The aluminium industry had a small and difficult beginning in Australia, but over time has become a large, valuable and expanding industry. It began in 1914 with the die casting of aluminium products on a small scale, using imported aluminium. Aluminium conductors were first made in Australia in 1922 but it was not until the 1930s that major expansion of the industry occurred. In 1936, the Australian Aluminium Company was established at Granville in Sydney, with its production limited to military requirements.

In April 1941, the Commonwealth Government decided Australia should be independent of overseas supplies of aluminium and resolved that a smelter be established. Construction of Australia's first aluminium smelter began in 1948 at Bell Bay in Tasmania and the first ingot was smelted in September 1955.

In its first full year of operation, output totaled 9000 tonnes. Initially, all bauxite used by the plant was imported, mainly from Malaysia and Indonesia. The discovery during the 1950s of massive deposits of bauxite in Australia attracted worldwide interest to the aluminium industry in Australia.

This interest was sparked again in the 1970s. High prices for oil used to generate electric power elsewhere in the world caused aluminium producers to look for cheaperand reliable sources of power. Australia's coal-fired electricity generation systems were a major inducement for large-scale aluminium producers to establish in Australia.