Historical information

Port of Portland Collection
Bradken, originally Bradford and Kendall, began as a steel foundry in Sydney in 1920 and produced BK anvils at its factories in Alexandria and Mascot NSW.
Leslie Bradford (General Manager) and Jim Kendall (Chief Mechanical Engineer), two BHP steelworks employees, got lucky at the races one day in 1920 and pledged their £15,000 winnings to start a steel foundry business. The horse they backed, ‘Jack Findlay’ completed a remarkable sequence of five wins during 1919 and 1920. With each win Leslie Bradford, Jim Kendall and a group of friends rolled-over their bets. By January 24, 1920 they had won a small fortune. On April 28 1920, the group used their winnings to establish the Alloy Steel Syndicate and build a steel foundry in Alexandria, Sydney to take advantage of what they saw as an untapped potential for industrial growth. Bradford Kendall Ltd was incorporated on 20th March 1922.

Physical description

Metal blacksmiths anvil. An anvil is used by blacksmiths to forge and shape his work pieces. The conical horn is used for hammering curved work pieces. The anvil is a common tool of the blacksmiths (‘smithies’) and other metalworkers. There has been very little change in the basic design of the anvil since Greek and Roman times.

Blacksmith anvil, 5CWT, iron
BK Sydney Australia.

Inscriptions & markings

Front: 'BK SYDNEY AUST. 5CWT'
Back: -