John Fell (industrialist)
John Wilson Fell (1862–1955) was an industrialist particularly notable for his involvement in the shale oil operations at Newnes, New South Wales and the establishment of two early oil refineries, on Gore Bay at Greenwich and at Clyde, both suburbs of Sydney. He was the principal of John Fell & Company and was, for many years, the Managing Director of Commonwealth Oil Corporation, which he revived from receivership.. Early life and family background. John Wilson Fell was born  Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland. on 7 November 1862. He was the son of Alexander Morrison Fell, Senior (1825–1890) and his  wife Margaret (née Ferguson) (1828–1901) He migrated to Australia, probably with his parents during the 1870s. Alexander Morrison Fell, Senior, was a significant figure in the Scottish shale oil industry, at the time the most advanced and largest in the world. In 1860, contributing shale mining leasehold in lieu of capital, Alexander had become a partner in the West Calder Oil Company, and its manager. The company’s works was known as the ‘Gavieside Oil Works’, or ‘Fell’s Works’ after its manager. However, there was disharmony among the partners and an unsuccessful court case, with the end result being  that Alexander was made bankrupt in 1873. Alexander subsequently migrated, with his family, to New South Wales, where he became an important figure in the oil shale industry at Mount Kembla and Joadja. John Fell’s cousin, James Walter Fell (1847–1882), is remembered mainly as the founder of the North Shore Gas Company. James was also involved in the shale oil industry, both in Scotland and in New South Wales–from its earlier years–as manager of Hartley Vale's refinery at Waterloo, and later at Joadja. Like his uncle, Alexander, James was regarded as an expert in the field  of shale oil processing; both men had worked together, at the West Calder Oil Company, in Scotland, and later at Joadja. James was almost certainly the first of the Fell family to migrate to Australia and, with T.S. Mort, was pivotal in the amalgamation of two earlier shale oil companies to form the New South Wales Shale & Oil Company, in 1872. In 1870, James married Helen Wilson Thomson (1849–1935), who under her married name, Helen Wilson Fell, became well known as a philanthropist and diarist. Fell was also a cousin of William Scott Fell (1866–1930) and his brother David Fell  (1869–1956). He was related to them via their father, confusingly also named John Wilson Fell (1820–1879), a ship’s captain, who was an older brother of Alexander Morrison Fell, Senior. Career. Early business career. By 1885, his father was running an oil refining business at Alexandria, in Sydney, processing crude oil, which had been produced in retorts that he also ran at Hartley Vale. The Alexandria refinery was closed around 1887, and the refining operation was relocated to Hartley Vale. The company had some kind of an oil works—perhaps for container filling and distribution—at Darling Harbour, by 1891 . There was a court case, involving the company, in 1889, and John Wilson Fell was nominated as a plaintiff, and so appears to have already been a partner in his father's company. He gave evidence for at least one day. By the time of his father’s probate in 1891, John Wilson Fell was described as an ‘oil and grease manufacturer’. So, it appears that Fell, with his brother Alexander Morrison Fell, Junior, carried on his father’s business interests. Another brother Walter John Fell (d.1938) was also a partner but, in 1891, was described as a fruit grower  and may have been a silent partner in the business at that time. Fell spent some time outside the oil industry, while involved in setting up two plants for the production of condensed milk, in the Shoalhaven region of New South Wales, at Bomaderry and Coolangatta Estate. Based upon the birth locations of two of his children, he was living in the Shoalhaven district, during the period 1897-1901. His brother, Walter John Fell, was also involved in the condensed milk industry, at Berry. His brother, Alexander Morrison Fell, Junior, died in 1904. In the meantime, in 1902, Fell had  either set up his own company, John Fell & Company, or renamed A. M. Fell & Sons using that new name. Shale oil. Newnes. The Commonwealth Oil Corporation had made a major investment in the production of shale oil at a site in the Wolgan Valley that they named named Newnes, after Sir George Newnes a director and chairman of the company. A large amount of English capital—around £1,500,000—had been invested to create a vast industrial complex, in what previously had been a near wilderness. They built a railway into the valley, and a sizable mining village grew in  the valley. Although the oil shale at Newnes had a very high oil content, its seam thickness and depth dictated that it was mined using relatively-costly, conventional, underground mining techniques. There was also a coal seam that could be mined to fuel the processing the shale