Palepai are traditional cloths that had been described by foreign ethnographers and collectors as "ship cloths" because of the predominance of a ship motif and were said to represent the "ship of the dead". In Sumatra, Indonesia , these cloths are also called sesai balak (meaning 'big wall').
108-412: The history of these cloths is obscure. The factors that are presumed to have caused this include the abolition of slavery in 1859, the decline in the pepper trade and changing marriage traditions. Two lesser-known forms are the tatibin and the tampan maju . The tatibin are similar in design to the single ship palepai but are smaller, not exceeding 1.5 meters. The tampan maju is beaded and shorter than
216-603: A tram engine in the UK) at the head of a line of one or more carriages, similar to a small train. Systems with such steam trams included Christchurch , New Zealand; Sydney, Australia; other city systems in New South Wales ; Munich , Germany (from August 1883 on), British India (from 1885) and the Dublin & Blessington Steam Tramway (from 1888) in Ireland. Steam tramways also were used on
324-410: A 7 1⁄2-inch Merz Telescope that was manufactured in 1860–1861. The EcoLogic exhibition focuses on the challenges facing the environment, human impact, and ways and technologies to stop this effect. There is a house setup called Ecohouse where people toggle light variables to see the outcome as well as other energy use simulators and a 'ecological footprint' game. The exhibition includes a section of
432-618: A Ransom and Jeffries agricultural engine and the Broken Hill Fire Brigade's horse-drawn pump-engine. The museum owns a collection of mechanical musical instruments, of which the fairground barrel organ is located in the steam exhibition, where it is powered by a small fairground engine. The most popular exhibit is arguably the museum's model of the Strasbourg astronomical clock in Strasbourg Cathedral (which at that time
540-515: A Vermont blacksmith, had invented a battery-powered electric motor which he later patented. The following year he used it to operate a small model electric car on a short section of track four feet in diameter. Attempts to use batteries as a source of electricity were made from the 1880s and 1890s, with unsuccessful trials conducted in among other places Bendigo and Adelaide in Australia, and for about 14 years as The Hague accutram of HTM in
648-552: A building of such fragile materials would be an expensive and "catastrophic" failure. Powerhouse Parramatta is due to open in 2025. In December 2023, Arts Minister John Graham announced that the Ultimo site would be closed from early February for up to three years, to allow for significant upgrades and redevelopment. A new public square is planned, and the entrance will be moved so that it faces The Goods Line walkway from Central Station . On 5 February 2024, Powerhouse Ultimo began
756-416: A cafeteria, as well as some offices. Workshops, library, storage and additional office space is located in the annexed tram sheds (still known in-house as "Stage One"). The size and continually expanding nature of the museum's collection means that offsite storage facilities are also maintained. The new Powerhouse made it possible to rehabilitate hundreds of treasures stored at Alexandria and "exhibit them for
864-478: A celebration included items from the collection at her ancestral home, Althorp , including her wedding gown, family jewellery and film of Diana as a child. Harry Potter: The Exhibition in 2011–2012 was another popular exhibition, showcasing real costumes and sets from the eight Harry Potter films including the golden snitch, Nimbus 2000 and the Firebolt broomsticks, and various artefacts associated with all of
972-457: A major industrial location to a cultural, educational and tourism precinct". In January 2019, Lisa Havilah , former director of Carriageworks , took up the position of CEO of MAAS. She became the fourth head of MAAS in 5 1 ⁄ 2 years. As of December 2023 she is still in the role. The museum hosts a number of permanent exhibitions, including many concerning different modes of transport and communication. The Powerhouse Museum houses
1080-460: A name. The cloth is also hung at the celebration of a boy's circumcision and at funerals. For the Paminggir nobility, the palepai was also used at ceremonies to know the pronunciation of the rank of the owner. The designs are executed by continuous and discontinuous supplementary wefts on a plain cotton weave foundation. A supplementary weave is an additional weft element inserted between two of
1188-613: A number of large temporary exhibitions, including ones based on popular cinema franchises such as Star Trek , The Lord of the Rings , and the Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination exhibition, showing models, props and costumes from all six Star Wars films, together with recent advances in technology that are turning fantasy into reality. About 95 percent of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences collection
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#17328554977841296-547: A number of unique exhibits including the oldest operational rotative steam engine in the world, the Whitbread Engine . Dating from 1785, it is one of only a handful remaining that was built by Boulton and Watt and was acquired from Whitbread 's London Brewery in 1888. This engine was named a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1986. Another important exhibit
1404-745: A period of temporary closure until 2027 for major redevelopment. Community consultations were due to run until 25 February 2024. The statement of significance for the Federation building says the Powerhouse played a "major part in the 20th-century development of the Ultimo/Pyrmont area and in the wider heritage conservation movement in NSW." and it was part of the Darling Harbour Bicentennial citywide adaptation project, incorporated into "the transition of
1512-695: A similar technology, Pirotsky put into service the first public electric tramway in St. Petersburg, which operated only during September 1880. The second demonstration tramway was presented by Siemens & Halske at the 1879 Berlin Industrial Exposition. The first public electric tramway used for permanent service was the Gross-Lichterfelde tramway in Lichterfelde near Berlin in Germany, which opened in 1881. It
