History of LPG
Australia's LPG story begins in 1936, when Sydney motor
mechanic Ernie Steventon was shown the flame of an LPG cylinder and encouraged to build a business around it. Recognising its potential, he began importing cylinders from the United States and touring rural shows to demonstrate this new, portable fuel to farmers and households still reliant on wood and coal for cooking and heating.
Interest grew quickly. Farmers accustomed to unreliable, labour-intensive fuel sources found in LPG a clean, consistent alternative that could be delivered by cylinder to even the most isolated properties. Word travelled between rural communities, and a small but committed group of early distributors and equipment manufacturers began building the infrastructure needed to store, transport and supply the new fuel more widely.
Through the 1940s and 1950s, LPG spread steadily across regional Australia, prized for the reliable, controllable heat it offered in places without access to reticulated gas or, in many cases, even electricity. Its portability made it a natural fit for a country defined by distance, and appliance manufacturers developed a growing range of stoves, heaters and hot water systems designed specifically around it.
Australia's post-war refinery boom transformed LPG's prospects again, creating a large and reliable domestic supply as a by-product of oil refining. Distributors, and equipment and appliance manufacturers moved quickly to capture the opportunity, expanding LPG's reach from rural properties into suburban homes, growing industry and, eventually, vehicles as autogas.
By the mid-1950s, LPG had grown from a niche curiosity into a fuel with genuine national significance, used in kitchens, workshops and industry across the country. This rapid growth brought new challenges around safety, consistency and standards, setting the stage for an industry mature enough to need its own peak body, established in 1958 to guide its safe and orderly growth.
Today, that same adaptability continues to define LPG, as the fuel evolves once again to include renewable liquid gases alongside its conventional form.