Colonial Ammunition Company

Major John Whitney established an ammunition company with gunsmith William Hazard; however, the business failed and Whitney was left in debt. Whitney then established his own company Whitney & Sons the same year. This business was based on a 10 acres (4.0 ha) site on the slopes of Mount Eden and was the first factory producing munitions in Australasia. The business was successful and was rebranded into the Colonial Ammunition Company in 1888. The building initially employed children but this was outlawed by the Factories Act 1891, Whitney hired mostly women after this.

The Colonial Ammunition Company first branched out of munitions production in 1925 when it started producing crown seal bottle tops. In the 1950s it had started production of cosmetic products and aluminium foils. Further increasing the diversification of products were the acquisition of RodField Woollens in 1954 and Meredith Bros in 1961.

In June 1942, some ammunition manufacturing had been transferred to Hamilton. This production returned to Mount Eden after the end of the war. During the 1960s the company was acquired by Holeproof Industries who sold it to the Imperial Chemical Industries in 1965. It finally closed in 1982. Two buildings from the Colonial Ammunition Company remain, these are a bluestone building at 26 Normanby Road and the Colonial Ammunition Company office at 49 Normanby Road. The latter has a category I registration with Heritage New Zealand.

A factory was built in 1888 in Australia at Footscray, Victoria. It was founded by Captain John Whitney of CAC New Zealand in a joint venture with several of English partners and was a separate entity from the commercial New Zealand company. The Australian government leased the facility from CAC on 1 January 1921 and bought the facility outright in 1927 and renamed it the Small Arms Ammunition Factory No.1. Five other facilities were briefly opened during World War 2: a new factory at Footscray (SAAF No. 2), two more built at Hendon (SAAF No. 3 & No. 4), one built at Rocklea (SAAF No. 5), and one built at Welshpool (SAAF No. 6). The SAAF No. 1 facility was finally closed in 1945 and was replaced by the nearby SAAF No.2 facility. The facility is now more commonly known as Ammunition Factory Footscray (AFF).