Typical innovative applications of concrete technology in progressive practice briefly exemplified in the following chronological review:

Mass concrete footings and turrets of houses, Annandale, New South Wales, 1870.

Beetaloo Dam, South Australia, the largest concrete dam constructed at the time south of the Equator, 1888.

Barossa Dam, one of the world's first 60 m radius true arch dams, South Australia, 1901.

Precast concrete lighthouse, Bradley's Head, Sydney, 1904.

Melbourne Public Library, 35 m diameter octagon surrounded by stacked-book annules and surmounted by what was then the largest reinforced concrete dome in the world, 1906.

Concrete pipe manufacture by the centrifugal vibrospin process, originated by W. R. Hume in Australia, 1910.

The Sunderland method of cement-penetration macadam road construction is pioneered by consolidating coarse-stone aggregate in two layers enclosing steel-fabric reinforcement, and filling the voids with cement sand grout and surface-grade aggregate. The system originated in Sandringham, Victoria, in the 1920s and became extensively used throughout Australia.

By 1935 Australian pre-mixed concrete companies were established to become placed amongst the most advanced in the world.

Rocla roller-suspension vibrospin process of manufacture of precast and prestressed reinforced concrete pipes was pioneered at Springvale, Victoria, during 1943 and used for the first time to construct the Fish River and Lithgow Water Supply pipelines, using rubber gasket joints, New South Wales, 1944-45.

Australian pioneered reinforced concrete building panels, 80-90 mm thick and up to 13 m long, are prefabricated and precast on industrialised assembly-line steel tables, prior to being transported to building-estate sites and bolted together to form miscellaneous home units for the Victorian Housing Commission, Holmesglen, Victoria, 1945.

Economic factory-to-site usage of prestressed concrete units proves advantageous, in the first Australian bridge built with precast prestressed units at Bowral, New South Wales, 1952.

High quality concrete masonry manufacture was established at Adelaide in 1954, using a high-speed Besser Vibrapac machine. This installation is followed by other fully or semi-automatic plants during the next decade or so throughout Australia. Industrialised versatility is exemplified by high-pressure steam autoclave curing or burner curing, and in facilities for producing colour-toned, split-ribbed blocks, split-faced bricks, and interlocking paving units.

Multi-storey building efficiency is being improved with reinforced or prestressed concrete flat-plate floor construction, giving rise to height saving and reticulation servicing advantages, e.g. Caltex House, Sydney, 1957.

Victorian 'Shalite' expanded shale lightweight-aggregate concrete is made to economic advantage in the construction of the 28-storey 'Consolidated Zinc' steel-frame building. Concreting practices are carefully controlled with the use of high-frequency vibrators, or vibrating-screed and 'jitter-bug' means of compaction, followed by surface finishing and thorough curing to ensure uniform moisture conditions in the maturing concrete, Melbourne, 1962.

Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering