The first was James Osborne, son of Henry Osborne of Marshall Mount. On the death of Henry Osborne in 1859, James and Frank Osborne took on the management of their father's coal mining interests at Mt Keira. James Osborne was elected to Parliament as the Member for Illawarra in December 1889, a position he held for two years.

The second was William Ahern, a blacksmith and farrier whose business was located in Wollongong as early as 1861. In 1872 he exhibited his craft of horse shoe manufacturing at the Intercolonial Exhibition. He made his shoes from iron supplied from the Fitzroy Iron Works. He specialised in making horseshoes that fitted to the hoof with clasps only, no nails.

Osborne and Ahern constructed the coke ovens in 1875 in the embankment near the south-eastern corner of Belmore Basin. The bricks and fittings came from the old Springfield Steam Mill, which was built in 1840 opposite the North Wollongong Hotel by Edward Palmer. The mill was severely damaged in a fire in 1847. Mr Palmer rebuilt his mill after the fire. By 1875 the old steam mill building was dismantled and transported to Wollongong Harbour for the construction of the beehive coke ovens, each measuring 13 feet in diameter. Coke making was made possible from the "slack" from the Osborne Wallsend Colliery. It was expected that seven to eight tonnes of slack could be charged in each burning.

During this time saltpans were built. The heat of the nearby ovens would speed up the evaporation process of seawater leaving behind salt, another commodity to sell.

By February 1876, a shipment of coke was sent to the Pyrmont Foundry. It was pleasing to see that the trial of Illawarra coke in the process of smelting metal was a great success. In no time the "coke breeze" was advertised at one shilling a bag.

In September 1876, William Ahern ceased operating his own blacksmith and farrier business. Having the right equipment, Osborne and Ahern advertised to purchase "Bones, Bones, Bones" at £1-10-0 per ton. These would be crushed and most likely sold as fertiliser.

While still in the partnership, James Osborne spent time staying on and off at the Union Club in Sydney. As a member of the club James Osborne went to his room on the evening of April 11, 1877, and being in a state of "nervous depression" raised a gun to his head, discharging it.

Auctioneer John Biggar gave notice in June 1879 of a pending auction of the Coke and Salt Works, ordered by the administrators of the estate of the late James Osborne. Among the items were machinery, bone cracker and bone mill, three 400 gallon water tanks, two iron salt pans, all the building material and 12 coke ovens. The works were purchased by Mr William Ashley for £170. Mr Ashley struggled for years to make a living on a scaled-down coke works. He formed a partnership with Charles Plimmer, but by June 1888 dissolved their partnership. Little is known of the old coke works after about 1890.

William Ashley became the manager of the Unanderra Coke Works in March 1890, a position he held for 12 years.

By 1900 there were some seven large coke works operating in the vicinity of Wollongong.

Today there is no trace of the old coke works at Wollongong Harbour. Some years ago archaeologists excavated the site and examined the remnants of the works before they were covered with soil.

Information courtesy of Carol Herben OAM.  Call 0409 832 854 or email sycado6@bigpond.net.au