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121-557: Newstead Gasworks is a heritage-listed former gasometer at 70 Longland Street, Teneriffe , City of Brisbane , Queensland , Australia. It was built from 1873 to 1887. It is also known as Brisbane Gas Company Gasworks and Newstead Gasworks No.2 gasholder. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 24 June 2005. The Newstead Gasworks was established in 1887, as the second Brisbane gasworks. The surviving Newstead Gasworks No.2 gasholder (remnants) and guide framing

242-424: A gazomètre . Watt then adapted the gazomètre for coal gas storage. The anglicisation "gasometer" was adopted by William Murdoch , the inventor of gas lighting , in 1782, as the name for his gas holders. Murdoch's associates objected that his "gasometer" was not a meter but a container, but the name was retained and came into general use. Gas holders were marked as gasometers on the large-scale maps issued by

363-476: A Humphreys and Glasgow water-gas plant, for which coke was the feedstock. This came on stream just in time for the winter of 1953. When the Queensland Railways were converted to diesel fuel in the 1960s, it was judged that there would be a risk of serious damage if a locomotive were to derail near No.2 gasholder. Accordingly, a reinforced concrete wall was built as a shield between the railway spur line and

484-481: A Humphreys-Glasgow carburetted water-gas plant was installed as an emergency measure by MR Hornibrook Pty Ltd , prior to the winter of 1953. While less efficient than the carbonisation process, this process, one of several known as gasification, used coke as its feedstock and was more easily automated. It is probable that the Bryan-Donkin diaphragm-operated governors, housed immediately to the north of and in series with

605-509: A capacity of 594,000 cubic metres (21,000,000 cu ft). There was a MAN type, built in 1934 in Chicago with a capacity of 566,000 cubic metres (20,000,000 cu ft). In the past, holder stations would have an operator living on site controlling their movement. However, with the process control systems now used on these sites, such an operator is obsolete. The tallest gasometer in Europe

726-474: A combined capacity of 1.1 billion cubic feet (10⁹). Latrobe's chapters that deal with B.H.'s gas holder business line provide additional details that are useful to readers interested in the US gas industry's history. A general pattern of development in the US gas industry was that from the 1870s through the 1940s, gas manufacturing plants were common in many locales, producing both coal gas and water gas , and in

847-662: A dynamic lighting display illuminates the frame. The former industrial site on the inner-city fringe became an urban renewal zone for upmarket housing centred on the Gasworks zone. For many years, a huge gasholder towered over the Arden Street Oval , the home ground of the North Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League . Television coverage of Australian Rules football matches played at

968-508: A far greater danger than the original leak did; putting houses around gas holders was discontinued in the UK. In the United States, however, where gas needed to be protected from much more extreme weather, gasometer houses continued to be built and were architecturally decorative. The telescopic gas holder was first invented in 1824. The cup and dip (grip) seal was patented by Hutchinson in 1833, and

1089-413: A fixed cylinder capped by a moving piston. The earliest Boulton and Watt gas holders had a single lift. The tank was above ground and was lined with wood; the lift was guided by tripods and cables. Pulleys and weights were supplied to regulate the gas pressure. Brick tanks were introduced in 1818, when a gas holder could have a capacity of 20,000 cubic feet (570 m ). The engineer John Malam devised

1210-453: A leader in the campaign to preserve gasometers, has said that "Gasometers, by their very size and structure, cannot help but become landmarks. [They] are singularly dramatic structures for all their emptiness." Gasometers are now comparatively rare in the US (where they were usually called gas holders); although hundreds were built between the 1870s and 1940s, many of those have since been demolished. The largest US-based builder of gas holders,

1331-418: A lighter and more extensive framework. Vertical girders (standards) were intersected by horizontal girders and cross-braced. This could be bolted onto an underground or above-ground tank. The Cutler patented guide frame dispensed with the horizontal girders, using diagonal triangulated framing instead. Cable-guided gas holders, invented by Pease in 1880, had a limited use, but were useful on unstable ground where

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1452-464: A means to reduce crime and until the 1840s they were regulated by police authorities. Because of safety concerns expressed by the Royal Society, the size of gas holders was limited to 6,000 cubic feet (170 m ) and they were enclosed in gasometer houses. In fact any small leak from an enclosed gas holder created a potentially explosive build-up of air and gas within the enclosing house, presenting

1573-516: A natural tidal limit of only 16 km (10 mi). The current tidal limit now extends 85 km (53 mi) upstream due to continual channel dredging. The first bridge built across the Brisbane River was the original timber Victoria Bridge , opened in 1865 between Brisbane and South Brisbane. The current concrete Victoria Bridge is the 4th to be built on the site, the original bridge collapsed after marine borers weakened its timber piles, and

1694-411: A series of gas manufacturing plants on the site, of which there are none left. The size and programming of the manufacturing plants have been determined by several factors: The following is a brief history of the major manufacturing installations at Newstead since 1887. The first manufacture at Newstead in 1887 was in a retort house containing ten benches of manually operated horizontal retorts. Feedstock

1815-441: A somewhat reluctant guide, entered the river and sailed upstream as far as present-day Goodna . Oxley noted the abundant fish and tall pine trees . Early European explorers marvelled at the sheer natural beauty they witnessed while travelling up the lower reaches. Reports by early European explorers such as Allan Cunningham and Oxley indicate rainforest once fringed the Brisbane River and its major tributaries, especially on

1936-474: A suitable new site for a convict settlement to be established. An entry in Oxley's diary on 19 November 1823 describes his surprise meeting with one of the shipwrecked men: By that time Pamphlett and Finnegan were living with natives near Bribie Island . Parsons, who had continued to travel north in search of Sydney, was picked up by Oxley on 11 September 1824. On 2 December 1823, Oxley and Stirling, with Finnegan as

