Lubecker Steam Dredge on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp

The Lubecker Steam Dredge was the first machine used on the long running project to drain the Koo Wee Rup Swamp, which had started with small scale works in 1857. The main drainage work to create the Main Drain, following the plans drawn up by William Thwaites, Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department,  took place from 1889 to 1893. In 1893, the Public Works Department took back the drainage works from contractors and their engineer, Carlo Catani (1852-1918) was appointed to oversee future drainage works. (1)

  

Carlo was keen to introduce dredges; however this was not approved because it would reduce the work available for unskilled labour, however after the 1911 flood, the  Public Works Department devised a scheme to prevent a reoccurrence of the damage. As Carlo wrote in his presentation, Earth excavators and their use in Victoria  to the Victorian Institute of Engineers in August 1916 - A scheme was prepared, and it was estimated that by ordinary means the outlay would be £50,500, but I added that by the employment of up-to-date machinery this sum could be reduced by one half

On the occasion of my visit to Europe in 1912 I was commissioned by the Hon. the Minister of Public Works, Mr. Edgar, to look for the best machinery for these works, and with this in view I visited Lincoln, Manchester, Frodigam, and Glasgow, not only for the purpose of obtaining information, but also with a view to inducing English firms to tender in response to an advertisement in London "Engineer," and "Engineering," whereby tenders for the supply of a dry earth excavator had been invited by the Agent-General at my suggestion. 

Three tenders were received on August 8th, 1912. One, that ultimately accepted, was from the Lubeck Dredge Company; two were from English firms.  

In consequence of these enquiries I recommended the purchase of the land dredger now at work at Lang Lang. It arrived in the Autumn of 1913, but the winter floods and the fact that the type of machine was new to this country, delayed its reconstruction here, and it was not ready for trial till the summer of 1914. (2)

Lewis Ronald East (3), engineer and later a Commissioner and then the Chairman of the State Rivers & Water Supply Commission, described the dredge, which had a crew of nine, as of the articulated ladder type.  It weighed 80 tons and had a maximum capacity of  80 cubic yards per hour, or approximately 200,000 cubic yards per annum when working one shift. The purchase price was £2,300, on which £632 duty was paid. The actual cost landed and erected on the swamp, with rails, cranes and other equipment came to £4,716. In its first test, the machine excavated 50,000 cubic yards at a cost of 4d. per cubic yard. This was in 1914 when the basic wage was approximately 9s. per day. (4) At the time a good labourer could dig around 11 cubic yards per day, (5) so you can see why there was concern that  people would lose their jobs.

The dredge in operation on May 21, 1914, the day it was officially started

There are other photographs taken on the day, here. 

State Rivers & Water Supply Commission photographer, State Library of Victoria Image rwg/u873

The local community had heard the dredge had been purchased in October 1912, as the Lang Lang Guardian reported - 
Return of Mr Catani. Dredging machine secured.
Residents of this district will be pleased to hear that Mr Catani, the Chief Engineer, has returned from his trip to the old country, and that he is full of enthusiasm for carrying out of the Kooweerup drainage works. The other day a resident of Yannathan met Mr Catani in Melbourne, and that gentleman informed him that he had purchased a machine which he estimated would shift earth at the cost of a penny a yard. The machine would be effective for both removing silt from the canal and shifting solid earth in the drains. As the ordinary cost of excavation is from 10d to 1s per yard, it is obvious, that if this machine can do anything like what is claimed for it, an enormous saving in cost will be effected. (6)

The dredge arrived at Lang Lang in late May 1913 and its first job was on the Tobin Yallock Swamp, working on the lower reaches of the Lang Lang River, and if the work proved successful it would be later purchased by the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission (SRWSC) for use on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp. The SRWSC had been established in 1905 and took over responsibility for the Koo Wee Rup Swamp drainage from the Public Works Department in 1912. (7)

The Lang Lang Guardian in June 1913, reported on the arrival of the dredge - 

Dredging Lang Lang River. Machinery Arrives .

Commencement is to be made at once with the work of dredging the Lang Lang River, in order to provide sufficient waterway to carry away all flood waters. The work is to be carried out by the Public Works Department, and Mr Catani, the chief engineer, paid a visit to the locality  last week, to make arrangements for commencing operations. The machinery weighing about 60 tons, is now at the Lang Lang station, and arrangements  have been made with Mr W. Glover to cart the machinery to the ground. The dredge is a German importation and is said to be the finest in the world.  It will be worked from the bank of the river, and it is estimated  it will shift earth at the cost of about a penny a yard. The work will be commenced a few chains from the mouth of the river at the bay, and it is said the river is to be dredged to a width of 40 feet and a depth of 10 feet. (8)

A few weeks later, the Lang Lang Guardian in July 1913 had  a follow up report - 

sleepers and rails are being placed on a cleared track, across patches of dense t-tree and open country avoiding the  low lying portion of the swamp so that operations are not likely to be interrupted by floods. The machinery, weighing over 100 tons, with a powerful engine is scattered over the ground, and it is an insoluble puzzle to visitors who attempt to construct in their mind as mechanical theory as to how this vast and complicated will be put together and how it will work. Mr Catani, the chief engineer, visited Lang Lang last week in connection with the operations. (9)

As you can see, there are some variations in the published accounts of the weight of the dredge -  Ron East said the dredge weighed  80 tons and the two Lang Lang Guardian reports had it weighing 60 tons and then 100 tons, however Carlo noted  in his presentation that it weighed 48 tons. 

