About Amcor Cartonboard

A history

The Petrie Site

The small township of Petrie, formerly known as North Pine, has significant links to the early colonial days. The first free person to settle in Queensland in 1837 was Scottish immigrant Andrew Petrie, an engineer who built some of the most historical buildings in Brisbane. His youngest son Tom, then aged six, mixed easily with aboriginal children and learned their language. Tom showed empathy for the local clans and experienced respect from them, which could only come from growing up together.

When Tom was looking for a piece of country on which to put some cattle, the old widow Mrs Griffin from the 'Whiteside Run' was only too happy to give him ten sections (500 acres) of land down at the mouth of the Pine River. Mrs Griffin warned him that the land was useless because the aboriginals would drive the cattle into the swamp and spear them for a feast. Tom assured her that he could speak to the aboriginals in their own language and knew their ways.

Tom's boundary stretched from Sideling Creek down the coast right round to Humpybong (Scott's Point). With a deep understanding and respect for the Murri and Goori culture, Tom acted as mediator between the European settlers and the native population. The stage coaches carrying mail to the Goldfields in Gympie stopped at Tom Petrie's homestead 'Murrumba' (aboriginal word for good) to exchange and rest horses.

In 1886 the railway line from Brisbane was extended to the district and the railway station was built on the site of Tom Petrie's first house.

In 1911 the railway department changed the name to Petrie in memory of Tom, who had such an impact on the establishment and development of the region prior to his death in 1910.

Origins of the Mill

In the early 1940's Australian Paper Manufacturers saw that industry in Queensland was growing, in particular fruit and produce. As shipment of linerboard from the southern states grew, the establishment of a paper manufacturing plant in south east Queensland became a viable option.

In 1946, APM instructed Gus Gehrmann, an engineer with local knowledge and impressive military service contacts, to find a suitable location for a paper mill in Brisbane. Under the code name 'Operation Moo Cow' Gehrmann bought two dairy farms (246 acres, in total) on the banks of the North Pine River at Petrie.

Although the local government favoured a site at Eagle Farm, near the Brisbane airport, the Petrie site, despite its distance from the city, offered many more advantages in the long run with its steady water supply and easy access to the railways.

Construction of the paper mill began in 1951 and against general convention the company used its own workforce. In 1952 the economic recession forced a halt to the ambitious project, all but a skeleton staff were retrenched. Over the next few years staff were re-hired to complete construction. Prime Minister Rt Hon R G Menzies officially opened Petrie Mill on 6 December 1957, eleven years after the purchase of the land.

Mill Development

Originally, Petrie was designed to produce linerboard for the corrugated box market and the paper machine was fitted with a conventional cylinder forming wet end. In 1961 the revolutionary new Inverform technology, where excess water is sucked away from the sheet, was installed. It was a bold and high-risk decision to install this still commercially untested technology. It is believed that Petrie was only the second mill in the world to have Inverform formation equipment installed after the developmental mill at St Annes in England.

With these modifications, Petrie's annual output was doubled to 48,000 tonnes. In 1963 the coating equipment was installed at Petrie with the subsequent introduction and transfer of the Artcote and Starcote brands in 1964. The fitting of a new press section in 1974 allowed a further doubling of production to 90,000 tonnes and at this time the first computer was installed to assist production monitoring.

In 1984 Petrie discontinued the production of linerboard due to an increase demand for coated board. To improve service, the unique jumbo reel store was constructed in 1987 to store full machine rolls, enabling autonomy of the manufacturing and finishing processes. In 1993 APM invested $27 million to upgrade the coating section, which resulted in the introduction of triple coated cartonboard in 1995.

In 2004 Amcor invested $55 million to replace the wet end of the board machine with a state of the art multifourdrinier forming section. This investment resulted in a squarer sheet and a cleaner, smoother surface. This improved the overall visual appearance of products manufactured at the Petrie Mill.

Today, Petrie Mill produces in excess of 130,000 tonnes annually. Since its inception over 50 years ago, Petrie Mill has had a positive influence on Petrie and the Pine Rivers Shire in Queensland.

The future for the Mill is promising as it continues to build on its strong foundation of quality and service well into the new millennium.