2057-400: A tank with a central rod-and-tube guide system. Telescoping holders fall into two subcategories. The earlier of the telescoping variety were column-guided variations and were built starting in 1824. To guide the telescoping walls, or "lifts", they have an external frame, visible at a fixed height at all times. A refinement was the guide frame gas holder, where the heavy columns were replaced by

2178-534: A timber getting mission to Illawarra, Thomas Pamphlett , John Finnegan , Richard Parsons and John Thompson were blown north by a storm. They went 21 days without water, continuing north in the belief they had been blown south, during which time Thompson died. They landed on Moreton Island on 16 April and made it to the mainland on the south of the Brisbane River. They immediately began trekking north in order to return to Sydney, still believing themselves to be somewhere south of Jervis Bay. Subsequently, they became

2299-409: A varying volume of gas, the pressure determined by the weight of the structure, and the water providing the seal for the gas within the moving walls. Besides storing the gas, the tank's design serves to establish the pressure of the gas system. With telescoping (multiple-lift) tanks, the innermost tank has an approximately 1 ft × 2 ft (30 cm × 61 cm) lip around the outside of

2420-655: A vital public utility, Brisbane's gas supply, for over a century. Prominent figures with long and close associations with the gasworks included Lewis Adolphus Bernays (associated between 1864 and 1908) and the Hon James Cowlishaw (associated between 1873 and 1920). [REDACTED] This Misplaced Pages article was originally based on "The Queensland heritage register" published by the State of Queensland under CC-BY 3.0 AU licence (accessed on 7 July 2014, archived on 8 October 2014). The geo-coordinates were originally computed from

2541-539: Is 117 metres (384 ft) tall and is located in Oberhausen . The pollution associated with gasworks and gas storage makes the land difficult to reclaim for other purposes, but some gas holders, such as the Vienna Gasometers , have been converted into other uses such as living space and a shopping mall and historical archives for the city. Many sites, however, were never used for the production of 'town gas', so

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2662-606: Is one of the largest remaining examples. As of early 2021, efforts were under way to save the Concord Gas Light Company Gasholder House in Concord, New Hampshire . It is unusual because the inner workings of the structure, including the cap, are still in place. PG&E operated gas holders at its gasification plants in California before natural gas pipelines were built. The San Francisco Beach Street Plant

2783-412: Is the river's first underground crossing for road transport. The Moggill Ferry continues to provide a crossing for vehicles northeast of Ipswich . The Albert Bridge was the first railway crossing of the Brisbane River, opened in 1876. It was destroyed in the 1893 flood and replaced by a 2 span design that is flood tolerant. A second bridge was built adjacent to it, opened in 1957 in conjunction with

2904-414: The "Queensland heritage register boundaries" published by the State of Queensland under CC-BY 3.0 AU licence (accessed on 5 September 2014, archived on 15 October 2014). Gasometer Gas holders now tend to be used for balancing purposes to ensure that gas pipes can be operated within a safe range of pressures, rather than for actually storing gas for later use. Antoine Lavoisier devised

3025-508: The Baltimore -based Bartlett-Hayward Company (since 1927 a division of Koppers ), built 600 of them from the 1870s up through 1941, when a monograph on the history of the company was published. They were built in nearly every US state, as well as elsewhere in North America, South America, and South Africa. Those 600, of both water tank type (541 units) and waterless type (59 units), held

3146-680: The Bunya Mountains , which are the headwaters of the river's longest tributary Cooyar Creek. Water from the highest point in the catchment has fallen on the Bunya Mountains, 992m above sea level. The junction of Cooyar Creek and Brisbane River is south of Avoca Vale , and the river then makes its way south past townships including Linville , Moore and Toogoolawah before being joined by the Stanley River , just south of Somerset Dam . The river runs from there into Lake Wivenhoe , created by

3267-507: The Commissariat Store, Brisbane were built by convicts using tuff from this quarry. After the penal settlement was closed, the Petrie family leased the cliffs and quarried the tuff for use in their construction projects, but ultimately quarrying this material became uneconomic without the free labour of the convicts. The volcanic rock Ignimbrite which formed the cliffs was deposited in

3388-546: The Seventeen Mile Rocks were completely removed in 1965 after numerous partially successful attempts in the past. The northern river bank at the mouth of the river has undergone reclamation projects over the years, especially in the suburbs of Hamilton and Pinkenba . More recently, extensive facilities for the Port of Brisbane have been constructed on Fisherman's Island which has also seen significant land reclamation into

3509-407: The Stanley River . On the southside Bulimba Creek , Norman Creek , Oxley Creek , Bremer River and Lockyer Creek waterways enter the Brisbane River. The following smaller creeks also flow into the river; Cressbrook Creek, Cooyar Creek, Cubberla Creek, Black Snake Creek, Wolston Creek, Woogaroo Creek, Goodna Creek, Six Mile Creek, Pullen Pullen Creek and Kholo Creek. Before European settlement,

3630-490: The Triassic period about 220 million years ago. They currently form the banks of the Brisbane River. A number of the reaches of the Brisbane River are named, including the following listed below (from upstream to downstream), together with their location relative to tributaries of the river and river crossings : The following major tributaries flow into the Brisbane River from the north; Breakfast Creek , Moggill Creek and

3751-540: The University of Queensland St Lucia campus), and the Jack Pesch Bridge between Indooroopilly and Chelmer . The Brisbane City Council has announced plans for a pedestrian and cycle only bridge between Kangaroo Point and the city. The Brisbane City Council has developed a network of riverwalk pavements along the banks of the Brisbane River. The Riverwalk runs along much of the Brisbane River foreshore throughout

