Lal Lal Iron Mine and Smelting Works were located close to the western branch of the Moorabool River, near the town of Lal Lal, Victoria, Australia, which lies on the Geelong-Ballarat railway line about 19 km from Ballarat. From 1875 to 1884, pig iron was made there in a blast furnace using iron ore mined at the site, locally produced charcoal, and limestone from a nearby deposit.
Localisation
The works ultimately proved to be uneconomic. It remains the only attempt to establish an iron smelting industry in Victoria. The ruin of the blast furnace on the site is one of only three extant 19th-century blast furnace structures in Australia—the other ones being in northern Tasmania and southern New South Wales—and it is the only one of its type in the southern hemisphere. The site is on the Victorian Heritage Register (No. 1759) and the Register of the National Estate.