Commonwealth Oil Refineries

[4][5] In 1924, the company opened Australia's first refinery to process imported crude oil, near Laverton, Victoria, north of the Melbourne - Geelong railway line, adjacent to Kororoit Creek Road.

[6][7] The refinery received its first shipment of crude oil on 12 March 1924, with product coming "on-stream" on 17 May 1924.

[citation needed] The refinery had an annual processing capacity of 100,000 tons of crude oil.

The last speech in parliament by former prime minister, Billy Hughes, was an attack on the Menzies government's decision to sell its share in COR, the state-owned enterprise Hughes' government had established over 30 years earlier.

According to Herbert Evatt, his speech "seemed at once to grip the attention of all honourable members present ... nobody left the House, and nobody seemed to dare to move".