History of WA Salt Supply

For fifty four years W.A. Salt Supply has provided salt to the local and international
market.This proud history is a testiment to the hard work of it's founders and the
determination that drives the company today.

WA Salt Supply was founded in 1945 by three brothers: Arthur, Jack, and George Lister.

Before this time the brothers had been involved in goldmining in the goldfields at Widgiemooltha, Western Australia.

Falling gold prices and a shortage of salt available on the local market led the Lister brothers to consider a change in career. The Listers turned their hands to harvesting salt from Lake Lefroy, a natural salt lake near Widgemooltha. In the beginning the salt was shovelled by hand into carts pulled by horses, and packed in hessian bags.

Later trucks were introduced, some of which sank below the surface of the lake under their heavy loads.

In 1953 the youngest brother, Arthur, moved to the Port of Fremantle to establish a packaging and distribution centre for the salt harvested from Lake Lefroy.

Over the years the demand for salt in Western Australia greatly increased, largely due to the emergence of chlor-alkali industries requiring

substantial tonnages of salt.

Over time, newly emerging markets developed for salt in domestic swimming pools, oil exploration, food processing, and water treatment. In the early 1970s, as the demand for salt increased further, the family relocated

their activities to Lake Deborah, Koolyanobbing.

At Lake Deborah salt was available in larger reserves, at higher quality, and in closer proximity to rail infrastructure. At the same time the Lister family established a new salt operation on the Pink Lake, at Esperance on Western Australia's southern coast.

The salt from this lake would cater for the skin and hide treatment plants in the state's south-west.

During the early 1990s a push into South-East Asia opened up new markets for the Company. As the export side of the business was developed, more opportunities arose to send salt even further afield.

The company began to export salt to the United Kingdom for chemical processing, to Shell in Brunei for oil exploration, to seaweed processors in Tonga, and textile dyers in Mauritius.

The new millennium will see the Company further expand its export markets, with a move into Japan as this country deregulates its salt industry.