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A distinguished career
In 1914, King-Salter was seconded from the British Admiralty – a department of the UK Government then responsible for the Royal Navy – and travelled to Sydney to commence a three-year term as General Manager of Cockatoo Island’s Naval Dockyard. His contract afforded him an annual salary of £1,750 plus a furnished house for his family – a wife and at least one child – on the upper island.
King-Salter’s appointment had been recommended by a selection committee in London. The committee recognised that a naval expert of his calibre was required for the General Manager position. King-Salter was considered a highly qualified applicant due to his background as a torpedo boat builder in Chiswick, his studies at the Royal Naval College in Greenwich, and his 21 years of service with the British Admiralty, which included two years at sea plus work a dockyard in South Africa. Prior to his appointment to Cockatoo Island, King-Salter worked at the Chatham Dockyard as a constructor – a position he had held since 1907.
King-Salter’s arrival in Sydney in March 1914 coincided with a period of great change for Cockatoo Island. Indeed, the site had only recently been transferred from the NSW Government to the Federal Government to serve as the official dockyard of the Royal Australian Navy. Nevertheless, he embraced his new role with determination and is quoted as saying, “It will be my endeavour to have warships built out here as well as they are at Home. I shall do my level best for this country, and I feel certain I will find the men here able and willing to do the work.”
Difficulty with demarcation disputes
From the get-go, King-Salter had to contend with industrial action at Cockatoo Island due to demarcation disputes within his workforce. This included a dispute, a month into his appointment, between the Amalgamated Society of Engineers and the Electrical Trades Union. These unions disagreed over the allocation of work amongst their members and, consequently, 200 fitters, turners, blacksmiths and pattern makers went on strike.
King-Salter provided advice to the unions about who normally undertook electrical work in Britain and, somewhat naively, directed them to sort the matter out themselves. When there was a further demarcation dispute in May 1914 – this time between the island’s boilermakers and shipwrights – the Minister for Defence threatened to close the dockyard.
Radical remuneration proposal
In mid-1914, King-Salter provided a report to the Minister of Defence on the state of Cockatoo Island’s dockyard. He advised there were labour shortfalls, that ships were taking twice as long to build as in Britain, and that many workers were only working to a third of their potential because they were getting paid by the day, not for their output – not only was this causing dockyard costs to soar but it was also delaying the completion of projects.
King Salter proposed a radical new approach to worker remuneration, including the introduction of piecework, where workers are paid a fixed rate for a set task. He theorised this would increase wages as well as productivity, but the unions rejected his proposal. Industrial action followed, with unions protesting cuts to hourly wages as well as discrimination; namely, there was a perception that overseas workers were being favoured over-qualified Australians.
Tensions fuelled by the war
With the onset of the First World War, King-Salter corresponded with all iron trade and shipbuilding unions, asking that workers be available a short notice day or night. Although the unions complied with the request, there were further disputes over demarcation issues, overtime and hours of attendance.
In May 1915, the workforce threatened to strike unless a worker of German background was sacked. The worker had been accused of making favourable comments about the sinking of the RMS Lusitania, a British ocean liner, by a German U-boat on 7 May.
A contract-ending inquiry
After Salter-King’s initial three-year contract expired in 1917, the Commonwealth renewed it for a further three years; however, his appointment was not extended beyond 1920 due to criticisms levelled at his administration of the dockyard by the Commonwealth Economy Commission.
An inquiry by the Commission uncovered instances of unnecessary expenditure and extravagance at the dockyard. It also found that the time it took to build ships, as well as the cost, was nearly twice that experienced in Britain, in part due to industrial go slows.
When Salter-King’s second and final contract expired in 1920, his colleagues gifted him a luxury suitcase and a solid leather travelling trunk. He returned to England but later embarked to South Africa, where he served as the Construction Manager at the Royal Naval Dockyard in Simonstown.
A legacy of shipbuilding
Despite the difficulties he had working with trade unions, it cannot be understated that Salter-King managed the dockyard, including a workforce of 3,000+, during a period of significant expansion for the shipbuilding and ship repair facility.
Notably, he oversaw the successful launch of several naval vessels, including HMAS Torrens, HMAS Brisbane, HMAS Adelaide, HMAS Swan, a floating crane known as the Titan and HMAS Derwent. The HMAS Derwent – launched in December 1914 – has the distinction of being the first naval vessel to be built completely in Australia.
References:
- The Age, Tuesday 10 March 1914, page 10
- The Ballarat Star, Tuesday 9 June, 1914, page 1
- Commonwealth of Australia Gazette. Thursday 9 April 1914, Issue No. 19, page 659.
- The Daily The Telegraph, Friday 13 March 1914, page 10
- The Daily Telegraph, Thursday 13 May 1915, page 8
- Parker, R G, 1977, Cockatoo Island. A History. Thomas Nelson, Australia
- The Sun, Thursday 6 August 1914, page 5
- The Sunday Times, Sunday 20 December 1914, page 2.
- The Sydney Moring Herald, 15 March 1921, page 7
Article was originally published on 14 July 2023.
