1940s
Holden starts manufacturing its first Australian-designed and built car
1940
MTEA members raise funds for a Spitfire for the RAAF
This picture captures MTEA President John Heine handing to Prime Minister Robert Menzies a cheque for £7500 — a gift from MTEA to the British Government — to buy a Spitfire fighter plane.
1943
Leaders of the metal industries in SA, Victoria, NSW and QLD decide at a conference in Melbourne in February to form a national association of employers — the Australian Metal Industries Association (AMIA).
Subsequently, the metal trades section of the Western Australian Employers’ Federation becomes affiliated and later, the Metal Industries Employers’ Association of Western Australia becomes a member of AMIA.
AMIA functioned until October 1970, when it merged with Metal Trades Industry Association of Australia (MTIA), which began operating from February 1970.