POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Notes

There are a number of interesting features to the general design of the stamper battery. The configuration is for five stamps, the flywheel/pulley, through which motion is transmitted to the cam shaft, is made of timber with a cast circumferential protector, and the structural members consist of pre-cast iron posts with timber cross-beams supporting the stems. Although stamp mills absorbed more power than any other form of crushing machine, they were regarded by millmen as the favourite device for the reduction of ores. Professor Geoffrey Blainey (The Rush That Never Ended: A History of Australian Mining, Melbourne University Press, 1963, p. 79) has remarked that; "even slipshod millmen could extract 90 per cent or more of the gold from rich rock. Few millmen had any knowledge of physics or chemistry. Few had enough mechanical knowledge to design more efficient mills and they let the foundries design the stamp mills and the foundaries adhered to the same design"[and manufacture]. In Australia, the stamper battery was considered to be the basic processing plant for crushing ore. In regard to gold mining, reef gold, as distinct from alluvial deposits, was typically found as a mineral in an ore body sometimes in combination with other minerals such as silver, lead, copper and iron pyrites. Stampers were generally in demise by the 1890s, as gold from the mill was being lost through the use of stamper technology. The problem was addressed when John Sutherland, a graduate metallurgist who had studied at the Ballarat School of Mines, adapted the filter press from the sugar mills and adopted the use of cyanide, as recommended by the chemists, to extract the gold more quickly; and it saved water too. This stamp was made in the foundry of P.N. Russell and Company, Sydney (1872). The maker's identification plate is clearly embossed on the mortar box. Peter Nicol Russell (1816-1905) was born into a family of engineers. He owed much to the early training bestowed upon him by his Scottish parents. Robert Russell (Peter's father), and Robert's brother, Alexander (Peter's uncle), ran an engineering firm at Kirkcaldy, Fifeshire, Scotland. Their firm was known as 'Alexander and Robert Russell, Kirkaldy Foundry and Engineering Works'. That partnership was dissolved and Robert then established 'The Phoenix Foundry and Engineering Works' in Fifeshire, but by 1830, business difficulties had forced the closure of this firm. After the closure of the Phoenix Foundry, Robert Russell was about to take his large family (six sons and three daughters) to Canada to begin afresh when he received an invitation from James Williamson, the son of a family friend, to establish a foundry in Tasmania. The family arrived in Hobart Town in June 1832. Shortly thereafter, Robert secured a land grant of 2000 acres from the Government, which proved to be unsuitable for his requirements. He sold the land and with his three elder sons (Robert, Peter, John) commenced a general engineering and foundry business, which was located firstly in Murray and then Elizabeth Street, Hobart Town. Robert Russell remained in Tasmania for six years, and then decided to move the business to Sydney in 1837/8. His eldest son (Robert Jnr.) was sent to Sydney to gather information about the economic climate there, with a view to settling in his father's mind, the necessity of moving the business. The family moved to Sydney late in 1838 and Robert Snr. commenced business that year in Queens Place, Sydney, on the banks of the Tank Stream, near Pitt Street, before it was extended through from Bridge Street to Circular Quay. The firm was called 'Russell Bros.'; the name being a reflection of the increasing involvement of Robert's three elder sons. Robert Russell (Snr.) died 25 December, 1840, aged 51. Russell Bros. developed into a prosperous business comprising engineering, brass-founding, and copper-smithing, with iron and machinery stores in Bridge Street. Larger premises in Macquarie Place were acquired shortly thereafter, where, among other things, they were sole agents for London made gas lamps, which were then being introduced into Sydney. James Blanche, a Sydney ironmonger with a foundry and blacksmithing business died in 1841, whereupon the trustees of Blanche's estate offered to sell the business to the Russell brothers. Robert and John declined, and Peter eventually left Russell Bros. and bought Blanche's business, commencing operation under the name 'The Sydney Foundry and Engineering Works'. During the early years of operation the Sydney Foundry, as it was generally known, fulfilled orders for all iron work required for the Military Barracks (Paddington), Darlinghurst Gaol, and Newcastle and Maitland Gaol, together with much of the ironwork required by the New South Wales Government. Ironically, Peter's brothers rejoined him at the George Street foundry, when their business collapsed during the economic depression of