1620-554: A tree with a time line marked on its rings, dating back to the 17th century. The 'Interface: people, machines, design' explores how humans have been impacted by technology. A gallery of computing technology from the typewriter to the Tamagotchi. It explores successful and not-so successful design approaches made in the computing technology world. "Experimentations" is a science exhibition and contains interactive displays demonstrating aspects of magnetism, light, electricity, motion and
1728-911: A well-known tourist attraction . A single cable line also survives in Wellington (rebuilt in 1979 as a funicular but still called the " Wellington Cable Car "). Another system, with two separate cable lines and a shared power station in the middle, operates from the Welsh town of Llandudno up to the top of the Great Orme hill in North Wales , UK. Hastings and some other tramways, for example Stockholms Spårvägar in Sweden and some lines in Karachi , used petrol trams. Galveston Island Trolley in Texas operated diesel trams due to
1836-402: Is Locomotive No. 1 , the first steam locomotive to haul a passenger train in New South Wales , built by Robert Stephenson & Company in 1854. The most popular exhibit is arguably "The Strasburg Clock Model", built in 1887 by a 25-year-old Sydney watchmaker named Richard Smith. It is a working model of the famous Strasbourg astronomical clock in Strasbourg Cathedral (which at that time
1944-604: Is a well-known and popular Sydney tourist destination. The Federation-style building is listed on the New South Wales Government's State Heritage Register. The Ultimo building, designed by Lionel Glendenning for the Australian Bicentenary in 1988, won the Sir John Sulman Medal for architecture. It includes a specially installed reticulated steam system, run from the old boiler house, to drive
2052-495: Is due to open in 2025. The Ultimo site was scheduled to be closed for three years from February 2024 for redevelopment. Although often described as a science museum , the Powerhouse has a diverse collection encompassing all sorts of technology including decorative arts , science , communication , transport , costume , furniture , media , computer technology , space technology and steam engines . The museum has existed in various guises for over 125 years, previously named
2160-409: Is maintained in storage at any one time. From late 2004, 60 percent of this was moved to a new 3 hectares (7.4 acres) site in the northwestern Sydney suburb of Castle Hill . Built at a cost of A$ 12 million , this facility consists of seven huge sheds, including one the size of an aircraft hangar , within which are housed artefacts as a section of the mast of HMS Victory , Nelson 's flagship at
2268-455: Is remarkable in that nearly all of the engines on display are fully operational and are regularly demonstrated working on steam power. Together with the Boulton and Watt engine, and the museum's locomotives, steam truck and traction engines, they are a unique working collection tracing the development of steam power from the 1770s to the 1930s. Engines on display include an 1830s Maudslay engine,
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#17328554977842376-622: Is still in operation in modernised form. The earliest tram system in Canada was built by John Joseph Wright , brother of the famous mining entrepreneur Whitaker Wright , in Toronto in 1883, introducing electric trams in 1892. In the US, multiple experimental electric trams were exhibited at the 1884 World Cotton Centennial World's Fair in New Orleans, Louisiana , but they were not deemed good enough to replace
2484-631: Is the largest suspended plane in any museum in the world, and an example of the most successful flying boat ever introduced and one that was important in connecting Australia by air with the rest of the world after World War II . After involvement in the air-sea rescue squadron, the museum's specimen flew from the Rose Bay flying boat base across the Pacific Ocean on the first uncharted air route between Sydney and Valparaiso , Chile. The use of Catalina flying boats by Qantas Empire Airways after World War II
2592-729: Is the sole survivor of the fleet). In Italy, in Trieste , the Trieste–Opicina tramway was opened in 1902, with the steepest section of the route being negotiated with the help of a funicular and its cables. Cable cars suffered from high infrastructure costs, since an expensive system of cables , pulleys , stationary engines and lengthy underground vault structures beneath the rails had to be provided. They also required physical strength and skill to operate, and alert operators to avoid obstructions and other cable cars. The cable had to be disconnected ("dropped") at designated locations to allow
2700-788: The Battle of Trafalgar , and the spare wheel from Bluebird-Proteus CN7 , the car Donald Campbell drove to break the world land speed record on Lake Eyre in the 1960s. Electric tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in the United States) is a type of urban rail transit consisting of either individual railcars or self-propelled multiple unit trains that run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way . The tramlines or tram networks operated as public transport are called tramways or simply trams/streetcars. Because of their close similarities, trams are commonly included in
2808-688: The Bleecker Street Line until its closure in 1917. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , had its Sarah Street line drawn by horses until 1923. The last regular mule-drawn cars in the US ran in Sulphur Rock, Arkansas , until 1926 and were commemorated by a U.S. postage stamp issued in 1983. The last mule tram service in Mexico City ended in 1932, and a mule tram in Celaya, Mexico , survived until 1954. The last horse-drawn tram to be withdrawn from public service in
