INSIDE This Edition EDITORS's NOTE
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No.26 - October 2012 CALLINGTON FLOUR MILL AT OATLANDS RESTORED Lincolnshire style windmill. Built to the highest In 2004 the concept of restoring the mill standards by John Vincent, speculator and sly and adjacent buildings to enable the mill to grog seller, the 15 m high sandstone tower mill produce flour from locally grown grain was had four floors and the best machinery and explored and, after a further round of planning grinding stones. While initially successful, a and assessment, this proposal was found to recession saw it pass through several hands be a viable option. Government grants of and the addition of a steam–driven mill to $2.4 million in 2008 enabled millwright Neil maintain production in calm weather. It finally Medcalf to design and fabricate an authentic closed in 1892-93 and fell into disrepair. set of mid 19th Century milling machinery, cap and sails in the UK and deliver them in 2010. Martin Farley from Creating Preferred Futures The sandstone tower remained a significant The millwright then installed the machinery and Hugh Murphy, Consulting Engineer landmark on the Oatlands skyline and attracted into the mill tower refurbished to meet current presented a paper on the recent restoration and periodic interest in its restoration. Some approvals to operate as a commercial mill. re-commissioning of this historic mill. works were carried out in 1976 with the aim of preventing further deterioration. For The four large sails have adjustable louvres This wind-driven flour mill built in 1837 the 1988 bi-centenary, funding allowed the to regulate the speed, and a clever fantail is back in business, with authentic replica re-installation of four timber floors, stairs and (tail rotor) turns the cap to keep the sails equipment producing a commercial product. a hemispherical cap. In 1999 a new fantail was pointing into the wind. Through wooden It is Australia’s only remaining example of a installed on the cap. Continued on page 3 LOST IN SPACE? BIOGRAPHY ACROSS THE HEMISPHERES INSIDE this edition Mike Chrimes, Institution of Civil Engineers 2 16th ENGINEERING HERITAGE AUSTRALIA CONFERENCE UK, was a keynote speaker who is still deeply Hobart November 2011 involved in the ICE Biographical Dictionary of ......................................................................... Civil Engineers project. His paper addressed 2 16th ENGINEERING HERITAGE AUSTRALIA CONFERENCE the challenges of engineering biography. Here Pre-conference tour November 2011 are a few snippets: ......................................................................... 3 MOBILE APPS for Heritage ......................................................................... Selecting great engineers: How does one 4 MURTOA STICK SHED ......................................................................... measure the greatness of an engineer – Engineers inspecting the Sydney 4 TASMANIAN TRANSPORT MUSEUM innovation, great work(s), aggregate scale of Harbour Bridge ......................................................................... contribution, size of estate/wealth, legisla- their association with the bridge globally 5 GETTING IT RIGHT tive impact, contribution to the profession? while Bradfield, despite his considerable ......................................................................... Mike gave examples where well known names engagement with ICE, had never really been 6 HOBART’S FLOATING BRIDGE, 1943-1964 ......................................................................... may have had a lesser claim than others, appreciated for his work on the development 6 ANCIENT & MEDIEVAL ARTILLERY when more research was done. Although the of Sydney outside Australasia. ......................................................................... early great names – Smeaton, Telford and 7 PROTECTING AUSTRALIA’S OLDEST BRIDGE Rennie – held their own by most criteria, in Access to biographical information: The ......................................................................... the Victorian period the relatively unknown greatest challenge facing biographical 7 THE ENGINEERING OF BUDJ BIM ......................................................................... (to the public at least) Sir John Hawkshaw researchers seeking information across the 8 SUBMARINES in Australia scored highest in most categories. world was access to information to create ......................................................................... a full biography. Thanks to the efforts of 8 STEAM TUG WATTLE - a restoration story Credit for great works: Mike quoted several various national archives, the Mormon examples in which due credit was in dispute: Church and www.ancestry.co.uk, a good deal EDITORS’S NOTE the