the 1840s. Robert Russell (Jnr.) died on 28 August, 1849, aged 37. Meanwhile, George Russell, the youngest of the brothers, established (1842) an engineering business ('George Russell and Co., Engineers') in Sussex Street, Sydney. Marine engineering was his prime concern, and the business prospered until 1855, when it was absorbed by P.N. Russell and Co. P.N. Russell and Co. was established in 1855 as a co-partnership between the three brothers (Peter, John, and George) and J.W. Dunlop, the works foreman. At this time, Peter went to London as the firm's overseas representative (which underscored the export side of the business). During the next twenty years the firm grew rapidly, to such an extent that the works extended over a large portion of the waterfront at Darling Harbour, with a large warehouse in George Street through to York Street. The five-head stamper battery was most likely made in the Darling Harbour foundry. The general office and main works building, bounded by Duncan, Barker, Thomas (now Russell) and Steam Mill Streets, was used for the fitting and assembly of rolling stock manufactured for the Railway Department. P. N. Russell and Co., had, by now, become "the most complete [works] of its kind in Australia" (Russell, 1964, 137) and the firm carried out extensive works, including contracts for road and railway bridges, railway rolling stock, steam dredges, gun boats, and crushing and flour milling machinery. Relations were established with Mort's Dock and Engineering Co., where repairs to overseas steamers were carried out, including those of the P.& O. Company. In 1870, the firm erected the bridge over the Macquarie River at Bathurst and in 1871, the old Hume Bridge (54 metre span) over the Yass River (Yass), was constructed by the firm. The firm also made many decorative/ornamental architectural iron-work pieces for buildings throughout New South Wales. *** Norman Selfe (1839-1911) arrived in Sydney from England in 1855, and joined P.N. Russell and Co., the following year, where eventually he became Russell's chief draughtsmen (Murray-Smith, 101). Selfe designed a number of horizontal steam engines and general machinery for the firm. One of these machines was a ten-head stamp battery, that worked the gold fields at Wisemen's Creek, out of Bathurst. According to Russell (1964, 138), it was powered by a horizontal steam engine that was connected to a large flywheel. It was manufactured by the firm in 1867, and destroyed in 1964. In 1860, Peter Nicol Russell retired from the firm. The business was finally closed in June 1875, through unresolved management disputes and strikes by the foundrymen. John Russell returned to London where he died in December 1879, aged 61 years. At the time of closure, P.N. Russell and Co., had a working capital of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, and employed one thousand people (Russell, 139). Peter Nicol Russell also returned to London to live in retirement until his death on 10 July, 1905, aged 89. Peter Nicol Russell was a major benefactor to the University of Sydney. He gave separate endowments of fifty-thousand pounds each on 16 December, 1895, and 15 February, 1904. These funds provided scholarships for engineering students at the University. He also provided three thousand pounds to the Engineering Association of New South Wales (taken over by the Institution of Engineers in 1919) for the support of engineering activity and the iron trades in Sydney. However, shortly before his death, P.N. Russell added a codicil to his will revoking his gift to members of the Engineers and Iron Trades in Sydney, preferring instead to pass the residue of his estate to Charlotte, his wife. The Engineering Association of New South Wales was founded in 1870 and was the oldest engineering society in Australia. In appreciation of Russell's work to the Association and to Australian engineering generally, a 'Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal' was struck and awarded annually to a member of the Institution "who, having attained the age of 45 years, had by then made a notable contribution to the science and/or practice of engineering in the Commonwealth of Australia" (Russell, 1964, 143). The medal was first awarded in 1923, to Professor W.H. Warren. Other recipients have included Sir George. A. Julius, Sir John Monash, Dr. J.J.C. Bradfield, Sir Henry Barraclough, and Professor (Sir) John Madsen (References: Corbett, A.H. [1973]. 'The Institution of Engineers Australia: A History of the First Fifty Years, 1919-1969. The Institution of Engineers, Australia, and Angus and Robertson, Sydney; Murray-Smith, S. [1976]. 'Norman Selfe, 1839-1911', Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 6, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne; Russell, P. H. [1964]. 'Sir Peter Nicol Russell, 1816-1905: His Family and Associates, Pioneers of the Australian Iron and Engineering Industry', Royal Australian Historical Society Journal, Vol. 50, 129-144).