Tyree Group – An Australian success story
Tyree Group is a standout example of modern Australian manufacturing excellence, combining eight decades of industrial innovation with a deep, sustained commitment to education, engineering, and community philanthropy. It is a story that began with Sir William Tyree’s entrepreneurial vision, and continues to grow rapidly as the world modernises, expanding its electrical infrastructure and transport systems for a decarbonised, digital future.
A great local manufacturer delivering the future today
Team Tyree brings together over 650 Australians and 50 New Zealanders, united in continuing the vision of Sir William Tyree and the Tyree family. Headquartered in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, the Tyree Group has built an enviable reputation for high quality manufacturing, engineering excellence and continued investment into modern manufacturing equipment and, most importantly, high-value job creation.
The Tyree Group structure
Tyree Group operates through four distinct yet complementary business streams: Tyree Cable, Tyree Transformers, Tyree New Zealand, and Tyree Switchboards. Together, they form an integrated network of transformer and cable manufacturing capabilities, serving multiple markets across the Pacific region.
Tyree Transformers widely recognised as a leading manufacturer of power and distribution transformers and substations, supplying utilities, industrials, defence, infrastructure, data centres, mining, renewable generation and energy storage projects across Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
Today, the Transformer business operates at a significant scale in manufacturing facilities across Braemar and Narellan, New South Wales; Yatala, Queensland; and Mangere, Auckland. These operations include nine modern, fully equipped workshops, providing more than 40,000 square metres of floor space. Together, these facilities support a vertically integrated manufacturing capability, ranging from pole mount and ground mount distribution transformers through to larger power transformers, kiosk substations, low voltage switchboards, and associated metal fabrication and finishing.
Tyree Cable is the cable and copper manufacturing division of the Tyree Group and a key contributor to the broader Australian electrical manufacturing industry. Its products are widely applied in sectors including transportation, infrastructure, manufacturing, agriculture, commercial, residential, industry, mining, and quarrying.
Operating from three manufacturing operations in South East Melbourne and utilising 35,000 square metres of factory space, Tyree Cable leverages advanced, globally benchmarked production machinery and automation.
Tyree Cable is also the only Australian manufacturer of copper rod used in the production of electrical cables. By sourcing raw copper cathode directly from Australian mines, Tyree applies the globally recognised, best-in-class UpCast process to produce electrical grade copper for both cable production and copper products used in packaging applications.
Tyree’s cable and copper operation stands as a compelling demonstration of how Australia’s resource wealth can be transformed into advanced manufacturing capability and export competitive products. This integrated copper supply chain enables Australian mined copper to be transformed into finished cable products onshore, supporting local jobs, strengthening industrial capability, and retaining the value of critical minerals within Australia.
Eighty years of continuity
Tyree’s recent celebration of 80 years in business underscores the durability of its founding vision and the resilience of its manufacturing base. Established by Sir William Tyree, the company’s origins lie in the post-war era of industrialisation and electrification, when Australia’s growing cities and industries required reliable, locally manufactured electrical equipment.
Across eight decades, the Group has navigated multiple waves of technological change, economic cycles and evolving policy shifts in energy and industry. What distinguishes Tyree is its sustained commitment to onshore manufacturing. Rather than offshoring production, the business has consistently invested in Australian and New Zealand capability, supporting high value added employment and delivering meaningful training and skills development opportunities.
The decision to maintain and grow local manufacturing capability enables Tyree to provide customers with secure, shorter supply chains, enhanced responsiveness, and products designed specifically for Australian and New Zealand conditions, produced using world-leading technology. It also positions the company as a key contributor to workforce development, supporting the training and employment of tradespeople, engineers, and technicians, sustaining critical industrial skills underpinning the energy transition and the broader economy.
Meeting the future
The continuous reinvestment of company profits into facilities, equipment, and our people has enabled Tyree to achieve a leading position in its target markets. This sustained investment has driven the expansion of workshop facilities, the acquisition of modern, world-leading equipment, and the adoption of advanced automation, robotics, and digitalisation.
More importantly, Tyree continues to invest in our people, building the skills required to lead its markets while driving continuous improvement to deliver best-in-class products. The continuous development of local manufacturing and engineering skills is in Tyree’s DNA, reflecting Sir William’s enduring mantra to always be “Future Ready”!