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3872-404: The capsize of the ferry Pearl (which struck the anchor chain of the government yacht Lucinda ) with the loss of around 40 lives. By 1928, due to the early settlement of Brisbane, the water quality had deteriorated to the point where several public baths had to cease sourcing water from the river. Yet even up to the 1930s, the water was said to be very clear, with reports of people seeing

3993-473: The 1880s was the emergence in Brisbane of electricity generation for power and lighting. Eventually, as electricity technology advanced, gas lighting would literally fade into the background, the demand for gas as fuel outstripping the demand for use for lighting. Active defence was mounted to protect the gas companies' interests in lighting, and it was not until 1917 that the first permanent electric lighting took to

4114-475: The Aboriginal people of the Brisbane area did not have a single name for the river, but rather they named individual reaches and bends. The Brisbane River East and West branches traditionally have their headwaters in the ranges east of Kingaroy . The two branches merge into a single watercourse south of Mount Stanley. Using an alternative modern definition, the source is located at the top of Fig Tree Gully in

4235-405: The Brisbane River has been dredged for navigation purposes. Throughout much of the 20th century large quantities of sand and gravel were extracted from the estuary of the river. Since the rate of materials being deposited is not as high as that which was removed, the river has acted as a subaqueous mine . In 1865, water police were stationed on board Proserpine , a hulk moored at the mouth of

4356-408: The Brisbane River has the potential to be devastating, as documented in 1974, 2011 and 2022. For much of the river's length its banks are relatively high, but topped by a broad plain. The river's meandering course means that flood waters from upstream cannot be quickly discharged into Moreton Bay. Thus higher than normal flows cause river levels to rise rapidly and once the top of the banks are breached

4477-525: The Brisbane River was spiritually important and a vital food source for the Aboriginal people of the Turrbal people, primarily through fishing in the tidal sections downstream. Additionally, fishing and fire-stick farming took place in the upper reaches of the river where there was freshwater, in some seasons. Four European navigators , namely James Cook , Matthew Flinders , John Bingle and William Edwardson , all visited Moreton Bay but failed to discover

4598-452: The Brisbane River. In 1866, there was a breakwater built at the junction of the Bremer and Brisbane rivers that was designed to stop shingle from blocking the access to the Bremer's boat channel. The first pile light using kerosene was built in 1882. The steel framed light also served as an early port signal station . In February 1896, one of the river's worst disasters occurred with

4719-537: The British Ordnance Survey and the term came to be used to label gas works, even though there may be several gas holders at any one gas works. However, the term "gasometer" is still discouraged for use in technical circles, where "gas holder" is preferred. The spelling "gas holder" is used by the BBC, among other institutions, but the variant "gasholder" is more commonly used. Before the mid-20th century coal gas

4840-507: The German inventor and entrepreneur Frederick Albert Winsor . Digging up streets to lay pipes required easements , and this delayed both further installation of street lighting and the installation of gas for domestic illumination, heating and cooking. Many people experimented with coal distillation to produce a flammable gas, including Jean Tardin (1618), Clayton (1684), Jean-Pierre Minckelers , Leuven (1785) and Pickel (D)(1786). William Murdoch

4961-540: The Newstead Gasworks No.2 gasholder (remnants) and guide framing. The facility originally had a double-lift 500,000 cu. ft. capacity and was re-crowned in 1937. Newstead Gasworks No.2 gasholder (remnants and guide framing) was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 24 June 2005 having satisfied the following criteria. The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history. The Newstead Gasworks No.2 gasholder demonstrates

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5082-455: The River. Past floods have resulted in both deepening and reduction in river depth, creation of new sand banks and shoals as well as increased transport of suspended sediment from upstream. Before the invention of modern dredging techniques the sediment deposited by flooding created hazards to ships navigating the river. Even medium-sized vessels no longer travel up the Brisbane River beyond

5203-557: The Wivenhoe Dam. Beyond the dam, the river meanders eastward, meeting the Bremer River near Ipswich , then making its way through Brisbane's western suburbs, including Jindalee , Indooroopilly and Toowong . The Brisbane River then flows past wharves including Pinkenba Wharf and Portside Wharf , past Bulwer Island and Luggage Point through the Port of Brisbane and into southern Bramble Bay an embayment of Moreton Bay . On

5324-452: The advent of 2-to-4-inch (50 to 100 mm) steel pipes to convey gas at up to 50 psi (340 kPa) as feeder mains to the traditional cast-iron pipes . Municipal gas works became superfluous in the later 20th century, but gas holders and production plants were still in use in steel works in 2016. A gas holder provided storage for purified, metered gas. It acted as a buffer, removing the need for continuous gas production. The weight of

5445-549: The area to locate a new penal settlement. The name is of Scottish origin, dating from at least 1643, from their family lands at Rothiebrisbane, Aberdeenshire . This is the name now used by the Queensland Government. Maiwar is the name of the river in the Turrbal language (the language of an Aboriginal group native to the Brisbane area). The name is also used for the inner-western state electorate of Maiwar . According to Archibald Meston and Tom Petrie in 1901,

5566-431: The bay. Early rivers crossings were made using small oared boat ferries , beginning in 1843, followed by steam ferries. In 1865 the first Victoria Bridge , later destroyed in a flood, was built across the river. Professor Hawken of the University of Queensland undertook a study in 1914 to identify the future crossing points for the river. Historically, the Brisbane River contained upstream bars and shallows and had

5687-538: The bottom edge, called a cup, which picks up water as it rises above the reservoir water level. This immediately engages a downward lip on the inner rim of the next outer lift, called a dip or grip, and as this grip sinks into the cup, it preserves the water seal as the inner tank continues to rise until the grip grounds on the cup, whereupon further injection of gas will start to raise that lift as well. Holders were built with as many as four lifts. An extra flying lift could be retrofitted into column or frame gas holders. This

