organiser and former Bradken worker Steve Franklin said the closure was the “way of the world”.

The moulder did two 10-year stints in Karrabin and started his apprenticeship there in 1977.

He estimated the foundry, then called Scott’s Foundry, had been in place in Ipswich since the early 1900s and it moved to Karrabin from a site near the Bremer River after it was flooded in 1974.

The engineering side of the business moved from Brisbane Street about 10 years later.

“It’s probably the last of our heavy industry in Ipswich,” Mr Franklin said.

“Foundries are the basis of engineering. You can’t do much without a casting. It’s a very old traditional trade.

Longtime workers gathered after the foundry closed on Friday.

“There’s a lot of nostalgia there. I started my apprenticeship there when I was 16 fresh out of school. It was a very heavy trade, very dirty.

“We made some unique and amazing things. It was more of a craft than a trade. Some of the tradesmen there could make moulds to cast a three blade propeller for big boats.

“This foundry was quite a unique foundry because we were what they called a jobbing foundry.

“We just didn’t make the same things over and over again. We had over 2000 patterns in the store and we could make a large variety of castings. They tried to close it down a few times but then there was the realisation of the value of this foundry and kept it open.”

A Bradken spokesperson said its plans to close the site “remain consistent with what we have previously announced”.

“We plan to close the Ipswich foundry and machine shop by (the) end (of) July,” they said.

Mr Franklin said it was really disappointing to see the number of skilled workers laid off with this decision.

“Once those skills leave the country you can’t bring them back at the drop of a hat,” he said.

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“We’re losing our engineering abilities.

“Bradken has a number of sites around the world. They’ve become a really big player in that foundry and engineering world but they’ve just seen fit to close down the site here because they probably make it cheaper in China or somewhere else.

“There’s a company that’s just down the road in Ipswich from the Karrabin site less than 20 minutes away that buys its castings from China when Bradken was making the exact same casting.

“I spoke to them and they said it’s too dear to buy from them.

“The government is not doing anything about where we are with manufacturing or putting enough emphasis on Australian-made goods.”

A gathering was held at the Walloon Saloon Hotel on Friday afternoon with a group of retired Bradken workers invited along.

“I got in touch with some of the old fellas that used to work here,” Mr Dale said.

“Some of them are in their 80s.

“All up I think I’ve got about a dozen moulders that worked here for years.

“When I got in touch and got their phone number and rang them, they all jumped at it.

Bradken moved to Karrabin after the 1974 floods.

“A lot of them haven’t seen each other for years. It’s a bit of a get together for old and new.”

Some of them arrived at Karrabin after Sutton’s Foundry in Brassall shut down in 1984.

“Those guys lived for the foundry, they made sure it existed,” Mr Franklin said.

Mr Dale said he understood that White Industries, which runs a foundry in Dalby, was interested in buying the site.

When contacted by the QT, the company said this wasn’t the case but did not answer further questions on the matter.

“If they do they’ll have to hire workers,” Mr Dale said.

“If they want this place to work, these guys know how all this machinery works.

“Some guys are hanging on hoping they will buy the place and reopen. It’s all up in the air as to what’s going to happen.

“Even if they do (buy it) a lot of these guys will be out of work for three months until they actually do open up again.

“Some of them are sweating on it opening back up. It’s a waiting game.”

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Read more stories by Lachlan McIvor here.

Originally published as Bradken Ipswich foundry: Alan Dale, Steve Franklin on Karrabin being shut down