Engineering Heritage Victoria Newsletter – July 2012
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Engineering Heritage Victoria Newsletter – July 2012 This is an occasional newsletter from Engineering Heritage Victoria sent to all members on our mailing list. Enquiries, discussion or correspondence related to the Newsletter should be directed to the Editor at [email protected] or address postal correspondence to the Chairman, Engineering Heritage Victoria, Engineers House, 21 Bedford Street, North Melbourne, Vic 3051. Editorial In the February issue I called for stories and anecdotes to reflect engineers and engineering in the various Victoria Division Regions. I was disappointed that I got absolutely no response to this call. It was equally disappointing to get no response to a call for volunteers to help establish an Oral History Program (see page 11). Sydney Division can shame us in this regard. And on the subject of Sydney Division, I have included an article by Ian Bowie in which he gives an interesting collection of web sites to explore. Ian Bowie has been a member of the Sydney Division Engineering Heritage Committee for about as long as it has existed (long before I joined it in 1983). For his work on the committee he was given Engineering Heritage Australia’s Award of Merit on 19th April 2010. 1. Guest Speakers & Other Functions – 2012 FUTURE FUNCTIONS: 6th & 8th August 2012 – Event Title: Discover Engineering Heritage — Melbourne Walking Tour Host: Engineering Heritage Victoria Subject & Venue: A two hour walk and tram exploration of the engineering heritage of Melbourne’s CBD, starting at Federation Square and finishing at Melbourne Central, Melbourne, VIC Time: Monday 6th August and W ednesday 8th August 10:00am until 12:00am Description: Melbourne was founded in 1835 and grew very rapidly during the gold rush of the 1850s. Its heyday as Marvellous Melbourne was in the 1880s. Today it is a major metropolis housing more than 4 million Melburnians who come from many countries. More than one-in-three of us were born overseas. Engineering has played a huge part in Melbourne’s development, and this tour will explore some of the engineering heritage gems of the city. An early focus was on transport infrastructure, principally to facilitate the importation and movement of people and goods. The wealth from the gold rush enabled the city to develop rapidly and magnificently. The guided tour will take in some of the city bridges, selected buildings of note from an engineering heritage perspective and evidence of some early utility services. Participants will need to be comfortable with walking a total distance of about 5 km and choose footwear accordingly. A rain jacket or coat may also be advisable depending on the weather forecast for the tour days. It is planned to have a stop at a coffee shop for refreshment part of the way through the tour. This tour is free, but Registration is essential as places are limited. Go to: http://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/events/discover-engineering-heritage-melbourne-walking-tour-0 Have fun exploring the centre of our city! STOP PRESS — UNFORTUNATELY THE TOURS ARE BOOKED OUT – ALL PLACES ARE TAKEN AND REGISTRATIONS ARE CLOSED 16th August 2012 – Event Title: Barwon Heads Bridge — History or Heritage? Speaker: David Beauchamp Host: Engineering Heritage Victoria Location: Engineers Australia John Connell Auditorium, 21 Bedford St., North Melbourne Time: 5:30 pm refreshments, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm presentation. The Subject: The Barwon Heads Bridge, built in 1927, near the mouth of the Barwon River, was the largest timber bridge built for the Country Roads Board. During its life it was altered, widened and strengthened to meet changing traffic requirements. In 1999 it was placed on the Victorian Heritage Register. Because of the high cost of maintenance of the bridge, and concern about its load carrying capacity, VicRoads, in 2005, commissioned a study of ten options for a new bridge at three different locations. In 2006 it was announced that the bridge was to be demolished and replaced. After a huge public outcry to save the bridge the Government set up an Advisory Committee to look at alternative solutions for the bridge. VicRoads first attempt at meeting the Committee's recommendations was much criticised. The final solution was to dismantle the existing bridge and replace it with a steel and concrete ‘replica', which is on the Victorian Heritage Register and build a timber clad, concrete pedestrian and cyclist bridge downstream from the new road bridge. This talk covers the history of the original bridge, a description of the new bridges and examines the question of the heritage value of the new road bridge. Engineering Heritage Victoria Newsletter — July 2012 Page 2 The Speaker: David Beauchamp is a forensic and heritage engineer and deputy chair of Engineering Heritage Victoria. In 2002 he wrote a conservation management plan for the Barwon Heads Bridge. In 2006 he prepared a 'Cultural Heritage Study of the Options for Replacing the Barwon Heads Bridge' and he