5808-413: The broader floodplains such as St Lucia and Seventeen Mile Rocks . The coastal lowlands were extensively vegetated with Melaleuca woodlands in low lying, poorly drained coastal areas. When first described by Europeans, the lower reaches of the Brisbane River were fringed by a mosaic of open forest, closed forest and rainforest. In the same year of 1823, the river was named after Sir Thomas Brisbane ,

5929-405: The capacity of the proposed new Glover-West plant on order from England. Also, constructed locally to (English) Holmes design, multi-film washers. Additional Connersville meters were also installed. The new Glover-West vertical retort carbonising plant, with a capacity of 4,000,000 cu. ft. per day, was eventually opened in 1954. In view of delays in supply of specialised plant from post-war England,

6050-512: The city of Brisbane , before emptying into Moreton Bay on the Coral Sea . John Oxley , the first European to explore the river, named it after the Governor of New South Wales , Sir Thomas Brisbane in 1823. The penal colony of Moreton Bay later adopted the same name, eventually becoming the present city of Brisbane. The river is a tidal estuary and the water is brackish from its mouth through

6171-483: The city reach, and dredging of the upper reaches has ceased, allowing the river to recover substantially from the fine silt dislodged by gravel and sand extraction. Significant floods have occurred several times since the European settlement of Brisbane. There have been 12 Major flood peaks (over 3.5m) recorded at the Brisbane gauge since records began in 1841, including: Post construction of Wivenhoe Dam Flooding along

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6292-569: The company also started in 1873. James Cowlishaw , later the Hon. James Cowlishaw, Member of the Queensland Legislative Council , an architect, was chairman for 41 years. He served on the board for 45 years. His brother George Cowlishaw also served on the board for 28 years from 1884. James Cowlishaw was succeeded in the chair by his son Thomas Owen Cowlishaw , who served for 34 years until 1954. A fourth Cowlishaw, George Owen Cowlishaw ,

6413-454: The council's (and the colony's) financial situation had recovered sufficiently, in 1870. By 1873, the boot was on the other foot. The council's cash flow had recovered, but gas flow could not satisfy demand. The Company duly solved the problem by installing another, larger (No.2) gasholder (probably known then as a gasometer). The 81-year-long association of the Cowlishaw family with the board of

6534-535: The country were demolished or repurposed, and few gasometers remain because of this. A good example of a largely intact gasometer is located at the Launceston Gasworks site in Tasmania. Though the gas bell has been removed, all other components are intact. The remains of two older 1860s gasometers are also visible on site but only the foundations remain. In Sydney a beautiful ornate gasometer frame can be seen from

6655-523: The design, supply and erection of the new gasworks. The equipment, much of it imported from England, was landed at the company's wharf at the Brisbane River frontage of the site. The company first manufactured and stored town gas at Newstead in 1887 after a period of 22 years manufacture at Petrie Bight. As part of the shift to Newstead, the Petrie's Bight gasholder No.2, constructed in 1873 from puddled iron,

6776-746: The early first decade of the 21st century, when the last one was decommissioned and abandoned in place. The most recently used gasometer in the United States was on the southeast side of Indianapolis , but it has been demolished along with the adjoining Citizens Energy Group coke plant . Another pair of holders at the Newtown Holder Station, in Elmhurst, Queens, in New York City, was a popular landmark for traffic reporters until they were demolished in 1996 and became Elmhurst Park . The demolition of two larger " Maspeth Tanks " in nearby Greenpoint, Brooklyn ,

6897-480: The famous ground showed the gasholder dominating the landscape. It was demolished in late 1977/early 1978. This gasholder once operated by Gas del Estado is located in Villa Maipú, Partido de San Martín , Argentina . It was built in 1948 by MAN, and it was used to store coke gas produced by a near factory named Usina Corrales . With a total height of 85 metres (279 ft) and a diameter of 54 metres (177 ft), it

7018-402: The first gas holder, which he called a gazomètre , to assist his work in pneumatic chemistry . It enabled him to weigh the gas in a pneumatic trough with the precision he required. He published his Traité Élémentaire de Chimie in 1789. James Watt Junior collaborated with Thomas Beddoes in constructing the pneumatic apparatus , a short-lived piece of medical equipment that incorporated

7139-472: The first known Europeans to discover the river, stumbling across it somewhere near the entrance. They walked upstream along its banks for nearly a month before making their first crossing at Canoe Reach, the junction of Oxley Creek. It was here they stole a small canoe left by the Turrbal people of the region. John Oxley was Surveyor General of New South Wales when, in the same year and under orders from Governor Brisbane, he sailed into Moreton Bay looking for

7260-474: The first pilots were commissioned to guide ships entering from Moreton Bay and another service for those travelling upstream. Flying boats used the waters of the river in Pinkenba , to take-off for domestic and international destinations in the 1930s. The river depth was progressively increased and narrow points widened to allow larger vessels into the river and further upstream. For navigation and safety reasons

7381-527: The first working example was built in Leeds . Gas holders were then built all around the UK in great numbers starting in the 1850s. The first were the two-lift column-supported type; later ones had four lifts and were frame-guided, and they could be retrofitted with an additional flying lift. The large gas holders at Kings Cross, London , were built in the 1860s. William Gadd of Gadd & Mason in Manchester invented

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7502-489: The floodwaters can spread over wide areas of the city. There has been much dredging and widening work done over the years to allow ships to transport cargo to and from Brisbane the river is no longer dredged. The river served as an important carriageway between Brisbane and Ipswich before a railway linking the towns was built in 1875. By early 1825 buoys were being laid along the South Passage and shortly after that

