Let’s return to Rhodes one more time…

In 1913, Robert Tulloch relocated the Phoenix Iron Works from Pyrmont to Rhodes, cementing, along with the Hoskins cast iron foundry and Timbrol Chemicals, the suburb’s reputation as an industrial area.

Tulloch’s Phoenix Iron Works stood on what is now the HP building at Rhodes Corporate Park. During the Second World War, Phoenix produced a number of ships, and in the 1960s, manufactured CityRail’s rolling stock of train cars. RailCorp’s modern-day tendency to keep crusty old trains servicing high volume areas can be seen as a tribute to Tulloch’s work.

A tribute of another kind exists opposite the Corporate Park:

Yes, what better way to honour a man who’d spent his life in Iron Works than to erect an Iron Work in his memory.

Aeroplane Press, September 1974.

The Phoenix Iron Works closed in 1974, but other reminders remain in the area, including Phoenix Ave, seen above, and Tulloch Ave:

The Chinese restaurant in the nearby Rhodes shopping centre is also named Phoenix. It’s a fitting metaphor for Rhodes, rising as it did from the ashes of industrial abuse to become a vibrant suburb in the 21st century.