subsequently prepared a conservation management plan for VicRoads’ 2007 proposal for a new bridge. W hen this proposal was rejected in 2008, he wrote a further conservation management plan for the bridge that has now been built. Barwon Heads Road Bridge in 2011 Barwon Heads Bridge in 2001 To Register, go to: http://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/events/ehv-guest-speaker-program-david-beauchamp-barwon-heads-bridge-controversy-rebuilding 18th October 2012 – Event Title: Goldfields Railways Seminar No Further Information Available at Present FUNCTIONS PAST: Tuesday 17th April — On a brief visit to Melbourne from the UK, Dr Michael Bailey spoke on Learning Through Examination: The Archaeology of Early Steam Locomotives. About the Speaker: Dr. Michael Bailey is a Fellow and Past-President of the Newcomen Society – the International Society for the History of Engineering and Technology. He is also a Vice-President of the Stephenson Locomotive Society. He is a lecturer, author and museum consultant on early railway technology. He was a Trustee of the Museum of Science & Industry in Manchester for many years until it was absorbed into the National Museum of Science & Industry in February this year. The Subject: The world’s museums of science, industry and transport possess major collections of machinery which have been assembled over many years – in some cases since the mid-19th century. Together they form a major resource from which to learn much about the history and progress of machinery design, materials and manufacturing methods, and provide us with an understanding of mechanical progress. Museums have usually been unable to pursue comprehensive archival and archaeological research of their artefacts. The collections include early steam locomotives, which Dr Bailey has spent many years studying. He has undertaken several detailed archaeological studies on locomotives for museums in Britain and Canada, the findings from which have been written up as papers and books. These locomotives range between Stephenson’s Rocket of 1829, to Canada’s oldest industrial and main line locomotives, dating from 1838 and 1872 respectively. He has also been closely involved in underwater archaeology of early locomotive components, dating from 1857, recovered from a Scottish shipwreck site. Dr Michael Bailey Dr Bailey’s fascinating illustrated talk took in all the above projects, as well as describing his involvement in the research and manufacture of operable replica locomotives for museums in Britain and Denmark. His studies have added significantly to our understanding of early locomotive technology which Dr Bailey summarised at the conclusion of his talk. Engineering Heritage Victoria Newsletter — July 2012 Page 3 On Thursday 19th April, Richard Gillespie, the Head of the Department of History and Technology at the Museum of Victoria, spoke about The Great Melbourne Telescope. About the Subject: The Great Melbourne Telescope is one of the great hidden stories of 19th century Australia. Designed by leading British astronomers and erected at Melbourne Observatory in 1869, the telescope was then the second largest telescope in the world. It was designed to explore the nature of the nebulae in the southern skies. W ere the nebulae really clouds of gas, the birthplace of stars, or were they distant clusters of stars? Only a large telescope could help resolve this question. For Melburnians in the 1870s and 1880s, the telescope was tangible evidence of Melbourne’s claim to being the leading metropolis of the southern hemisphere. The telescope became a symbol of Marvellous Melbourne. Incredibly, the telescope had a second and a third life; transferred to Mount Stromlo Observatory near Canberra in 1945, it was rebuilt for new astronomical projects. In the 1990s it detected compelling evidence of dark matter. Now returned to Melbourne, it is being restored for a new life. Few telescopes in the world have had such a rich history. About the Speaker: Richard Gillespie is Head of the History and Technology Department at Museum Victoria. He is an historian of science who has focused on the interactions between scientific practice, institutional contexts, politics and society. Richard is a member of a team of astronomers, engineers and museum staff working on the restoration of the Great Melbourne Telescope and its return to its original site at Melbourne Observatory. Gillespie has written a book about the Telescope. A design drawing for the Great Melbourne Telescope To find out more go to: http://m useum victoria.com .au/about/books-and-journals/books/history-and-technology/ The erection of the Great Melbourne Telescope in 1869 Thursday 14th June — Robert la Nauze spoke on the Engineer to Marvellous Melbourne: The Life & Times of William Thwaites. About the Speaker: Robert La Nauze is a chemical engineer. After obtaining a PhD from the University of Melbourne, he undertook post-doctoral research at the University of Cambridge. Returning to Australia in 1979 he joined the CSIRO and, in 1985, he was awarded the Senior Moulton Medal by the Institution of Chemical Engineers, London.