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The History of Reliance Hexham

Written by Darren Grant | 23/1/2019

2019 marks 30 years of business here at Reliance Hexham where we have become specialists in the manufacturing, overhaul and repair of equipment and machinery for the use in the mining, aluminium and steel processing industries. Along side this, we are supported by a quality management system, we are certified to ISO 9001:2015, and a NATA laboratory accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025:2005, as the quality and safety of our products is always our highest priority. 

The site in which Reliance Hexham functions on today was originally occupied by JA-Brown, who played a major role in the River port that Hexham once was. Beginning in 1850, JA-Brown was reliable for loading coal that arrived to them from Minmi. Following 100 years of business, JA- Brown was taken over by Coal & Allied, who continued to load coal washed and destined for Sydney. The last load of coal to leave Hexham departed in 1988, 138 years after Hexham's Riverport opened. 

The engineering history of our site at Hexham began shortly after the closure of Coal & Allied's River port operations. The basis of Reliance Hexham's workshops today, was originally the main engineering workshop for the overtaking company of Hexham Engineering. Here, locomotive repairs, construction and repair of railway wagons and mining equipment occurred. Hexham Engineering Pty Ltd, continued until it closed in November 1989, which ended the operational era of the original JA-Brown facilities. 

In 1989, Reliance Hexham took over the site that once was the River port of Hexham. The evolution of our site here at Reliance Hexham is not just the infrastructure itself but can be seen within our products. The below photo is of a cloth drawing dating back to 1917. These old cloth drawings showcase our deep history and extensive knowledge of the mining industry.  Although now, we have moved into the future with our engineers at the cutting edge of drawings and design with the 3D modelling software utilised. 

 

Our advanced technologies and countless years of combined experience in the field, Reliance Hexham is able to efficiently and safely produce high quality equipment for the needs of you and your company. These include; Specialised lifting, rope attachments, haulage couplings, drawbars and safety chains, conveyancing, hooks, proof load testing and magnetic practice testing.

If your company requires our expertise in these areas, don't hesitate to contact our team today!