2916-879: The Lamm fireless engines then propelling the St. Charles Avenue Streetcar in that city. The first commercial installation of an electric streetcar in the United States was built in 1884 in Cleveland, Ohio , and operated for a period of one year by the East Cleveland Street Railway Company. The first city-wide electric streetcar system was implemented in 1886 in Montgomery, Alabama , by the Capital City Street Railway Company, and ran for 50 years. In 1888,
3024-679: The Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences ( MAAS ), is a collection of museums in Sydney , and owned by the Government of New South Wales . Its main centre is in Ultimo, New South Wales (Powerhouse Ultimo), the others being the historic Sydney Observatory at Observatory Hill , and the newer Powerhouse Castle Hill (previously known as the Museums Discovery Centre) at Castle Hill . Powerhouse Parramatta
3132-539: The Powerhouse Museum in Sydney ; and four or more discrete panels. These panels are usually of the same composition, an example of which is in the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales . Little is known about the meaning of the design elements of the ships cloth. The use of palepai is the prerogative of those of the penyimbang rank in the complex social structure of the Paminggir people. In ceremonies,
3240-692: The Richmond Union Passenger Railway began to operate trams in Richmond, Virginia , that Frank J. Sprague had built. Sprague later developed multiple unit control, first demonstrated in Chicago in 1897, allowing multiple cars to be coupled together and operated by a single motorman. This gave rise to the modern subway train. Following the improvement of an overhead "trolley" system on streetcars for collecting electricity from overhead wires by Sprague, electric tram systems were rapidly adopted across
3348-629: The Technological, Industrial and Sanitary Museum of New South Wales (1879–1882) and the Technological Museum (August 1893 – March 1988). As of 2022, the collection contains over 500,000 objects collected over the last 135 years, many of which are displayed or housed at the site it has occupied since 1988, and for which it is named – a converted electric tram power station in the Inner West suburb of Ultimo , originally constructed in 1902 and
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3456-785: The West Midlands Metro in Birmingham , England adopted battery-powered trams on sections through the city centre close to Grade I listed Birmingham Town Hall . Paris and Berne (Switzerland) operated trams that were powered by compressed air using the Mekarski system . Trials on street tramways in Britain, including by the North Metropolitan Tramway Company between Kings Cross and Holloway, London (1883), achieved acceptable results but were found not to be economic because of
3564-1154: The 1850s, after which the "animal railway" became an increasingly common feature in the larger towns. The first permanent tram line in continental Europe was opened in Paris in 1855 by Alphonse Loubat who had previously worked on American streetcar lines. The tram was developed in numerous cities of Europe (some of the most extensive systems were found in Berlin, Budapest , Birmingham , Saint Petersburg , Lisbon , London , Manchester , Paris , Kyiv ). The first tram in South America opened in 1858 in Santiago, Chile . The first trams in Australia opened in 1860 in Sydney . Africa's first tram service started in Alexandria on 8 January 1863. The first trams in Asia opened in 1869 in Batavia (Jakarta), Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia) . Limitations of horsecars included
3672-692: The 1894-built horse tram at Victor Harbor in South Australia . New horse-drawn systems have been established at the Hokkaidō Museum in Japan and also in Disneyland . A horse-tram route in Polish gmina Mrozy , first built in 1902, was reopened in 2012. The first mechanical trams were powered by steam . Generally, there were two types of steam tram. The first and most common had a small steam locomotive (called
3780-706: The 1980s. Arts oriented temporary exhibitions have included the Fabergé exhibition, the Treasures of Palestine exhibition, the Strictly Mardi Gras exhibition, the Christian Dior exhibition, the Audrey Hepburn exhibition, Kylie: an exhibition – a tribute to Kylie Minogue and her contribution to music, stage and screen, featuring many of her costumes. An exhibition about Diana, Princess of Wales , called Diana:
3888-420: The 1980s. The history of passenger trams, streetcars and trolley systems, began in the early nineteenth century. It can be divided into several distinct periods defined by the principal means of power used. Precursors to the tramway included the wooden or stone wagonways that were used in central Europe to transport mine carts with unflanged wheels since the 1500s, and the paved limestone trackways designed by
3996-475: The Australian state of Queensland between 1909 and 1939. Stockholm , Sweden, had a steam tram line at the island of Södermalm between 1887 and 1901. Tram engines usually had modifications to make them suitable for street running in residential areas. The wheels, and other moving parts of the machinery, were usually enclosed for safety reasons and to make the engines quieter. Measures were often taken to prevent
4104-457: The British newspaper Newcastle Daily Chronicle reported that, "A large number of London's discarded horse tramcars have been sent to Lincolnshire where they are used as sleeping rooms for potato pickers ". Horses continued to be used for light shunting well into the 20th century, and many large metropolitan lines lasted into the early 20th century. New York City had a regular horsecar service on
4212-744: The Entertainment Centre, and work is progressing on further extensions. Sydney re-introduced trams (or light rail) on 31 August 1997. A completely new system, known as G:link , was introduced on the Gold Coast, Queensland , on 20 July 2014. The Newcastle Light Rail opened in February 2019, while the Canberra light rail opened on 20 April 2019. This is the first time that there have been trams in Canberra, even though Walter Burley Griffin 's 1914–1920 plans for