and crude oil. The coal was of good quality and was also used to make coke. Construction of the plant had begun in 1906, but the retorts only began working in June 1911. The company encountered technical difficulties with its process and, as well, was subject to numerous and protracted industrial disputes with  its workforce, particularly its miners. Retort operation was partially suspended in February 1912 and ceased altogether in March 1913. The retorts had operated for less than two years, and COC was soon in receivership. Fell was an acknowledged expert in the processing of oil, and it was during a visit made by him to England that the COC approached him to assist in rectifying the problems at Newnes. The retorts that the COC used were designed to process Scottish shale, with a far lower oil content that the very rich shale—grading up to 150 imperial gallons per long ton —mined at Newnes. The result was that the retorts at Newnes clogged up with carbon compounds and would not work properly. Fell became interested in taking over the ailing business, but first constructed four retorts to his own design to prove that the oil-rich shale could be processed successfully. Taking over Newnes. Under an agreement with the receivers of Commonwealth Oil Corporation, Fell took over the administration of the business in late 1914, with plans to produce ‘benzine’ (petrol) as fuel for motor cars, as well as kerosene, lubricants, and other petroleum products. He took the position of Managing  Director of Commonwealth Oil Corporation. He sold some existing business interests, and contributed £100,000 himself to a total capital injection of £350,000 that funded necessary enhancements, including the construction of 64 retorts to his own design. The new retorts were based on the Scottish Pumpherson retort but had additional off takes that allowed the design to handle the oil-rich shale at Newnes. Fell patented this retort design, which was referred to variously as ‘modified Pumpherson’, ‘Fell Retort’, or ‘Fell Downcomer Retort’. Between March 1915 and October 1917, the Newnes plant produced 3,017,163 gallons of oil. As well , Fell had succeeded in making, in commercial quantities, the first locally-refined petrol for motor cars, at Newnes, around 1917. It is likely that this petrol was made from volatile 'naphtha' fractions that had been flared, as waste, in earlier shale extraction operations. By 1921, the population of Newnes had reached around 1,500, and the Newnes plant was capable of producing 15,000,000 gallons of crude oil and 1,000,000 gallons of motor spirit annually, however the plant operated below its nominal capacity. Torbane. Commonwealth Oil Corporation had also owned a smaller mining and retorting operation at Torbane, which had been closed  down in 1913. It seems that Fell reopened this operation, from 1916 to 1918, in what would be the last oil production at that site. It is likely that this production was facilitated by the government subsidies paid for local oil production in wartime. Competition from imported oil and bulk shipping. By the first decade of the 20th century, Australia imported a large proportion of its petroleum as finished product, increasingly fuel for motor cars. Some of the petroleum products still came in tinplate drums in wooden crates; in this form it was known as 'case oil’, and that came  mainly from the United States. However, British Imperial Oil Company Limited (part of Shell) had bought land, next the John Fell & Co. refinery at Greenwich, as an import terminal. Shell were landing petroleum there, in bulk, from around 1901. In 1909, they had landed a record cargo of 500,000 imperial gallons of ‘motor spirit’ from one of their bulk tankers. In 1906, Koninklijke Nederlandsche Petroleum Maatschappij began production of crude oil at Tarakan, on the Dutch-ruled part of the island of Borneo. The company merged with a British rival, Shell Transport and Trading Company, to become Royal Dutch Shell , in April 1907. In December 1910, Shell struck oil with their first drill hole, on a rich oilfield at Miri, in Sarawak, also on the island of Borneo. That first oil well would flow until October 1972. In 1914, Shell established a refinery at Miri, relocated to nearby Lutong in 1916. That then meant refined petroleum products for the Australian market could be made with Borneo crude oil, or even shipped in refined form from a refinery much closer to Australia than previously. The Borneo crude was a light crude, ideal for the production of paraffin and fuel for motor  cars. Eventually, other companies, such as Vacuum Oil, built bulk terminals in Sydney too, recognising after several maritime disasters (such as the loss of "SS Canastota") that ‘case oil’ was inherently dangerous. Bulk shipment of petroleum was not only far cheaper but much safer. In 1920, Commonwealth Oil Refineries, a joint venture between the Commonwealth of Australia and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, was established. In 1924, it opened a modern