Tasmania's Engineering History

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  Double Deck Tram Elizabeth St Hobart c1900 (Photo:Taaffe Collection)

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  Duck Reach Power Station (Photo: SLTAS)

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  Bridgewater Bridge 2018 April (Photo: P1040884)

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  Floating Bridge Gothic (Photo: SLTAS)

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  Floating bridge - near the end 16/08/1964 (Photo: SLTAS)

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  Tasman and Floating bridges ES (Photo: SLTAS)

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  Tasman bridge - 2020 August (Photo: Taaffe)

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  Bridgewater Bridge - 2020 August (Photo: Taaffe)

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  Bridgewater Bridge - 2017 June (Photo: SLTAS)

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  TGR Q Class Locomotive c1925 (Photo:Taaffe Collection)

A table of key engineering events by year is available at Tasmania's Engineering Timeline.
A table of key engineering themes for Tasmania is available at Engineering Heritage Themes by State.

Tasmania's Engineering Eras

Pre 1803: Aboriginal Technology

Local aboriginals inhabited Tasmania for in excess of 40000 years, but little is known of their technology other than the use of fire to manage the land for hunting and gathering, and the design and construction of watercraft.

1803-1853: Convict Settlement

Convicts were a source of cheap labour for the development of the colony of Van Diemen’s land. Employed for construction of roads, bridges, public buildings, water supply and other infrastructure. These works were generally designed by military engineers and some professional architects. Many of these structures survive to this day and are still in use. Some use of convicts continued for a number of years after transportation ceased.

1853-1918: Mining

The West coast of Tasmania was provided with abundant deposits of desired metals, in particular Copper, Tin and Silver. These minerals at the time were in high demand and were generally processed locally. The names Mount Lyell, Mount Bischoff and Zeehan were known around the world. Many innovative metal processing practices were developed at these mines.

1871-1925: Railways and Tramways

The railways were constructed in Tasmania to join settlements and mines to the river ports to allow for export of products. Railways were a major factor in the development of the mining resources on the west coast of Tasmania. A number of innovative engineering practices were adopted by the railways in Tasmania, in particular the first use of the Garratt locomotive in the world.

1918-1945: Water (Hydroelectric) Power

Although several small hydroelectric schemes had been commissioned at Waratah and Launceston, the exploitation of the abundant supplies of water in the highland lakes led to the development of Waddamana power station and the first high voltage transmission line in Australia were built to supply the Zinc works in Hobart with cheap electricity. This was the start of a state-wide power system fed by water and led to the development of secondary industries in Tasmania, including chocolate making and paper manufacture.

1945-1990: Post War Development

The availability of cheap hydro power was used to entice heavy electricity dependent industry to the Tasmania. This had a flow on effect of requiring more hydro resources to be developed. Industries that were enticed to Tasmania included ferro alloys and aluminium refining. In more recent years smaller scale specialised engineering firms have located their business in the state.

1975- : Shipbuilding

The collapse of the Tasman bridge facilitated the commencement of a new era of shipbuilding in Hobart. Many large innovative designs were produced for sale all over the world.