Anne Warr
UNSW
Australia
Corrugated Iron – Transforming the Australian Landscape
This paper tells the story of the export of corrugated iron to Australia from Britain and how
the material transformed the Australian landscape. Much of the last 180 years of Australia’s
history can be told through the story of corrugated iron. Within a few years of corrugated
iron being invented and patented in Britain in 1829, it was appearing in the Australian
colonies: firstly as verandahs, to protect the English style cottages from the sun, and then as
whole buildings.
When the British Empire was sending people to the far-flung colonies, corrugated iron was
part of that export. During the gold rush of the 1850s, emigrants would arrive in the
Australian colonies with their dwellings in packing cases in the hold of the ship, each
component carefully numbered for easy assembly. Vast numbers of portable houses were
sent to the Victorian goldfields, along with groups of shops, hotels, villas, a theatre and
portable churches.
The nature of corrugated iron, being light, easy to stack and portable made it an ideal
material for export to Australia, and unnecessary for the young colony to manufacture its
own corrugated iron. By the end of the 19th century when Britain was exporting 75% of the
corrugated iron it produced, Australia was its best customer, taking up to 25%, more than
India, South Africa or the Argentine. Thus the study of corrugated iron inextricably linked
Britain and Australia – one supplying the material and the other applying it, at least during
the 19th century. Australia corrugated its first steel sheet in 1921 and by 1939 was
exporting corrugated steel back to Britain – for use as Anderson Shelters.
In the 19th century, corrugated iron was a material of expediency, both for the
manufacturer and the user. It could respond to emergency situations – the gold rush,
wartime – but was not considered acceptable as part of ‘polite’ architecture, either in
Britain or Australia. The material was viewed in terms of temporary solutions to problems
rather than permanent solutions.
The 20th century saw iron become steel and steel become lighter, stronger, more corrosion
resistant and more economical to produce. In Britain, corrugated iron is now called ‘profiled
steel’, and is being used in increasing quantities for large scale industrial and farm buildings,
but hardly ever for housing. While in Australia over the past 30 years, corrugated iron has
become recognized and appreciated as Australia’s vernacular. The continuing search for a
national identity has labelled corrugated iron ‘Australia’s own’.