oil refinery near Laverton, Victoria. It made use of crude oil from the vast deposits that had been discovered in Iran in 1908. The timing of these developments, some  of global significance, could not have been worse for shale oil operations at Newnes. Moreover, the conventional crude oil from Borneo was not subject to an import tariff, and there was no protection of local crude oil production. Labour problems, in-situ extraction experiment, and final closure. The Newnes plant was still not operating to its full capacity in March 1917, at least partially due to a lack of ‘efficient labour’, despite pay rises having been given. During the First World War, government subsidies were paid to keep production going. From the perspective of an oil refinery in Australia, increasing  labour costs were making crude oil made from shale uncompetitive with imported crude oil from Borneo. Fell was later to claim that between 1912 and 1923, the cost of mining the shale at Newnes rose by 400%, "“due to abnormal labour conditions.”" The implications of such cost increases, combined with the rapidly increasing supplies of conventional crude oil, put shale oil production in jeopardy. The cost of mining was not the only issue; industrial disputes, led by radical mining union leadership, disrupted production under Fell much as it had done under the original management. There seemed to be little concern  from the union leadership about the precarious financial position of the Newnes operations. Fell first attempted to reduce the cost of producing crude oil from shale by experimenting with in-situ extraction, without mining the shale or using retorts. He had some success, in 1921, but such ambitions were well ahead of technologies available at the time. From an environmental perspective, it is probably best that these attempts were not pursued further. Eventually, Fell realised that he would need to stop making crude oil at Newnes and planned to use the Newnes refinery to process imported crude oil. He planned  to close down the shale mining and retorting operations, but would continue coal mining to provide fuel for the refining operation. The coal miners at Newnes refused to work, unless the shale mine remained open, leaving Fell no choice but to completely shut all operations at Newnes, in 1923. In 1925, Fell would build a new refinery at Clyde, in Sydney, and would reuse material from COC assets at Newnes and Torbane, in its construction. Fell was later to blame the cost of mining the shale as a major factor in the demise of Newnes. He was also quoted as  saying, in 1922, during one of the last of the many industrial disputes, "“I leave this valley with nothing, the miners have got the lot, including my investment in the enterprise out of my own pocket.”" Even after the disappointments of the early 1920s, Fell made one last attempt to revive Newnes, in 1929, in conjunction with the Broken Hill Associated Smelters. Without the miners’ support, it too came to nothing. By the 1930s, the Wolgan Valley was almost depopulated and its huge industrial complex was beginning to subside into ruins. Sydney. Refineries in Sydney. John Fell and Company operated  refineries on Gore Bay at Greenwich and at Clyde on the Parramatta River, both in Sydney. Gore Bay (Greenwich) refinery. The refinery was located on the foreshore of Gore Bay, just south of Shell's bulk unloading and storage facility. It appears that the site was acquired from the Greenwich Timber Company in 1911. Before it was a timber yard, the site had been a bitumen refinery, operated by the Patent Asphaltum Company of New South Wales, from 1884 to 1908, which processed crude bitumen from Trinidad. The Gore Bay refinery was used for the production of lubricants. Clyde refinery . John Fell and Company constructed a refinery at Clyde that commenced operation in 1925. The land had been purchased in 1923, probably once it became clear to Fell that Newnes and its refinery would be shut down permanently. The site had access to the rail network and a river frontage, to where crude oil unloaded from tankers in Sydney Harbour, or at Gore Bay, could be brought by barge, and plenty of land for subsequent expansion. The new refinery reused bricks and other items recovered from the old Commonwealth Oil Corporation plants at Newnes and Torbane. The plant included a  'Dubb's cracker' for the production of 'knockless' fuel for motor vehicles. The first unit entered full production in 1926, and a second one was planned. The products were distributed, under the names 'DUX' motor spirit (for cars) and 'Ajax' power kerosene (for tractors). Offices. From 1902, the offices of John Fell & Company were in a building at 117–119 George Street, Sydney, which is now heritage listed and occupied by the Julian Ashton Art School. Fell purchased the building from the N.S.W. Government, in 1931, and it then became his personal property. John Fell & Company Limited. The company John Fell  & Company had been set up in 1902. Needing to raise funds for