7623-413: The gas holder lift (cap) controlled the pressure of the gas in the mains and provided back pressure for the gas-making plant. They are the only storage method that keeps gas at district pressure (the pressure required in local gas mains). There are two basic types of gas holder: the water-sealed and the rigid waterless. The water-sealed gas holder consists of a tank of water that rises and falls to take

7744-462: The gas supply. For these communities, the gasholder (remnants) and guide framing was and is an important landmark. The material remaining on the site carries with it a strong association with these communities. The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history. The gasworks site has a special association with

7865-413: The gas. A watered gas holder consisted of two parts: a deep tank of water used to provide a seal, and a closed vessel (the lift) that rises above the water as the gas volume increased. Rigid waterless gas holders were a very early design that neither expanded or contracted. There are modern versions of the waterless gas holder, e.g. oil-sealed, grease-sealed and "dry seal" (membrane) types. They consist of

7986-553: The gasholder and guide framing represents the last of the frame-guided type remaining in Brisbane, and possibly in Queensland. The Newstead No.2 gasholder (remnants) and guide framing, constructed in 1873 from puddled iron and part of the former Petrie Bight gasworks (1865–1887), is significant for its rarity, its robustness and its association with Queensland's first gasworks and a major public utility for 125 years. The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Queensland's history. The place has

8107-531: The gasholder. Diesel locomotives were seen as a greater risk than their coal-fired steam counterparts that had used the same track, in the same proximity, for the previous half-century. By 1965, No.1 gasholder in Ann Street had been dismantled. In 1999, so had No.3, and No.2 has been disabled by splitting a hole in the crown plating, leaving the inside of the gasholder exposed to a moist oxidising atmosphere, ideal conditions for rapid rust. In 2008, planning approval

8228-460: The gasometer. Approval was also given to excavate the site and remove its crown and inner gaslifts. All items of gas manufacture, such as retort houses, exhausters, condensers, gasification plants, scrubbers, washers, purifiers, have been demolished. Most of these lay on the eastern side of the site. The weighbridge and the compressor house have also been demolished. The only remaining items of historical engineering interest remaining on site include

8349-504: The growth and development pattern of the reticulation of a major public utility, the gas supply and its infrastructure, in Brisbane and northern Brisbane suburbs from the 1860s through to the 1990s. Town gas was among the earliest of innovations that significantly improved the quality of life in the burgeoning city of Brisbane, particularly in the boom periods of the 1860s and 1880s. The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland's cultural heritage. The remnants of

8470-407: The horizontal retort house in 1927 when the horizontal retort house was revamped to mechanical operation. Several additions were made in 1947, in preparation for a major increase in plant capacity planned to be on stream by 1950. A Woodhall-Duckham electrostatic de-tarrer was imported from England, and a Livesay washer was constructed locally. These were of 4,000,000 cu. ft. per day capacity, matching

8591-609: The land contamination is relatively low. A gasworks in South Lotts , Dublin , Ireland, was converted into apartments. The gasholder in Amsterdam has hosted the Awakenings Techno parties . Gas holders have been a major part of the skylines of low-rise British cities for up to 200 years, due to their large distinctive shape and central location. They were originally used for balancing daily demand and generation of town gas . With

8712-511: The largest in Europe. In the UK as well as other European countries, a movement to preserve classic gasometers has emerged in recent years, especially after Britain's National Grid announced in 2013 their plans to remove 76 gas holders, and soon afterwards, Southern and Scottish Gas networks announced that they would demolish 111 others. Christopher Costelloe, director of the Victorian Society ,

8833-581: The majority of the Brisbane metropolitan area westward to the Mount Crosby Weir . The river is wide and navigable throughout the Brisbane metropolitan area. The river travels 344 km (214 mi) from Mount Stanley. The river is dammed by the Wivenhoe Dam , forming Lake Wivenhoe , the main water supply for Brisbane. The waterway is a habitat for the rare Queensland lungfish , Brisbane River cod (extinct), and bull sharks . Early travellers along

8954-541: The most damaging flood on record occurred, causing the 66,000-tonne vessel Robert Miller (largest ship ever built on the river) to break free from its mooring. Other major floods occurred in January 2011 and February 2022 . Extensive port facilities have been constructed on the Fisherman Islands, now known as the Port of Brisbane , located at the mouth of the river on Moreton Bay . There are 16 major bridges that cross

9075-591: The move to natural gas and construction of the national grid pipework , their use steadily diminished as the pipe network could both store gas under pressure, and eventually satisfy peak demand directly. London , Manchester , Sheffield , Birmingham , Leeds , Newcastle , Salisbury , and Glasgow (which has the largest gasometers in the UK ) are noted for having many gas holders. Some of these gas holders have become listed buildings . The gas holders behind King's Cross station in London were specially dismantled when

9196-479: The new Channel Tunnel Rail Link was being created, with Gas holder No 8 being re-erected on a nearby site behind St Pancras station as part of a housing development. It has been fashioned into a park. Most gas holders are no longer used, and a program of dismantling is underway to release the land for reuse. One of the largest remaining groups of gasholders is at Bromley-by-Bow in East London , believed to be

9317-476: The older suburbs to natural gas. The older carbonisation plants were demolished in 1994, and the gasification plants in 1999, along with gasholder No.3 in Doggett Street. In 2002, approval was given to demolish the brick governor houses and to remove associated machinery and pipe work, to demolish the storage shed and concrete safety wall, and to construct new commercial buildings and an adjacent road surrounding

9438-415: The original governor, were installed as part of the 1954 revamp. With the arrival of natural gas, the retort houses and the water-gas plant were duly retired from service, to be replaced, in 1968 with a Vickers-Zimmer plant, supplemented in 1973 by an Onia-Geigy plant ex Adelaide . These gasification plants synthesised town gas from oil refinery material and natural gas, until the eventual 1996 conversion of

