Howard Smith Limited was an Australian industrial company. Founded in 1854 as a shipping company, it later diversified into coal mining, steel production, stevedoring, travel, railway rolling stock building, sugar production and retail. Its divisions began to be sold off in the 1990s with the remainder taken over by Wesfarmers in August 2001.
Shipping
On 7 July 1854 Captain William Howard Smith arrived in Melbourne from England as skipper of the 177 ton steamer Express in which he held a 50% share along with the ship's engineer, SB Skinner. On 3 October 1854, the Express began operating the first regular passenger service in Australia from Melbourne to Geelong. Smith sold his share in the business to Thomas Parker in 1861 and returned to England.[1][2]
In May 1864, Howard returned to Australia with the 672 ton Kief, a former British Army water carrier and entered the interstate coal trade with a service from Melbourne to Sydney and Newcastle. In 1875, Howard recommenced operating passenger services. Services were extended to Townsville in 1883, Adelaide in 1885 and Fremantle