Poole & Steel was a major Australian engineering, railway rolling stock manufacturer and shipbuilding company.
The company was set up by Arthur Hugh Poole and James Steel,[1] and the Balmain yard was in operation by 1902.
[8] It became a public company, Poole and Steel Limited, in late 1944.
[9] The Balmain yard was subject to a protracted industrial dispute, in 1946, that resulted in Poole and Steel and all other privately-owned shipyards on the harbour joining forces in a lockout.
[10][11][12] The company remained profitable into the 1950s,[13][14] but eventually became a victim of the declining significance of local shipping, reduced work for the navy, industrial disputes and high costs, de facto removal of industry protection, and overseas competition.