9559-609: The platform of the Macdonaldtown railway station which was built above the access tunnels of the adjoining gasworks site. In Queensland, the Gasworks Newstead is a commercial, residential, and retail development adjoining the river at Newstead , Brisbane, opening in 2013, built around a now heritage-listed 1887 gas holder. Only the frame remains, inside of which is a plaza used as a public recreation zone and for occasional special events such as markets or concerts. At dusk each day

9680-485: The post- World War II period, demand for gas again boomed, to such an extent that at one stage some 5000 newly constructed northside dwellings were completed without their gas having been connected. The core of the problem lay in English gasworks manufacturers' inability to deliver. A major retort augmentation planned for completion in 1950 finally came on stream in 1954, but not until an emergency measure had been taken to erect

9801-491: The potential to yield information about the evolving technology of manufacture and distribution of town and natural gas in Brisbane and northern Brisbane suburbs over a period of 125 years. The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places. One of the principal characteristics of a gasworks was its gasholder storage and other necessarily robust but sensitive and reliable machinery and apparatus required for drawing from

9922-472: The proposed Queensland Cultural Centre . The jets pushed the floodlit river water up to 75 m (246 ft) in the air. The floating fountain sank late on the 31 December 1984. 1987 was proclaimed the "Year of the River" by the Lord Mayor of Brisbane at the time, Sallyanne Atkinson . Over the 20th century, enough obstacles, sand and gravel had been removed from the river that its channel depth increased

10043-490: The purpose by Governor Sir Thomas Brisbane. Gray also transferred the soldiers and convicts from the First Settlement at Redcliffe at this time. The first small private wharves were built on the river in about 1848. and the once popular, shark-proof river baths were first built in 1857 at Kangaroo Point. By 1850, nearly all the prime alluvial lands in the Brisbane River valley had been taken up by settlers. From 1862

10164-637: The quadruplication of the railway between Roma Street and Corinda . The Merivale Bridge , opened in 1978, connects the South Brisbane railway system to the City. Four bridges have been built that cater for pedestrians and bicycles, being the Goodwill Bridge and Kurilpa Bridge in the City area, the Eleanor Schonell Bridge between Dutton Park and St Lucia (which also caters for public buses to

10285-430: The rigid systems could buckle and jam the lift. Spiral-guided gas holders were built in the UK from 1890 until 1983. These have no frame, and each lift is guided by the one below, rotating as it goes up as dictated by helical runners. Both telescoping types use the manometric property of water to provide a seal. The whole tank floats in a circular or annular water reservoir, held up by the roughly constant pressure of

10406-510: The river bed 5 to 6 m (16 to 20 ft) below the surface. Swimming was once popular at Oxley Point under the Walter Taylor Bridge . In the middle tidal reaches in more recent times, visibility has been about 0.2 m (8 in). As Brisbane grew, the condition of the river worsened until at its worst it was no more than an open sewer and waste dump. The banks were cleared of timber and introduced animals and plants rapidly changed

10527-496: The river for the construction of buildings in the settlement". This was in the vicinity of Edward Street ferry terminal. Quarrying this volcanic rock formed part of the hard labour undertaken by the convicts of the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement , which not only provided the convicts with the punishment of hard labour but also provided the settlement with a useful building material. Many of the early buildings including

10648-550: The river's ecology to its detriment. On 25 March 1941, a USA goodwill flotilla arrived in the city docking at wharves along the River and built Naval Base Brisbane . The largest ship built on the river was the Robert Miller . Construction was near complete when the 66,000 tonne vessel became un-moored in the 1974 Brisbane flood . In 1977, Queen Elizabeth II switched on the Jubilee Fountain positioned in front of

10769-493: The river. The Clem Jones Tunnel , opened in 2010, is the river's first underground crossing for road transport. The CityCat and KittyCat ferry services deliver passengers along the inner-city reaches of the river. There are only 20 bullsharks documented to be seen in the Brisbane river to date. These were seen by Liel Daniel. In 1823 John Oxley named the river after the Governor Thomas Brisbane while surveying

10890-571: The river. The exploration by Flinders took place during his expedition from Port Jackson north to Hervey Bay in 1799. He spent a total of 15 days in the area, touching down at Woody Point and several other spots, but failed to discover the mouth of the river although there were suspicions of its existence. This is consistent with accounts of many other rivers along the east coast of Australia, which could not be found by seaward exploration but were discovered by inland travellers. On 21 March 1823, four ticket-of-leave convicts sailing south from Sydney on

11011-564: The second half of the 20th century, the rise of natural gas distribution via gas pipelines supplanted that system and the existing gas holders were used (in a less crucial capacity) for managing the pressure of the natural gas pipelines, until the holders reached the end of their useful lifespan. Several gas holders were erected in St. Louis by the Laclede Gas Light Company in the early 20th century. These gasometers remained in use until

11132-492: The second was destroyed in the 1893 flood . As of 2012 the Brisbane River is crossed by 16 major bridges (counting the new second Gateway, now Sir Leo Hielscher Bridge), including the historic 1940 Story Bridge and the tolled Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges . There are two other major bridges upstream (west) of Brisbane, on the D'Aguilar Highway and the Brisbane Valley Highway . The Clem Jones Tunnel , opened in 2010,

11253-503: The security of storing large amounts of high-pressure natural gas above ground made them unpopular with local people and councils . Bullets are gradually being decommissioned. It is also possible to store natural gas in liquid form , and this is widely practised throughout the world. Brisbane River The Brisbane River ( Turrbal : Maiwar ) is the longest river in South East Queensland , Australia, and flows through

