The Electrolytic Zinc Company. Bell Bay Aluminium. The Titan factory.The wood chip industry. Cheap hydro electric power. Gunn's timber. The apple industry. The cray fish and scallop industries. The potato industry now being screwed. Etc Etc.
Good one Tailwheel and clearly well researchrd (not)!
EZ and Bell Bay were taxpayer funded (via almost free hydro) Gunns and the woodchips thrived on corruption, the apples were pulled by the government long before the greens had a single member and the overfishing was greed. Spuds ... ask Maccas.
This demise is in most part due to a better equipped better located competition who also happen to have a better and bigger plan.