4320-416: The Irish coach builder John Stephenson , in New York City which began service in the year 1832. The New York and Harlem Railroad's Fourth Avenue Line ran along the Bowery and Fourth Avenue in New York City. It was followed in 1835 by the New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad in New Orleans, Louisiana , which still operates as the St. Charles Streetcar Line . Other American cities did not follow until
4428-426: The NSW government announced it had abandoned plans to relocate three of the Powerhouse Museum's biggest exhibits – the Boulton and Watt steam engine, the Locomotive No. 1, and the Catalina flying boat. The planned three centres of Sydney's Powerhouse Museum were the existing building at Ultimo, the Parramatta riverside, Museum Discovery Centre at Castle Hill and the Sydney Observatory. The decision to keep Ultimo site
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4536-430: The Netherlands. The first trams in Bendigo, Australia, in 1892, were battery-powered, but within as little as three months they were replaced with horse-drawn trams. In New York City some minor lines also used storage batteries. Then, more recently during the 1950s, a longer battery-operated tramway line ran from Milan to Bergamo . In China there is a Nanjing battery Tram line and has been running since 2014. In 2019,
4644-436: The North Sydney line from 1886 to 1900, and the King Street line from 1892 to 1905. In Dresden , Germany, in 1901 an elevated suspended cable car following the Eugen Langen one-railed floating tram system started operating. Cable cars operated on Highgate Hill in North London and Kennington to Brixton Hill in South London. They also worked around "Upper Douglas" in the Isle of Man from 1897 to 1929 (cable car 72/73
4752-463: The Romans for heavy horse and ox-drawn transportation. By the 1700s, paved plateways with cast iron rails were introduced in England for transporting coal, stone or iron ore from the mines to the urban factories and docks. The world's first passenger train or tram was the Swansea and Mumbles Railway , in Wales , UK. The British Parliament passed the Mumbles Railway Act in 1804, and horse-drawn service started in 1807. The service closed in 1827, but
4860-413: The Second Street Cable Railroad, which operated from 1885 to 1889, and the Temple Street Cable Railway, which operated from 1886 to 1898. From 1885 to 1940, the city of Melbourne , Victoria, Australia operated one of the largest cable systems in the world, at its peak running 592 trams on 75 kilometres (47 mi) of track. There were also two isolated cable lines in Sydney , New South Wales, Australia;
4968-562: The UK at Lytham St Annes , Trafford Park , Manchester (1897–1908) and Neath , Wales (1896–1920). Comparatively little has been published about gas trams. However, research on the subject was carried out for an article in the October 2011 edition of "The Times", the historical journal of the Australian Association of Timetable Collectors, later renamed the Australian Timetable Association. The world's first electric tram line operated in Sestroretsk near Saint Petersburg invented and tested by inventor Fyodor Pirotsky in 1875. Later, using
5076-410: The UK took passengers from Fintona railway station to Fintona Junction one mile away on the main Omagh to Enniskillen railway in Northern Ireland. The tram made its last journey on 30 September 1957 when the Omagh to Enniskillen line closed. The "van" is preserved at the Ulster Transport Museum . Horse-drawn trams still operate on the 1876-built Douglas Bay Horse Tramway on the Isle of Man , and at
5184-508: The advantages over earlier forms of transit was the low rolling resistance of metal wheels on steel rails, allowing the trams to haul a greater load for a given effort. Another factor which contributed to the rise of trams was the high total cost of ownership of horses. Electric trams largely replaced animal power in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Improvements in other vehicles such as buses led to decline of trams in early to mid 20th century. However, trams have seen resurgence since
5292-439: The areas of technology, science, engineering and design at two major locations", and that like other large collections such as the Smithsonian museums in the United States, multiple centres would display the institution's collections. While Government Ministers argued the decision would be a "win-win" for Sydney and Parramatta, critics argued it would be a "lose-lose", with both cities losing important heritage. On 29 July 2020,
5400-418: The blaze despite a 5-storey plunge. Maiden commenced rebuilding the collection, but for the subsequent decade the new museum found itself housed in a large tin shed in The Domain , a facility it shared with the Sydney Hospital morgue . The ever-present stench of decaying corpses was not the best advertisement for an institution dedicated to the promotion of sanitation. Eventually – after intense lobbying –
5508-460: The busiest tram line in Europe, with a tram running once per minute at rush hour. Bucharest and Belgrade ran a regular service from 1894. Ljubljana introduced its tram system in 1901 – it closed in 1958. Oslo had the first tramway in Scandinavia , starting operation on 2 March 1894. The first electric tramway in Australia was a Sprague system demonstrated at the 1888 Melbourne Centennial Exhibition in Melbourne ; afterwards, this
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#17328554977845616-439: The capital then in the planning stage did propose a Canberra tram system. In Japan, the Kyoto Electric railroad was the first tram system, starting operation in 1895. By 1932, the network had grown to 82 railway companies in 65 cities, with a total network length of 1,479 km (919 mi). By the 1960s the tram had generally died out in Japan. Two rare but significant alternatives were conduit current collection , which
5724-458: The car up the hill at a steady pace, unlike a low-powered steam or horse-drawn car. Cable cars do have wheel brakes and track brakes , but the cable also helps restrain the car to going downhill at a constant speed. Performance in steep terrain partially explains the survival of cable cars in San Francisco. The San Francisco cable cars , though significantly reduced in number, continue to provide regular transportation service, in addition to being