Supporting the energy transition
Tyree’s growth in recent years has been closely aligned with global and domestic shifts in energy systems, particularly the expansion of renewable generation, energy storage, and the electrification of transportation. The company has invested in products and capabilities that directly support grid-scale battery energy storage systems, solar and wind farms, and the broader modernisation of the electricity grid.
Tyree’s equipment also underpins the expansion of data centres, which demand reliable, high capacity electrical infrastructure and precise voltage regulation.
As electric vehicles, distributed energy resources, and digital loads reshape demand profiles, Tyree provides utilities and industry with practical solutions to manage these evolving requirements. Its transformer product portfolio spans step voltage regulators, kiosk substations, and larger power transformers. This positions the company at the centre of the infrastructure build out needed to meet net zero targets and broader electrification goals.
The Tyree Foundation story
At the heart of the Tyree story is the Sir William Tyree Foundation, established by Sir William and his family in the early 1970s and operating as an active philanthropic organisation to this day. The foundation focuses on supporting engineering, medical, and education initiatives, reflecting Sir William’s belief in the transformative power of technical education and research.
The Foundation has backed scholarships and programs at leading Australian universities, including initiatives for engineering students at institutions such as UNSW, the University of Queensland, RMIT, Curtin University, Newcastle University, the University of Tasmania, Central Queensland University and the University of South Australia. The Foundation also supported major cultural and educational initiatives, including a significant investment in the Powerhouse Parramatta museum development, as well as various programs supporting women in engineering and leadership.
A defining feature of the Tyree group’s structure is that it is fully Australian owned by a testamentary trust whose sole purpose is to provide profits for charitable distribution. As the company itself notes, no dividends are paid to shareholders; instead, profits flow into philanthropic activities through the Tyree Foundation and the sustainable reinvestment in the Tyree business.
Profits with a purpose
Within this unique ownership model, Tyree has embedded philanthropy into the core of its business by directing a substantial share of annual profits to the Tyree Foundation. This means that commercial success translates directly into expanded support for engineering education, medical research, and broader community initiatives.
In practical terms, fifty percent of Tyree Group's profits each year are committed to The Foundation’s work, an unusually high allocation in corporate philanthropy that underscores the Tyree family’s long term perspective and values. This approach aligns the interests of employees, customers, and communities by making growth in the business a driver of positive social and educational outcomes.
The foundation’s sustained investment in scholarships, research chairs, laboratories, and educational facilities has helped nurture successive generations of engineers and professionals. These programs not only honour Sir William’s and the Tyree family's legacy, but also reinforce the talent pipeline needed to keep Australia and New Zealand at the forefront of engineering and manufacturing innovation.
Continued family connection
Despite its scale and corporate sophistication, Tyree remains a family connected enterprise, with members of the Tyree family still actively involved in governance and oversight. This continuity provides a direct link for the company’s professional management team and all of Team Tyree back to Sir William’s founding vision, helping to ensure that decisions are guided by long term commitments rather than short term financial imperatives.
Family involvement also supports the close alignment between the operating Tyree Group businesses and the Tyree Foundation, ensuring that philanthropic objectives remain central to strategic planning. It reinforces a culture in which employees understand that their work contributes not only to commercial outcomes but also to broader social and educational benefits.
This continuity of ownership and purpose is particularly important in an era when many local manufacturing assets have passed through multiple corporate owners or been dismantled entirely. Tyree’s ability to maintain a coherent, values driven ownership structure over eight decades is a significant part of its story and a point of differentiation in the industrial landscape.
A model for Australian and New Zealand manufacturing
Tyree’s recent initiatives highlight how the company is evolving its culture and partnerships to meet contemporary industry expectations. The Group has embarked on a formal reconciliation journey, engaged with the Australian Energy Regulator on the role of transformers in the energy transition, remained an active participant in industry forums, and piloted a project to improve mental health outcomes in Australian manufacturing workplaces.
The business also continues to invest in apprenticeships, undergraduate scholars and early career development, regularly welcoming new apprentice cohorts and hosting community open days that showcase its manufacturing operations and career opportunities. These programs help sustain a pipeline of skilled workers and demonstrate that advanced manufacturing offers rewarding careers in both Australia and New Zealand.
All this underlines why Tyree stands as a powerful example of what Australian manufacturing can achieve: a company that designs and builds critical infrastructure domestically, supports the energy transition, and channels a significant share of its profits back into education, research, and community projects.
The achievements of the entire Tyree team, from the factory floor to the engineering office, the boardroom and the foundation, merit recognition as a leading model of both industrial excellence and social contribution.