development of NSW railways (Whitton of basic genealogical information was now Unlike usual editions of the EHA newsletter, or Fowler?), the Port of Melbourne (Coode?) available over the internet for researchers. this edition is concerned solely with the 2011 and the Mersey Tunnel in the UK (Brodie Hobart Engineering Heritage Conference. or the consultant/contractor?). In relation Careers in two hemispheres: Tracking Papers selected by the conference committee to the Sydney Harbour Bridge (Bradfield or British engineers who came to Australia can be and EHA board members have been summa- Freeman?), Mike’s own view was that difficult if they did not come directly, e.g. via rised by them for a general readership. Most Freeman Fox and Partners capitalised on time in India. In relation to Melbourne’s Yan of the papers referred to will be published shortly in a special edition of the Australian Journal of Multidisciplinary Engineering. Continued on page 3 16th ENGINEERING 16th ENGINEERING HERITAGE AUSTRALIA CONFERENCE HERITAGE AUSTRALIA Pre-conference tour November 2011 CONFERENCE Hobart November 2011 As a precursor to the Engineering Heritage During the afternoon there was a brief stop at Australia Conference, a pre-conference tour the 110 m high Cethana concrete faced rockfill was conducted to showcase the engineering dam, recognised as a National Engineering The 16th Engineering Heritage Australia highlights of Tasmania to conference Landmark. Conference was held at the Wrest Point participants. The tour began by heading north Conference Centre in Hobart on 13-16 through Hobart, crossing the River Derwent Day Three began with an optional inspection November 2011. Delegates numbered 110 via the Bridgewater Causeway and Bridge of Robert Sticht’s former office at the Mount and there were 40 accompanying persons. (1942) with its recently re-furbished vertical Lyell Mining & Railway Co. Robert Sticht lift span. From here we followed the Heritage joined the company in 1893 and became its Highway to Oatlands where some of the group first general manager (1897 -1922). He was The Governor of Tasmania opened the were able to inspect the re-commissioned 1837 responsible for the economical pyritic smelting conference. Professor Geoffrey Blainey and Callington wind-driven flour mill. process which used the combustion of the Michael Chrimes were the two keynote sulphur in the ore to replace expensive NSW speakers. Further north the convict built Ross Bridge coal. and the Red Bridge at Campbell Town were Forty-four papers were presented in two admired and photographed. The latter was The main attraction of the day was a trip on combined sessions and fourteen parallel strengthened in 2000 using the Archtec system the iconic West Coast Wilderness Railway sessions over two & a half days. Each of tension rods over its three red brick arches. from Queenstown to Regatta Point, Strahan. presenter was given 20 minutes for the This vital rail connection had been built by the presentation within a 30 minute period. The In Launceston the tour stopped for lunch MLM&R Co. in 1895-6 to export its copper two lecture rooms were adjacent allowing at the Queen Victoria Museum where the to the Mainland. The line was closed in 1963 blacksmith’s shop of the former Tasmanian but with the aid of a $20M government grant, easy transfer between presentations. The Railway Workshops was visited. After lunch we work commenced in 2000 on re-opening the rooms were amalgamated for the opening travelled via the East Tamar Highway and the railway as a tourist venture. The 35 km rail session. Batman Bridge (the first cable-stayed bridge in line follows the steep sided, densely wooded Australia, 1968) to the Beaconsfield Mine & Queen and King River valleys, via steep grades The setting of Wrest Point alongside the Heritage Centre. This gold mine had three of and narrow cuttings. Three original steam Derwent River provided a spectacular the largest mine pumping steam engines in the locomotives have been fully restored to run on setting for conference attendees to enjoy world before closing in 1914, but reopened in the line. morning and afternoon teas, and lunches. the 1990s. The Museum includes a model of All delegates enjoyed the wonderful vista the tiny cage where two miners were trapped During the afternoon, the tour continued and hospitality provided. underground for two weeks in 2005. onto Zeehan for an inspection of its Pioneers Memorial Museum. On Day Two the tour stopped for an inspection Social functions during the conference of Pearn’s Steam World at Westbury. Large and Sunday started with an inspection of the Upper consisted of a Welcome Reception, a small working steam traction engines (Foden Lake Margaret Power Station, one of the reception at Government House and the and Fowler) were on display here,