11374-480: The southern side of the river, opposite Gardens Point , are the Kangaroo Point Cliffs ; made from Triassic aged volcanic rock of rhyolite composition called Brisbane tuff . The Kangaroo Point Cliffs were created by a quarrying operation that, according to Allan Cunninghams' Field Book, was underway prior to 1829 when he observed a "stone wharf presumably used for landing the blocks of stone ferried across

11495-543: The spirally guided gas holder in 1890. Instead of external columns or guide frames, his design operated with spiral rails. The first commercial design was built in Northwich , Cheshire, in the same year. By the end of the 19th century most towns in Britain had their own gas works and gas holders. The years between the two world wars were marked by improvements in storage, especially the waterless gas holder, and in distribution, with

11616-505: The storage. At the Newstead site, the remaining gasholder (remnants) and guide framing demonstrates some of these characteristics of the gasworks. The place is important because of its aesthetic significance. Large round structures are unusual and attractive, particularly in areas of predominantly angular commercial and industrial construction such as Newstead. Aesthetically, the cylindrical gasholder with its spherical crown, even when empty,

11737-435: The streets of Brisbane. The demise of gas lighting would not have been immediate, and the demand for gas continued to grow. In 1929, No.3 gasholder at Doggett Street was commissioned, a four-lift frame-guided steel tank gasholder, again made from puddled iron, with a capacity of 2,500,000 cubic feet (71,000 m), by far the largest in Brisbane. In 1937, gasholder No.2 was fitted with a new crown of riveted steel plate. In

11858-577: The then Governor of New South Wales . Upon the establishment of a local settlement in 1824, other explorers such as Allan Cunningham, Patrick Logan and Major Edmund Lockyer made expeditions and surveys further upstream, and, in May 1825, the Moreton Bay penal colony at Redcliffe under the command of Heny Miller relocated to North Quay . The entrance to the Brisbane River was surveyed and marked with buoys in May 1825 by Pilot John M Gray sent from Sydney for

11979-414: The tidal flow and tidal range upstream. On 9 August 2020, it was discovered that Google Maps accidentally changed the Brisbane River name to Ithaca Creek after a complaint that Ithaca Creek was incorrectly named Brisbane River. The Brisbane River floods frequently, although the occurrence and magnitude of flooding has diminished following the construction of the Wivenhoe Dam on the upper reaches of

12100-421: The waterway admired the natural beauty, abundant fish and rich vegetation along its banks. From 1862 the Brisbane River has been dredged for navigation purposes. The river served as an important carriageway between Brisbane and Ipswich before a railway linking the towns was built in 1875. By the late 1920s, water quality in the river had significantly deteriorated. Multiple major floods occurred in 1893. In 1974,

12221-458: Was Ipswich coking coal. Output was "town" gas. A new 1,500,000 cubic feet (42,000 m) per day West's vertical retort house, embarked upon during World War I , was eventually completed in 1920, with six settings of eight 33-inch (840 mm) vertical retorts 20 feet (6.1 m) long. In 1926, a Whessoe washer was imported, used to remove ammonia and naphthalene after completion of all other purification. A further ten benches were added to

12342-505: Was a landmark due to its unusual marking scheme, which had a red-and-white checkerboard pattern from 200 feet (61 m) up. The structure was demolished in July 1984. Approximately a dozen brick or concrete structures built in the latter half of the 19th-century to house gasholders, known as gasholder houses , still exist in the United States. The Troy Gas Light Company structure in Troy, New York ,

12463-473: Was an additional inner tank that extended above the standards, when the infrastructure would support the extra shear forces and weight. Though not exclusively, spiral guides were used. Dry-seal gas holders have a static cylindrical shell, within which a piston rises and falls. As it moves, a grease seal, tar/oil seal or a sealing membrane which is rolled out and in from the piston keeps the gas from escaping. The MAN type (by Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg AG )

12584-572: Was anxious to provide street lighting, for which gas was seen as the only feasible system. Earlier in the decade, the Colonial Government , supposedly for health reasons, refused permission for the Council to establish a gasworks on a site at Petrie's Bight . On the same site, however, in 1864, the Government authorised private enterprise to establish this new public utility. Central to these decisions

12705-519: Was both interesting and elegant. The aesthetic is further enhanced by the slightly ornate frame-guide structure. The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons. For over 100 years, passers-by along Breakfast Creek Road, Longland and Ann Streets, as well as residents of and workers in the area, would have seen No.2 gasholder in various states of filling, silently performing its important function of storing and feeding out

12826-998: Was built in 1899. The gas plant operated until 1931, but its associated gas holder was used with natural gas into the 1950s, when the property was redeveloped. Gas holders also previously existed at Chico (demolished 1951), Daly City, Eureka, Fresno, Long Beach (1927-1997), Los Angeles, including two within sight of City Hall Merced, Monterey, Oakland, Redding (gas holder demolished early 1960s), Redwood City (gas holder built early 1900s, demolished 1959), Salinas, San Francisco Potrero Plant, Santa Rosa, St. Helena, Stockton, Vallejo, Willows; and likely existed at their other gasification plants in Colusa, Hollister, Lodi, Madera, Marysville, Modesto, Napa, Oakdale, Oroville, Red Bluff, Sacramento, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, Selma, Tracy, Turlock, Watsonville and Woodland. Gasholders, though once common, have become rare in Australia. Most gasworks within

12947-621: Was described by The New York Times at length. Of the waterless type ( MAN type), the first extremely large one by B.H. was the one at the River Rouge Plant of the Ford Motor Company , built in 1935. Another large MAN-type gas holder was erected just east of Baltimore, Maryland , by B.H. in 1949 and operated by Baltimore Gas and Electric for 32 years. The 307-foot-tall (94 m), 170-foot-diameter (52 m) structure, which could hold 7 million cubic feet (200,000 m ),

