Summary

Registered in New South Wales in 1935.

Details

The company was formed by the BOC Group PLC (formerly the British Oxygen Company Ltd.) of the UK., to consolidate its Australian interests in the field of manufacture and distribution of oxygen, acetylene and other industrial gases, as well as its interest in the manufacture of industrial machinery for gas and electrical welding. It was incorporated in NSW in 1935.
The company had manufacturing centres in all the capital cities of Australia. In the early 1980s the company expand into the South Pacific, with operations in the Solomon Islands and the Philippines.
In October 1984 a 50/50 joint venture was entered into with The Australian Gas Light Company. This venture incorporated CIG's Energy Division and Australian Gas Light's Porta-Gas Division under the name of Elgas.
In 1985, the Company established its GIGWELD Division joining the facilities of it equipment and welding consumables facilities at Preston, Victoria.
In June 1986, W.A Flick & Co. (Holdings) Pty. Ltd. was acquired. In March 1987, the company acquired the business of Bestobell Engineering Products.
In 1989, the company sold its GIGWELD division, its interests in Philippines, welding Equipment and Bestobell Engineering Products. All were sold to management buyout groups.
The company is currently registered under the name BOC Gases Australia Limited.

Archival resources

National Library of Australia, Manuscripts Collection National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection

• The Commonwealth Industrial Gases Limited records, c. 1920 - 1986; National Library of Australia, Manuscripts Collection National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details

Published resources

Books

• C.I.G., Sydney, 1962, 24 pp. Details
• Mathews, John and Griffiths, Andrew, CIG Gas Cylinders: a decade of gainsharing through the common interest model, Industrial Relations Research Centre, University of NSW, Kensington, New South Wales, 1993, 61 pp. Details

Online Resources

• 'The Commonwealth Industrial Gases Ltd', in National Register of Archives, The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 4DU, United Kingdom, The National Archives (UK), 2004, http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra/searches/codocs.asp?CR=B1919. Details