The basic hand tool has been around longer than humanity itself, that’s common knowledge at this point. But did you know that the first ever traditional axe was discovered in Australia? Invented by Indigenous Australians and found in the 90s, evidence of the first ever hafted axe was discovered in 2014. Axes have been around for longer than the polished stone found here, but those were much simpler “hand axes”, not the hafted axe we see today.
A lot of the older tools in Australia were from the UK in one way or another. For many years, we imported tools from Sheffield, England – a city well known for its production of tools even as far back as the 14th century. Before we had the facilities ourselves, a lot of our assorted hand tools came from there. As well as this, the Aboriginal people would salvage metal and flint from the British settlers’ ships to craft their own tools; in 2016, archaeologists discovered a collection of tools and artifacts built out of flint – a rock not found in Sydney where the tools were found. Instead, the materials were matched with the flint found in the river Thames, where rocks would often be collected and used for ballast in the ships.
Moving forward, the gold rush brought a lot of old and new tools to Australia. Tools to find gold, such as pans and cradles, to pickaxes and shovels, were all imported to Australia for the influx of miners and gold seekers. A large number of the first gold mining tools were built in California, but soon after the gold rush started, manufacturing began in Australia to keep up with the demand.
Today, Australia has a rich, thriving tool manufacturing industry! We still import certain tools from overseas, including Sheffield, England – but a lot of our tools are built here in Australia, with Australian steel.