5832-402: The cars to coast by inertia, for example when crossing another cable line. The cable then had to be "picked up" to resume progress, the whole operation requiring precise timing to avoid damage to the cable and the grip mechanism. Breaks and frays in the cable, which occurred frequently, required the complete cessation of services over a cable route while the cable was repaired. Due to overall wear,
5940-409: The city's hurricane-prone location, which would have resulted in frequent damage to an electrical supply system. Although Portland, Victoria promotes its tourist tram as being a cable car it actually operates using a diesel motor. The tram, which runs on a circular route around the town of Portland, uses dummies and salons formerly used on the Melbourne cable tramway system and since restored. In
6048-420: The clock displays the position of the planets, the days of the month, solar time , lunar phases and analog time . The Space exhibition looks at space and discoveries relating to it. It includes a life size model space-shuttle cockpit. It has a feature on Australian satellites and joins the Transport exhibit through an underground temporary exhibit walkway and two side entrances. The Powerhouse Museum has
6156-416: The combined coal consumption of the stationary compressor and the onboard steam boiler. The Trieste–Opicina tramway in Trieste operates a hybrid funicular tramway system. Conventional electric trams are operated in street running and on reserved track for most of their route. However, on one steep segment of track, they are assisted by cable tractors, which push the trams uphill and act as brakes for
6264-442: The conclusion of the exhibition, the Australian Museum (Sydney's museum of natural history) appointed a committee to select the best exhibits with the intention of exhibiting them permanently in a new museum to be sited within the Garden Palace. The new museum was to be called The Technological, Industrial, and Sanitary Museum of New South Wales; its purpose was to exhibit the latest industrial, construction and design innovations with
6372-456: The decrepit Ultimo Power Station , several hundred metres north of the Harris Street site had been earmarked as the museum's new permanent home along with the adjoining former Ultimo Tram Depot . The museum spent an interim period exhibiting as the Powerhouse Museum – Stage One in the nearby tram sheds before re-opening as the Powerhouse Museum at the new site on 10 March 1988. The main museum building contains five levels, three courtyards and
6480-430: The downhill run. For safety, the cable tractors are always deployed on the downhill side of the tram vehicle. Similar systems were used elsewhere in the past, notably on the Queen Anne Counterbalance in Seattle and the Darling Street wharf line in Sydney. In the mid-20th century many tram systems were disbanded, replaced by buses, trolleybuses , automobiles or rapid transit . The General Motors streetcar conspiracy
6588-528: The electric current through the glowing gas inside it, and changes when touched. The museum holds an extensive and significant collection of Doulton ware and other ceramics, as well as industrial equipment and industrial design, such as furniture. Various exhibitions have paid tribute to Australian popular culture. Some of these have included On the box: great moments in Australian television 1956–2006 tribute to 50 years of Australian television and The 80s are back which looks back at life in Australia in
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#17328554977846696-446: The engines from emitting visible smoke or steam. Usually the engines used coke rather than coal as fuel to avoid emitting smoke; condensers or superheating were used to avoid emitting visible steam. A major drawback of this style of tram was the limited space for the engine, so that these trams were usually underpowered. Steam trams faded out around the 1890s to 1900s, being replaced by electric trams. Another motive system for trams
6804-429: The entire length of cable (typically several kilometres) had to be replaced on a regular schedule. After the development of reliable electrically powered trams, the costly high-maintenance cable car systems were rapidly replaced in most locations. Cable cars remained especially effective in hilly cities, since their nondriven wheels did not lose traction as they climbed or descended a steep hill. The moving cable pulled
6912-439: The fact that any given animal could only work so many hours on a given day, had to be housed, groomed, fed and cared for day in and day out, and produced prodigious amounts of manure, which the streetcar company was charged with storing and then disposing. Since a typical horse pulled a streetcar for about a dozen miles a day and worked for four or five hours, many systems needed ten or more horses in stable for each horsecar. In 1905
7020-404: The first time in almost a century". In 1982, the museum incorporated the Sydney Observatory . The museum moved to 500 Harris Street in March 1988, and took its new name from the new location. Following its closure as a working observatory in 1982, Sydney Observatory was incorporated into the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, as the museum was still formally known, though from 1988 this name
7128-447: The intention of showing how improvements in the living standards and health of the population might be brought about. In September 1882, before the new museum could be opened a fire completely destroyed the Garden Palace, leaving the museum's first curator, Joseph Henry Maiden with a collection consisting of only the most durable artefacts including a Ceylonese statue of an elephant carved in graphite that had miraculously survived
7236-426: The large, rare steam machines in its collection. The Powerhouse Museum has its origins in a recommendation of the trustees of the Australian Museum in 1878 and the Sydney International Exhibition of 1879 and Melbourne International Exhibition of 1880 . The Sydney International Exhibition was held in the Garden Palace , a purpose-built exhibition building located in the grounds of the Royal Botanic Gardens . At
