Cheetham Salt Limited has a history dating back to 1888 when Richard Cheetham arrived in Geelong (Victoria) to establish a salt works near Point Henry and formed, with A.W. Cunningham "Richard Cheetham & Company". Clearing of land began and the first salt was produced in 1894.
Mr. Richard Cheetham

In 1903 the name of the organisation was changed to "The Cheetham Salt Proprietary Limited".

As demand for its products increased, The Cheetham Salt Proprietary Limited expanded, both within its home state of Victoria and into South Australia and Queensland to become a truly national company.

In the period of 1927 to 1934 the company gained a controlling interest in several South Australian salt producers and operated various salt fields through the Australian Salt Co. at Port Wakefield.

Marketing agreements were established with the Bowen Salt Co. in Queensland during 1934, the site later to be acquired by Cheetham in 1981 when it purchased Central Queensland Salt including their Bajool operations.

In 1971 the Ocean Salt Pty. Ltd. and its sister company Australian Salt Co. became wholly owned subsidiaries of Cheetham Salt Company Limited.

Ridley Corporation was formed in 1987. Diamond Salt Proprietary Limited was then established on August 24, 1988 with sites at Corio (near Geelong, Victoria) and Kevin (near Ceduna, South Australia).

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Ridley Corporation acquired Cheetham Salt Limited in June 1992, merging the facilities of Diamond Salt Proprietary Limited and Cheetham Salt Limited under the one name.

Lake MacDonnell (adjacent to the Kevin factory in South Australia) salt fields were acquired in September 1993.

Cheetham Salt's Corio refinery operations gained certification to ISO 9002 standard on July 15, 1994 followed on September 5, 1995 by all other Cheetham Salt locations.
Lake MacDonnell salt fields from the air

During 1996 a 50% share of Dominion Salt in New Zealand was acquired and an office was established in Jakarta, Indonesia as part of Cheetham Salt's international growth.

Development of processes and equipment in a continuous improvement plan has seen many advances leading to new found efficiencies. Notable was the design and installation of a new wash plant and stacker at Price in South Australia during 1996, 1997. A record salt harvest was returned at Price in 1998.
New Washplant at Price 1997
Late in 1999 Cheetham Salt purchased the Port Alma salt field. Operated by Cheetham Salt on behalf of another company for many years, this site now adds significant capability to Queensland operations
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Operations began at the PT Cheetham Garam salt refinery at Cilegon in Indonesia early in 2001

Cheetham Salt opened it's office in Tokyo, Japan.
Cheetham Salt was announced as the winner of the Victorian Premier's 2005 Business Sustainability Award in the Large Business Category for developing a waste hide salt recycling program at its Corio operations in Victoria.
The Victorian Premier's Award 2005 Business Sustainability Award
A significant purchase was made in 2005 when the huge Dry Creek salt field on the outskirts of Adelaide was acquired.
Sunrise at Dry Creek salt field
Cheetham Salt Limited is Australia's largest producer / refiner of salt products for food and industrial markets.
Salt Delivery Truck 2002