Their aim was to control the transport of goods between Adelaide and Melbourne and profit from the need for an efficient and comfortable passenger service.

[1] For its first 100 years, the company's main activities were conventional shipping operations on the Australian coast, primary products, consumer cargoes and extensive passenger services.

[3] In 1964, the interstate fleet merged with McIlwraith, McEacharn & Co, and the partnership developed the world's first purpose-built container ships.

[11][12][13] With the completion of the liquidation, on 30 April 1997 the company was renamed Residual Assco Group Limited[14] in order that the Adelaide Steamship name could be reused.

[3] In 2001, Adsteam Marine acquired its joint venture partner (and major rival as the premier Australian towage operator), Howard Smith.

The company was formed in September 1875 in Adelaide, South Australia, by a group of pastoralists and businessmen, some of whom already had steamship interests in the Spencer Gulf, namely Federal Wharf Co. Ltd, Port Adelaide Dredging Company Ltd, and Spencer Gulf Shipping Co. Ltd, and was incorporated on 8 October 1875.

[22] In July 1876 the company's leading promoters amalgamated their private ship-owning interests to form the Spencer's Gulf Steamship Co Ltd, trading in South Australian coastal waters.

Manunda was in Darwin harbour during the Japanese bombing and was able to bring 260 military and civilian casualties to safety in Fremantle.

At the same time it was issued with the sole Australian licence for the hydroconic hull design patented by Burness, Corlett & Partners of the United Kingdom.

Thus towage and associated operations continued to have prominence, even during the 1970s and 1980s when the Adelaide Steamship Company became the foundation for one the country's major conglomerate organisations.

Other activities included barge operations in the United States, and ships agency services throughout Australia, New Zealand and India.

[42] Adsteam "aggressively acquired significant shareholdings in a variety of companies in a number of fields including retailing, hotels, leisure industries and civil engineering.

"[28] "Adsteam's share price rose dramatically through much of the 1980s and it was hailed by some commentators as being entrepreneurial, well managed and with a highly disciplined reporting system.

"[43] At its height, the Adsteam group included Woolworths, David Jones, Tooth & Co, Petersville Sleigh, Farmers Union, Metro Meat, a stable of premium wineries and many others.

During this period of aggressive growth, AdSteam also had 156 tug boats and operated in over 40 Australian, Indian, Pacific Ocean and British ports.

[28] This served the dual purposes of making the elements of the group "take-over proof", but did not trigger the financial reporting requirements of a consolidated set of accounts.

There is little comment on this figure but an analysis of each company's results shows assets exceed liabilities in each company by a good margin... Paper also comments on recent press issues including potential worst case losses of $110.0M from Bell Resources investment – 'the impact of such a loss ..... is not considered a major concern'.

"[55] A subsequent comment dated 26 July 1990 states: "Lending Credit Committee minute notes planned reduction in exposure through maturity of facilities.

Despite the assurances recorded in the board papers, from that point the State Bank of South Australia steadily reduced its exposure to the AdSteam Group.

The previously "nervous" banks were far from happy, and started demanding the return of their capital, despite AdSteam having had this money invested in largely non-liquid assets.

[75] From a legal perspective, this case is widely regarded as one of the most important cases ever decided by the High Court of Australia, for it swept away the earlier doctrines of implied intergovernmental immunities and reserved State powers, firmly establishing the modern basis for the legal understanding of federalism in Australia and Australian constitutional law.

[74]: pp 141–2  In essence, this meant that decisions of the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Court were binding on State governments.

When providing his judgement on Strickland v Rocla Concrete Pipes Ltd, (where the Court unanimously rejected the decision in Huddart, Parker & Co Pty Ltd v Moorehead,[77] holding that it was based on the rejected doctrine of reserved State powers, which was abolished in Amalgamated Society of Engineers v Adelaide Steamship Co Ltd), Chief Justice Barwick stated "the earlier doctrine virtually reversed the Constitution".