7344-444: The late 19th and early 20th centuries a number of systems in various parts of the world employed trams powered by gas, naphtha gas or coal gas in particular. Gas trams are known to have operated between Alphington and Clifton Hill in the northern suburbs of Melbourne , Australia (1886–1888); in Berlin and Dresden , Germany; in Estonia (1921–1951); between Jelenia Góra , Cieplice , and Sobieszów in Poland (from 1897); and in
7452-402: The late 19th and early 20th centuries. There was one particular hazard associated with trams powered from a trolley pole off an overhead line on the early electrified systems. Since the tram relies on contact with the rails for the current return path, a problem arises if the tram is derailed or (more usually) if it halts on a section of track that has been heavily sanded by a previous tram, and
7560-408: The main characters. In 2011, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Wiggles , the Powerhouse mounted The Wiggles Exhibition , which exhibited memorabilia from the group as well as from The Cockroaches , since two of the group were previously members of The Cockroaches . Due to its popularity, the exhibition was kept as one of the museum's permanent exhibitions. Since 1988, the Powerhouse hosted
7668-405: The museum was relocated to a three-storey building; a temporary home at the Agricultural Hall in the Domain, a new, purpose-built premises in Harris Street , Ultimo and was given a new name: the "Technological Museum". The new location placed the museum adjacent to the Sydney Technical College , and as such it was intended to provide material inspiration to the students. As time passed, its name
7776-528: The necessity of overhead wire and a trolley pole for street cars and railways. While at the University of Denver he conducted experiments which established that multiple unit powered cars were a better way to operate trains and trolleys. Electric tramways spread to many European cities in the 1890s, such as: Sarajevo built a citywide system of electric trams in 1895. Budapest established its tramway system in 1887, and its ring line has grown to be
7884-477: The old Powerhouse site in Ultimo, containing of 30,000 square metres, with about half (18,000 square metres) slated for exhibition and public space. The NSW Government promised to develop the new facility to international standards and engineered to present larger objects from the collection including the Catalina flying boat and Locomotive No.1 but proposals for lending the large items to different organisations across
7992-523: The oldest operating electric tramway in the world. Also in 1883, Mödling and Hinterbrühl Tram was opened near Vienna in Austria. It was the first tram in the world in regular service that was run with electricity served by an overhead line with pantograph current collectors . The Blackpool Tramway was opened in Blackpool, UK on 29 September 1885 using conduit collection along Blackpool Promenade. This system
8100-476: The other side of which is the Governor of New South Wales 's railway carriage, of the 1880s. Also in this exhibition is the original Central railway station destination board , relocated to the museum in the 1980s when the station was refurbished. Powerhouse Museum restored the locomotives 3830 , restored to operational order in 1997 and 3265 , restored in 2009 after 40 years off the rails. Sydney's last Hansom Cab
8208-485: The others. Only 12 examples of tampan maju are known to exist. No two known palepai are identical; however, their designs typically include: a large ship stretching the entire length of the cloth; two large red ships, an example of which can be seen in the Textile Arts Collection; two or three rows of stylized human figures extending along the length of the cloth, an example of which is in the art collection of
8316-427: The palepai was hung on the right wall of an inner room of the house as a backdrop for the central figure in the rite. In the marriage ceremony, the bride sits in front of the cloth of her husband-to-be after arriving in a bedecked procession . On the bride's first visit home after the wedding ceremony, the cloth may have been hung, and then again after the birthed child is presented to the maternal grandparents to receive
8424-451: The plan was revisited and the move was confirmed with a decision made to close the Ultimo site between June 2020, and early 2021. The final design for a new venue was unveiled in December 2019. The former site was to become a Broadway style theatre and fashion museum. In July 2020, the decision to close the site and relocate the collections was reversed. The proposed new venue was larger than
8532-617: The poor paving of the streets in American cities which made them unsuitable for horsebuses , which were then common on the well-paved streets of European cities. Running the horsecars on rails allowed for a much smoother ride. There are records of a street railway running in Baltimore as early as 1828, however the first authenticated streetcar in America, was the New York and Harlem Railroad developed by
8640-481: The proposed area flooded for the second time in two years, and even with increased setback from the river, experts were concerned about irreparable damage from increased humidity to items in the collection, especially delicate ones made of paper, textile and wood. In November 2020, revised plans to move Willow Grove "brick by brick" also created further controversy, with the National Trust advising that dismantling
8748-466: The public on a number of grounds, including loss of cultural heritage, risk and cost. The main concerns expressed about the proposed move included: On 4 July 2020, it was decided to keep and renovate the Ultimo building instead of demolishing it and relocating its collections, and build an additional venue in Parramatta. The NSW Premier said this would allow for "an outstanding visitor experience in
