Chapter 6
I Construction During The Settlement Years
II The Use Of Timber As A Structural Material
III Structural Steel
IV Concrete Technology
V Housing
VI Industrialised Pre-cast Concrete Housing
VII Ports And Harbours
VIII Roads
IX Heavy Foundations
X Bridges
XI Sewerage
XII Water Engineering
XIII Railways
XIV Major Buildings
XV Airports
XVI Thermal Power Stations
XVII Materials Handling
XVIII Oil Industry
XIX The Snowy Mountains Scheme
XX The Sydney Opera House
XXI The Sydney Harbour Bridge
XXII Hamersley Iron
XXIII North West Shelf
Sources and References
Index
Search
Help
Contact us
Next to water, the most urgent need in the infant settlement was an adequate supply of food. While wheat could be grown with some difficulty, one of the great concerns of the early Governors was to establish efficient mills for grinding wheat into flour, which was the principal source of carbohydrate. One of the earliest millwrights, a prisoner called James Wilkinson, produced a walking machine, the principal wheel of which was 15 feet in diameter. It was operated by two men walking inside, but because of the shrinkage of timbers in the morticed wheels and the failure of timber cogs was not a success. It was superseded by larger and more robust machines which, in due course, were sequentially powered by wind, water and steam. The needs of the community were satisfied and the age of mechanical engineering had arrived in Australia.
People in Bright Sparcs - Holland, Sir John; MacGillivray, Alistair; Wilkinson, James
 |
Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering |  |
© 1988 Print Edition page 318, Online Edition 2000
Published by Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, using the Web Academic Resource Publisher
http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/316.html