One wonders why Philips would open a Valve factory for a country with only the population of London?

One wonders why Philips would open a Valve factory for a country with only the population of London?

If you mean here in Sydney there's probably a few reasons.

At the time, Australia was a protectionist nation and the tariff wall was very high. It was also generally cheaper for a global company to set up factories where-ever their products were being sold than to load things on ships and send them to those markets from one place. Thirdly, only western nations (and even then, only some western nations) had people with the knowledge to make the sorts of things that Philips produced. They probably thought that AWA, which had the only other large valve factory here, needed a bit of healthy competition.

At one time, Philips made most things they sold here in local factories - from light globes to X-ray machines.

Radio was a bigger industry in Australia than most realise. Sydney's Parramatta Road alone, every sixth building once housed factories and assembly lines making radios or the parts that went into them. And those operations that weren't making radios were making test equipment, transmitters, car phones, radars, fire alarm systems and other industrial/commercial products. It's a run that stretches pretty much from George Street near Circular Quay to the M4/Woodville Road/Church Street intersection in Parramatta - perhaps 30km or so.

For some odd reason, Philips did pack their bags and shift to South Australia. That bit I can't explain. Could be that there was a lower tax regime there at the time or maybe less of a shortage of workers. Australia was in full employment in much of the post-war years.

For some odd reason, Philips did pack their bags and shift to South Australia. That bit I can't explain. Could be that there was a lower tax regime there at the time or maybe less of a shortage of workers. Australia was in full employment in much of the post-war years.

The answer is Sir Thomas Playford, Australia's longest serving Premier.

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/playford-sir-thomas-tom-15472

IIRC, Philips was looking to expand and Adelaide made an offer too good to refuse.

It looks like that is quite correct - in stark contrast to the government they have now. It was amazing to see the states fighting each other for this sort of thing instead of doing their level best to push everything offshore, regardless of the consequences. These days, if an operation of any sort doesn't nett half a billion dollars per annum then it's automatically considered non-viable by the bean counters and the doors close.

What will Adelaide replace the good paying Chrysler/Mitsubishi and Philips jobs with? Turf shops and Coffee shops peddling legal addictions of gambling and caffeine.

Philips closed down its factories a long time ago. The last Australian made thing with a Philips logo was the humble light globe, made at a factory in Newcastle, NSW it shared with GE, Thorn, Osram, Crompton, Sylvania and supermarket house brands. That got killed off when the Commonwealth Government put a ban on the manufacture and import of standard incandescent light globes.

As for Mitsubishi's Tonsley Park car factory, I doubt it'll be a concern to the South Australian Government because they are smarting over their damaging energy policy, which included the shutdown of South Australia's last coal-fired power station around a year ago. When Holden closes its assembly plant in Elizabeth on the 20th October the curtains will come down on car making for the last time, possibly in our lifetimes. It's somewhat symbolic that Holden was first in and last out (making all things transport, from saddles to stage coaches and cars to aeroplanes between 1856 and 2017) but what it really symbolises most is another dead industry.

On the off-topic subject of Holden: In news that has circulated in the last few days, the next Holden Commodore will be an Australian-spec car made in Germany by a French company. Opel (which will build the Commodore) and Vauxhall have been sold by GM to PSA, the company that makes Peugeot cars. So the Commodore will become the most popular Peugeot ever sold here even though it'll still wear the familiar Holden Lion emblem on the bonnet.

the next Holden Commodore will be an Australian-spec car made in Germany by a French company

Good luck with that.

The Holden Barina XC was one of those bitza cars with a German engine, Italian electrics and built in Spain. Having worked on a friend's XC for a few years I can say that I don't want to be involved with any other bitza car ever again.

All cars are bitsas these days. Most rely on outside suppliers for just about everything that is screwed to the body. As trivial as it is, even the dome light in Commodores and Falcons of the 1990s came from the same parts bin and had both Holden and Ford part numbers stamped behind the reflector. Same goes for the headlight switch in both cars. My Commodore has an Australian engine, American gearbox and a German radio. Speaking of the Germans, Mercedes were fitting Australian springs to some of their models for a long time. The A-class has suspension designed by Mitsubishi.

A bit different to the old F-series Holdens where everything but the tyres, light globes and radiator hoses were made by Holden.

With consolidation in the motor industry these days I reckon it'll never go back to what it was. I've always had brand-loyalty to Holden but to be honest, without them or Ford making cars here, such loyalty is unwarranted and pointless. I can't even watch the weekly racing anymore because they have taken everything bar the Bathurst 1000 off network television and I refuse to sign up to pay TV just to watch that.

Perhaps it's an old fashioned view, but I also consider that if it's not put together in a Holden factory then it's not a real Holden. Ford followers would no doubt feel the same about the Falcon. After this year, even Bathurst will end up comprising cars that are irrelevant to most people because there's too many brands and market share has bottomed out so much that no car is truly dominant.

I'd bet anything that crowds at Bathurst will not be as large as in the past.

To bring the discussion back to relevance for a sec, I am the same with buying a radio or television. I'm loyal to no manufacturer and just pick off the shelf the model I like at the time. I'll probably end up doing the same with stoves, fridges and washing machines since none of that is made here now.

All cars are bitsas these days

And mechanics are welcome to them. Won't waste my time on them myself.

Probably the way to go. I don't even do my own servicing anymore. The inclination just isn't there.