JAMES CUMMING & SONS

Home » About

A historic name in the Australian iron and steel industry

About James
Cumming & Sons

Filtration industry innovation milestones

A proud history of innovation

Few businesses can claim more than a century-long legacy.

James Cumming, with experience owning and operating blacking mills in Scotland, migrated to Australia and founded James Cumming & Sons in Sydney in 1909.

Assisted by Jack Lang, later a New South Wales Premier, the Cumming family bought land on Parramatta Road, Auburn and initially supplied blacking for steelworks, then expanded into industrial minerals. In the 1980s, steel production changes phased out blacking. Motivated by government water filtration mandates, James Cumming & Sons established a plant and started manufacturing industrial filter media.

Multiple sack of Australian filtered coal placed in the yard of a warehouse

Pioneering Australian Filter Coal

At the time, dual media filtration with sand and imported anthracite was the most common method. However, company owner John Cumming identified a high-quality local bituminous coal as an alternative to expensive imported anthracites.

This Australian Filter Coal has superior Hardness, Acid Solubility and Specific Gravity characteristics that enhance filtration performance.
John Cumming equipped the plant to produce C&S Brand Australian Filter Coal to the exact particle sizing for the water treatment industry. In the mid-1990s, we began producing coal-based Activated Carbons in response to water treatment demand.

James Cumming historical timeline

Our ongoing journey in coal and carbon

Now, with over 115 years of industry expertise, we have a modern team, including tradespeople, technical sales engineers and experts in Filter Coal and Activated Carbon.

Our mission remains the same – to manufacture on specification products leading to environmentally positive outcomes, particularly with leading water filtration, purification materials and environmental remediation products.

We proudly service the environmental services industry, including water treatment, air purification and soil rehabilitation, as well as the iron, steel and glass-manufacturing sectors.

Our product range

Contact us

for your Filter Coal, Activated Carbon and Carbon additive needs

Subscribe to Newsletter:

icon
icon
icon
icon
icon
icon
icon