8856-539: The regular foundation wefts. The major dyes used were most probably the same as those used in the manufacture of women's sarongs in the area. Sepang ( Caesalpinia sappan ) and tamarind for the red, turmeric and tamarind for the yellow, and indigo and lime for the blue. These cloths have not been regularly woven in a century, and few exemplars can be found today. It is estimated that there are only 100 to 150 palepai of all kinds still in existence. Powerhouse Museum The Powerhouse Museum , formerly known as
8964-401: The senses. These include a machine that explains how chocolate is made and lets one taste four 'stages' of chocolate. There is a full-sized model of the front of a firetruck that measures the pedal-power used to sound its horn and lights, and a hand-powered model railway using a magnetic system to provide electric current to the track. One of the most popular features is a plasma ball that shows
9072-508: The state were in train since 2019, and concern persisted about risks, logistics and decontextualisation of exhibits. The insecurity, the "deluge of controversy" and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the arts and cultural heritage sector made planning extremely difficult. The proposed closure and move attracted wide-ranging criticism from museum experts, architectural heritage and urban design experts, cultural and business leaders, and
9180-529: The suburban tramway lines around Milan and Padua ; the last Gamba de Legn ("Peg-Leg") tramway ran on the Milan- Magenta -Castano Primo route in late 1957. The other style of steam tram had the steam engine in the body of the tram, referred to as a tram engine (UK) or steam dummy (US). The most notable system to adopt such trams was in Paris. French-designed steam trams also operated in Rockhampton , in
9288-545: The tracks. Siemens later designed his own version of overhead current collection, called the bow collector . One of the first systems to use it was in Thorold, Ontario , opened in 1887, and it was considered quite successful. While this line proved quite versatile as one of the earliest fully functional electric streetcar installations, it required horse-drawn support while climbing the Niagara Escarpment and for two months of
9396-416: The tram and completing the earth return circuit with their body could receive a serious electric shock. If "grounded", the driver was required to jump off the tram (avoiding simultaneous contact with the tram and the ground) and pull down the trolley pole, before allowing passengers off the tram. Unless derailed, the tram could usually be recovered by running water down the running rails from a point higher than
9504-460: The tram loses electrical contact with the rails. In this event, the underframe of the tram, by virtue of a circuit path through ancillary loads (such as interior lighting), is live at the full supply voltage, typically 600 volts DC. In British terminology, such a tram was said to be 'grounded'—not to be confused with the US English use of the term, which means the exact opposite. Any person stepping off
9612-427: The tram, the water providing a conducting bridge between the tram and the rails. With improved technology, this ceased to be an problem. In the 2000s, several companies introduced catenary-free designs: Alstom's Citadis line uses a third rail, Bombardier's PRIMOVE LRV is charged by contactless induction plates embedded in the trackway and CAF URBOS tram uses ultracaps technology As early as 1834, Thomas Davenport ,
9720-804: The wider term light rail , which also includes systems separated from other traffic. Tram vehicles are usually lighter and shorter than main line and rapid transit trains. Most trams use electrical power, usually fed by a pantograph sliding on an overhead line ; older systems may use a trolley pole or a bow collector . In some cases, a contact shoe on a third rail is used. If necessary, they may have dual power systems—electricity in city streets and diesel in more rural environments. Occasionally, trams also carry freight . Some trams, known as tram-trains , may have segments that run on mainline railway tracks, similar to interurban systems. The differences between these modes of rail transport are often indistinct, and systems may combine multiple features. One of
9828-409: The winter when hydroelectricity was not available. It continued in service in its original form into the 1950s. Sidney Howe Short designed and produced the first electric motor that operated a streetcar without gears. The motor had its armature direct-connected to the streetcar 's axle for the driving force. Short pioneered "use of a conduit system of concealed feed" thereby eliminating
9936-524: The world's first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle tramcar at an assembly facility in Qingdao . The chief engineer of the CSR subsidiary CSR Sifang Co Ltd. , Liang Jianying, said that the company is studying how to reduce the running costs of the tram. Trams have been used for two main purposes: for carrying passengers and for carrying cargo. There are several types of passenger tram: There are two main types of tramways,
10044-401: The world. Earlier electric trains proved difficult or unreliable and experienced limited success until the second half of the 1880s, when new types of current collectors were developed. Siemens' line, for example, provided power through a live rail and a return rail, like a model train , limiting the voltage that could be used, and delivering electric shocks to people and animals crossing
10152-665: Was a case study of the decline of trams in the United States. In the 21st century, trams have been re-introduced in cities where they had been closed down for decades (such as Tramlink in London), or kept in heritage use (such as Spårväg City in Stockholm). Most trams made since the 1990s (such as the Bombardier Flexity series and Alstom Citadis ) are articulated low-floor trams with features such as regenerative braking . In March 2015, China South Rail Corporation (CSR) demonstrated
10260-486: Was built by Werner von Siemens who contacted Pirotsky. This was the world's first commercially successful electric tram. It drew current from the rails at first, with overhead wire being installed in 1883. In Britain, Volk's Electric Railway was opened in 1883 in Brighton. This two kilometer line along the seafront, re-gauged to 2 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 825 mm ) in 1884, remains in service as
