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Mr Sidney Williams was born in London 1851and died in1936,
He trained as an architect before immigrating to Australia at the age of 20. he worked in the gold diggings of
Bendigo and Charters Towers, then took a position in a
Toowoomba store owned by Messrs, Burns, Philp and Co.
The original founder of
Comet Windmills manufactured a diverse range of rural products. He founded the Sidney Williams & Company in 1879 in
Rockhampton QLD. For over 130 years
Comet specialised in the design and manufacture of wind pumping plants for Outback Australia.
The earliest known catalogue was released around 1900.
The
Comet trade name was adopted in 1912. In 1918 the company introduced new
windmill designs, with wheel sizes ranging from 8ft to 35 ft (2.4m to 10.8m). The bearings of the mills were made of Lignum vitae, from South America, or Eucalyptus maculata from Australia.
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Mr Williams recognised that wind is the greatest natural source of energy and that it is freely available day and night. He also knew that it had to be reliable with minimal mechanical breakdowns. Mills operating on both the direct-acting and geared principles were designed and made by the Company. Pumping tests were carried out and performances under actual working conditions in the country were carefully checked. As the pumping efficiencies were improved so too was the quality of the products, in accordance with the Company’s strict policy of endeavouring to produce the best windpump in the world.
Manufacturing facilities were established in Dulwich
Hill,
Sydney in 1920. The engineering works at Dulwich
Hill covered 2½ acres of ground. This was the largest and most-up-to-date Windpump Factory in Australia at the time. In 1920 the Government introduced contracting for wind pumping plants over the following 30 years including all Railways, Councils,
Water Commission, Stock
Routes, etc. In the Northern Territory,
Comet Pumping Plants were the sole choice on all major Stock
Routes and were the predominant force in all other states for other Government contracts. In the 1940’s the firm manufactured guns and equipment during the 2nd World War. Sidney Williams along with most other manufacturers was ordered to undertake the manufacture of items for the defence industry. These items included brake drums or bogey wheel castings for tanks and armoured carriers, steel frame army huts principally for the new guinea campaign, high precision gauges & jigs made in a specially built and equipped annexe at Dulwich
Hill for the small arms factory at
Lithgow and
Comet Mills to equip stock
routes in the Northern Territory in support of the beef industry. At its height over 500 employees were engaged by the Firm of engineers of which Mr. Williams was principal. In addition to Dulwich
Hill the firm had another large works in
Rockhampton – the original home of the Firm – branch offices and stores in
Brisbane and in
Townsville, and
well over one hundred Agents throughout Australia. Sidney Williams and Co. were also building corrugated tanks,
tank stands, sheep jetters, steel frame buildings, steel dips, fire ploughs, saw benches,
winches, etc. Their operations embraced the manufacture of pastoral machinery, including pumps capable of raising as much as 200,000 gallons per day.
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The company survived two (2) World Wars, depressions and three family generations. Sidney’s son, Reginald, managed the company until his death in the 1960s and then his son, Bruce Williams ran it until 1992 when it was sold to Rapid Rain Industries in Seven Hills, NSW. The rights to make and trade
Comet machinery were subsequently purchased by Darren and Melissa Fitzgerald. In 2008 their company trades as
Comet Windmills Australia in
Macksville, NSW.
Sorry for the delay today, late night last night.
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