Charles Julius Otte

OTTE, Charles Julius Louis Ronald, (1861-1898)

Charles Julius Otte was an electrical engineer who brought the first electric lighting to Perth in the 1890s. His life in Australia reflected the challenges of working with new technology that saw him become insolvent in 1890, dismissed in 1893 and ended up working as a fitter for the NSW Postmaster General in 1897.

Education and early career,
He was born On May 10, 1861 in Islington, Middlesex, England, the son of Henry Frederich Christian Otte and his wife Dora Otte. Otte served part of his apprenticeship with Edison and his Electric Company, before travelling to Australia after 1881.

By 1885 he was operating as an electrical engineer in Pitt Street, Sydney, and also in 1885 he returned to London; coming back to Australia on the Harland on November 12, 1886. Otte married Alice Mary Walker on December 5, 1887 in Marrickville NSW.

He established his own company, CJ Otte & Co with Mr Patrick Green of Adelaide in 1888, before selling the business to Harrison and Whiffen. Otte was declared insolvent in South Australia in 1890 and became the Manager for Crompton Electrical Supply in that State.

Engineering contribution
Otte arrived in Fremantle on the Bullara with his wife and two children on April 2 1891, having secured contracts to install electric lighting for flour mills in Northam and Katanning, as well as timber mills in Karridale.

By May of the same year, Otte had secured a contract to bring electric lighting to the Midland Junction Railway Workshops. The Daily Mail explained the lighting mechanism:
The dynamo which supplies the light is one of Crompton's latest improved compound wound, with a capacity of six large arc lights of 3,000 candlepower each, or over 50 incandescent lamps of 20 candle power.

On 5 Dec 1891, Otte conducted an electric lighting trial inside the Legislative Assembly building in Perth and the Western Mail newspaper reported:
Three handsome electroliers have been suspended from the roof of the chamber, and in the reporters' gallery ... the trial last night proved a great success, the lights being exceptionally brilliant and steady, and each of the electroliers containing seven 20 candle power lamps. With the windows of the Assembly all closed and the lights lit for two and a half hours, the temperature of the Chamber was very perceptibly lower than an adjacent one lit by gas, while of course the candle power of each individual lamp was very considerably higher..

That morning, Otte had started a temporary Central Electric Lighting Station in Howick street (now Hay Street). The plant, located at the back of their office consisted of a Tangye boiler and a 30 indicated horse power Chandler high speed silent engine, with a Crompton 200 light dynamo. The advantage of this system of lighting is that the machinery can be compressed into a small space, and being on the direct driven system, it does not necessitate the use of the ordinary belting and counter shafting.

In May 1891, a prospectus had been issued for the new W.A. Electric Light and Power Co, with seven directors and an initial capital of £20,000, in £1 shares. Otte was appointed as Superintendent Engineer, and set about preparing plans and specifications to provide lighting to over 1,000 incandescent lamps to a radius of over one mile in Perth and Albany. The new firm bought out the C J Otte & Co business in April 1892 and Otte was appointed as manager.

In the following years, Otte set about developing the required workshops and training staff. Perth's first electric street light was erected at the corner of Lord and Wellington Streets in 1892.

Legacy
Amid controversy in 1893, the WA Electric Light and Power Company abandoned the contract to supply street lighting to the Perth City Council, under fears that the scheme would not be profitable, and Otte was dismissed under allegations of misconduct. In a subsequent civil trial, the Judge found that the Company had no valid reason for dismissing Otte and awarded him £150 in damages.

The Perth Gas Company went on to provide street lighting to the City of Perth.

Otte returned to Sydney and was working as a fitter for the NSW Postmaster General in 1897. He died in the Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney on May 16, 1898.

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