the expansion of operations at Clyde and for working capital, the company went to the market in May 1926, to raise more capital in the form of preference shares. The shares of John Fell & Company Limited were listed on the Sydney Stock Exchange, on 24 October 1926. Fell was Chairman and Managing Director, and Fell's surviving brother, Walter John Fell (d. 1938), was General Manager. Death of son and sale of assets. On 19 August 1927, Fell’s eldest son, John Simpson Fell (1894–1927), died as a  result of an explosion at the Clyde Refinery on the previous day. Two other men also died. This occurred only days after the assets at Newnes had been put up for sale. In December 1927, it was announced that the Clyde refinery was also to be sold. John Fell and Company "“would manufacture motor spirit and fuel oil for another organisation, on a profit-sharing basis,”" and that a "“provision in the agreement requires the vendor company to carry on for a period on behalf of and at the expense of the purchaser until it is convenient to put the  company into liquidation.”" The name John Fell would continue to be used in the name of a private company, owned by the new owner of the assets. The reasons given for the sale were high labour costs and keen competition. John Fell & Company Limited had made a loss of £16,375 in year to 30 June 1927, and had paid no dividend since June 1926. Payments to preference shareholders resulted in the holders of ordinary shares receiving less than the face value of their shares, from the proceeds of the asset sale. It seems that Fell had concluded that his  company did not have the necessary capital—only £300,000—to compete against larger international oil companies, but quite possibly the recent work-related death of his son and his own advancing age—by then he was 65—were also factors in the decision to sell the assets. The new owner was, the British Imperial Oil Company, owned by Royal Dutch Shell, better known by its brand name ‘Shell’. Shell operated the oil fields in Borneo, which had proven to be so competitive with the Newnes crude oil. The facility on Gore Bay was also sold to Shell, who already  owned the adjoining site. John Fell & Company Limited was voluntarily liquidated on 17 June 1930. Family, homes, later life and death. Fell married Margaret Clark Simpson (1866-1945), in 1888. The couple had five children. Their eldest child was Janet M Fell (1892–1988); it seems that she married and went to live in America. Their eldest son was John Simpson Fell (1894–1927), an engineer, who served in the First World War, and died as a result of an explosion at Clyde refinery. Their second daughter was Helen Marion Fell (1897–1977), who was well known as a socialite; she never married  but continued the family involvement in the Kindergarten movement began by her relative, philanthropist, Helen Wilson Fell (1849–1935). Their second son was Douglas Alexander Fell (1901–1962), who became an executive with Shell, working in Borneo and the U.S.A. as well as Australia; he became Shell's N.S.W. Manager in 1942 and, in retirement, was a grazier at Campbelltown. Their youngest son was Ian Buchan Fell (1904–1962), who was a Squadron Leader and is now best known for the Ian Buchan Fell Housing Research Centre, in the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Sydney, which was endowed by his bequest . During the time that the family lived in the Shoalhaven, their residence at Nowra was known as 'Rosstrevor'. They gave the same name to another house, with a notable garden, where the family lived for many years,from around 1906, at 16 Point Road, in the harbour-side Sydney suburb of Northwood. Fell lived long enough to be a guest at the official opening of a Shell bitumen refinery at Clyde, in 1948. Although he was not involved in National Oil Proprietary Limited, he did advise Sir George Davis on retort design issues for the shale oil extraction facility at  Glen Davis. He defended the design of his 'Fell retorts' in a letter written in 1951, by then in his 89th year. He was living at Pymble, by January 1951, and it was still his address when he died on 11 June 1955. Legacy. Fell was an important figure in the Australian oil industry, in the first three decades of the 20th century. His was the first company to refine fuel for motor vehicles, in Australia, in commercial quantities. His name is often connected with the industrial ruins at Newnes. Three generations of his family were involved in the oil  industry, spanning from his father's pioneering role in the Scottish shale oil industry of the 1860s, including Fell's own involvement, and on to his sons' involvement in the refining of conventional oil in Australia. The former Shell facilities at Greenwich and Clyde—both now owned by Viva Energy—are Fell's main legacies. His wife, Margaret, was significant in making the jacaranda popular in Australia. Many of the trees in the avenue of jacarandas, at Grafton, were grown from seed of the trees she grew in the Fells' garden at Northwood.