10368-423: Was called Strassburg or Strasburg). Smith had never actually seen the original when he built it but worked from a pamphlet which described its timekeeping and astronomical functions. The Catalina Flying Boat Frigate Bird II on display in the museum is the one that Sir Patrick Gordon Taylor flew on the first flight from Australia to South America, in which he brought home 29 soldiers from New Guinea in 1945. It
10476-409: Was called Strassburg or Strasburg). The reproduction is a working model built between 1887 and 1889 by a 25-year-old Sydney watchmaker named Richard Bartholomew Smith, who had never actually seen the original when he built it but worked from a pamphlet which described its timekeeping and astronomical functions. The museum acquired it in 1890. Made from carved and painted wood with gold painted detailing,
10584-516: Was changed to The Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences and it also established branches in some of New South Wales' main industrial and mining centres, including Broken Hill , Albury , Newcastle and Maitland . It also quickly outgrew the main Harris Street site and by 1978 the situation had become dire, with many exhibits literally stuffed into its attic, and left unexhibited for decades. On 23 August 1978, Premier Neville Wran announced that
10692-633: Was donated to the museum by its driver, who left it at the gates of the Harris Street building. There is also a horse-drawn bus and collection of motorbikes. Suspended aeroplanes, which can be viewed from balconies, include the Catalina flying boat and a Queenair Scout, the first Flying Doctor Service plane. Among the cars is a 1913 Sheffield Simplex, one of only 8 in the world. A four-minute film shows old footage of public transport. The Powerhouse Museum also has Sydney trams C11 (1898), O805 (1909), R1738 (1938. 1st of its type), steam tram motor 28A, hearse car 27s and Manly horse car 292. This exhibition
10800-482: Was installed as a commercial venture operating between the outer Melbourne suburb of Box Hill and the then tourist-oriented country town Doncaster from 1889 to 1896. Electric systems were also built in Adelaide , Ballarat , Bendigo , Brisbane , Fremantle , Geelong , Hobart , Kalgoorlie , Launceston , Leonora , Newcastle , Perth , and Sydney . By the 1970s, the only full tramway system remaining in Australia
10908-431: Was made in the context of increasing public awareness of the cultural damage that would be done by closing the Powerhouse, along with the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the arts and cultural heritage . The design of the Parramatta venue was subsequently amended by reducing the proposed presentation floor space and researcher apartments, along with a greater setback to the river. In March 2021, during heavy rains,
11016-605: Was no longer used in marketing materials in favour of the Powerhouse Museum brand. In February 2015, the State Government controversially announced that the Powerhouse Museum would be relocated to Parramatta . However this plan was reviewed, and an announcement from the NSW government in April 2017, suggested that the museum would stay in its current location. A decision to remain was announced on 18 July 2017. In 2018,
11124-548: Was restarted in 1860, again using horses. It was worked by steam from 1877, and then, from 1929, by very large (106-seat) electric tramcars, until closure in 1960. The Swansea and Mumbles Railway was something of a one-off however, and no street tramway appeared in Britain until 1860 when one was built in Birkenhead by the American George Francis Train . Street railways developed in America before Europe, due to
11232-406: Was significant in the development of Australia's commercial air services. The transport exhibition looks at transport through the ages, from horse-drawn carts through steam engines, cars and planes to the latest hybrid technology. On display is Steam Locomotive No. 1243 , which served for 87 years, oldest contractor built locomotive in Australia. It stands beside a mock-up of a railway platform, on
11340-616: Was tested in San Francisco , in 1873. Part of its success is attributed to the development of an effective and reliable cable grip mechanism, to grab and release the moving cable without damage. The second city to operate cable trams was Dunedin , from 1881 to 1957. The most extensive cable system in the US was built in Chicago in stages between 1859 and 1892. New York City developed multiple cable car lines, that operated from 1883 to 1909. Los Angeles also had several cable car lines, including
11448-616: Was the Melbourne tram system. However, there were also a few single lines remaining elsewhere: the Glenelg tram line , connecting Adelaide to the beachside suburb of Glenelg , and tourist trams in the Victorian Goldfields cities of Bendigo and Ballarat. In recent years the Melbourne system, generally recognised as the largest urban tram network in the world, has been considerably modernised and expanded. The Adelaide line has been extended to
11556-411: Was the cable car, which was pulled along a fixed track by a moving steel cable, the cable usually running in a slot below the street level. The power to move the cable was normally provided at a "powerhouse" site a distance away from the actual vehicle. The London and Blackwall Railway , which opened for passengers in east London, England, in 1840 used such a system. The first practical cable car line
11664-851: Was widely used in London, Washington, D.C., and New York City, and the surface contact collection method, used in Wolverhampton (the Lorain system), Torquay and Hastings in the UK (the Dolter stud system), and in Bordeaux , France (the ground-level power supply system). The convenience and economy of electricity resulted in its rapid adoption once the technical problems of production and transmission of electricity were solved. Electric trams largely replaced animal power and other forms of motive power including cable and steam, in
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