13068-514: Was erected at that time and was probably moved from the original gas works site at Petrie Bight where it was erected in 1873. From 1861 to 1864, Brisbane's population more than doubled, to 12,551. In the mid-1860s, Brisbane's infrastructure blossomed, with construction of the first cross-river bridge, a new Brisbane Town Hall , a vastly improved water supply and its first gasworks. Commercial gas supply originated in London in 1812, Sydney in 1841 and Melbourne in 1856. The Brisbane Municipal Council

13189-496: Was expanded to, among other places, South Brisbane . The company had outgrown the Petrie's Bight site, and acquired 22 acres (8.9 ha) of suitable land at Newstead , in 1883. Further adjoining land was bought in 1885 to facilitate the company's first major expansion. The company's engineer for the shift from Petrie Bight to Newstead was JH Tomlinson, arriving in 1880 from a previous appointment in Birmingham. He presumably managed

13310-402: Was formed in 1885, entered the market very aggressively, and produced its first gas at the end of 1886. By this time, gas was increasingly in use for domestic fuel as well as for lighting. A price-cutting war lasted until 1889 when the companies, without any concerns about restrictive trade practices, carved Brisbane up into north and south of the river as their respective marketing territories. It

13431-463: Was given for the Gasworks Newstead urban redevelopment project, replacing the former industrial area in Newstead. The project incorporated the gasometer site and repurposed it as an outdoor amphitheatre. The foregoing history has been compiled in the context of gas storage, with the emphasis on the remaining No.2 gasholder (remnants) and guide framing, which has stored and delivered both town gas and natural gas. The sources of gasholder feed have been

13552-615: Was in 1805, at Lee & Phillips, Salford Twist Mill , where eight gas holders were installed. This was shortly followed by one in Sowerby Bridge, constructed by Clegg for Henry Lodge. The first independent commercial gas works were built by the Gas Light and Coke Company in Great Peter Street, Westminster, in 1812, with wooden pipes laid to gas lights on Westminster Bridge on New Year's Eve in 1813. Public gas lights were seen as

13673-550: Was introduced in 1915: it was polygonal and used a tar/oil seal. The Klonne dry seal gas holder was circular and used a grease seal. The dry-seal Wiggins gasholder was patented in 1952: it used a flexible curtain that was suspended from the piston. The largest low-pressure gas holder built was the Klonne gas holder built in 1938 in Gelsenkirchen . It was 147 metres (482 ft) high and 80 metres (260 ft) in diameter, which gave it

13794-581: Was involved with the Company in 1939. The main demand for gas during the 1870s was probably for lighting, and the Municipal Council was almost certainly the Brisbane Gas Company's biggest customer. After the financial woes of the later 1860s there followed two decades of steady growth in Brisbane, reflected in an increase of demand for gas, for both lighting and for domestic and industrial fuel. Supply

13915-624: Was not until the Gas Act of 1916 that the government saw fit to look more closely at the cosy arrangements between gas companies, which by that stage included the Wynnum and Manly Gas and Lighting Company Limited , formed in 1912. The Act dealt with product quality and pressure, and provided for gas examiners. Price was also dealt with. (A later piece of legislation, the Profiteering Prevention Act, also encompassed gas). A further consideration in

14036-582: Was operational for short period of time until in 1954 it was decommissioned. The structure remains in place and it is property of Gas Natural Fenosa. Most gas is stored in large underground reservoirs such as salt caverns. For short-term local storage, line-packing is the preferred method. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s it was thought that gas holders could be replaced with high-pressure bullets (a cylindrical pressure vessel with hemispherical ends). However, regulations brought in meant that all new bullets must be built several miles out of towns and cities, and

14157-408: Was produced in retorts by heating coal in the absence of air, the process being known as coal gasification . Coal gas was first used for municipal lighting, the gas being passed through wooden or metal pipes from the retort to the lantern. The first public piped gas supply was to thirteen gas lamps installed along the length of Pall Mall, London , in 1807. The credit for this installation goes to

14278-634: Was prominent in a number of Queensland organisations including the Acclimatisation Society , and held the position of clerk of the Queensland Legislative Assembly . Brisbane Gas Company production started at Petrie Bight in November 1865. The streets of Brisbane were lit. Soon after, however, council's arrears of payment resulted in its gas being turned off, with the streets plunged back into darkness. The streets remained unlit until

14399-423: Was re-erected on the recently acquired land at Longland Street. No.1 gasholder remained at Petrie Bight. At this time, the first weight-controlled governor would have been installed in its governor house. Just as had occurred in the early 1860s, the land boom of the 1880s was reflected in booming demand for gas. Events proved that there was room for a second gasworks. The South Brisbane Gas and Light Company Limited

14520-644: Was successful. He joined Boulton and Watt at the Soho manufactory in Birmingham in 1777, and in 1792 he built a retort to heat coal to produce the gas that illuminated his home and office in Redruth . His system lacked a storage method until James Watt Junior adapted a Lavoisier gazomètre for this purpose. A gasometer was incorporated into the first small gasworks built for the Soho manufactory in 1798. William Murdoch and his pupil Samuel Clegg went on to install retorts in individual factories and other workplaces. The earliest

14641-599: Was the Minister for Lands and Works, Arthur Macalister , then at the epicentre of friction between the Government and the Brisbane Council, friction which has erupted on several occasions ever since. One of the founding directors of the Company in 1864 was Lewis Adolphus Bernays , secretary for the first 37 years, and eventually a board member, of the (Brisbane) Board of Waterworks. Bernays, also listed in Who's Who from 1851 to 1905,

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