A regular columnist in the Lang Lang Guardian, Bill Nye wrote this about the dredge - 

This dredge and its operation will reveal to us the genius of three great nations – namely, the genius of the Italians, as represented by Mr Catani, who made a special trip to Europe to purchase the machine; the genius of the Germans, who invented and constructed it, and the genius of the Australians, who will work it, if some genius is discovered who will put it together and give the diabolical looking thing a start. (10)

They did find a genius to assemble the dredge, engineer F. C. Osborne, who was possibly Frederick Charles Osborne listed in the Electoral Rolls as an engineer, living at Brunswick at this time, with his wife Sarah. The Lang Lang Guardian reported in July 1913 that Mr F.C. Osborne, who has had long experience in the work of erecting dredges in Victoria, has in hand the work of transporting and erecting the machinery (11).  In November 1913, they reported that -

Mr Osborne, has employed a small Tangye engine and secured it to a truck for the hauling of the machinery and goods, having also fitted it with reversing gear to make the return journey.  The little locomotive drags  heavy loads at a good speed, and all who have witnessed this ingenious adaption are strongly impressed by the ability of the Engineers in charge to overcome difficulties. (12)

This is the Tangye engine referred to, above, used to haul machinery, goods and in this case important visitors taken on May 21, 1914, the day the Dredge was officially started.

State Rivers & Water Supply Commission photographer, State Library of Victoria Image rwg/u877

The dredge was finally officially started on May 21, 1914. The Lang Lang Guardian reported on the event, and it is a long report but as it is the only account I can find of the event, worth publishing in full -   

Lang Lang Dredge. Official Starting. An Interesting Ceremony

On Thursday morning last the dredge on the Lang Lang River was started in the presence of a representative official party, including Mr Hagelthorn (Minister of Public Works), Messrs Cattanach and Dethridge (members of the Water Supply Commission), with Mr Catani (Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department), Mr Kenyon (Chief Engineer of the Water Commission), Mr Drake (secretary Public Works Department), Mr Kermode (engineer Ports and Harbors), and Mr Grenlees (naval architect). There was also a representative attendance of landowners of the surrounding district and others interested in the starting of this machine, and the weather being pleasantly fine and sunny, those who attended had an enjoyable outing, as well as being greatly interested witnesses of the working of a machine which is the first of its kind to be put into operation in Australia. 

Early in June of last year the machinery of the dredge arrived at the local station and the intervening time was taken up in transporting  the plant to the end of Stanlake’s lane, in constructing a line of rails across the ti-tree swamp to the river bank, a distance of 60 chains, in adapting a Tangye engine to act as a locomotive hauler, and in erecting the machinery – a work which was rendered very difficult on account of the machinery leaving Germany never having, in mechanical terms, been “assembled.” The work of erection, therefore, was one of considerable engineering difficulty. However, on April 15th a trial run of the machinery was given in the presence of Mr Catani, and the excavator worked so well that orders were at once given for a supply of timber and rails to lay a section of the line towards the outlet at the bay in order to commence work, the point at which the dredge was constructed being 23 chains from the bay, and the distance it is proposed to excavate from the bay to the road bridge is 2 miles and 60 chains. 

As before stated, the machinery worked smoothly, and Mr Catani informed our representative that should the operation be a success, it is proposed to construct similar machines in the State.  The dredge was made in Lubeck, Germany and has been used in England, and is employed extensively in India. The cost of the machine was £2000, or, with duty added, £3000, the idea of constructing such machines in the State is on account of the saving in duty. 

At the trial run on the morning in question, 105 cubic yards was excavated in 40 minutes the cost being estimated  at 5d per yard. It was evident to the spectators that the machinery was working in very stiff, gluey soil, but the powerful engine used seemed to have no difficulty in doing its work in the section taken out, which was dredged to a depth of about 4 feet. The width of the proposed channel will be 40 feet at the top, 25 feet at the bottom, and 8 feet, with a batter or sloping bank of about 15 feet. The scoops, or delvers, which work horizontally and upon the principle on which a Californian pump lifts war, can be lowered or raised according to the necessities of working , and the earth removed is carried to a high elevated platform, and there tipped into a chute, from whence the conveyors carry it away. The earth is then deposited in a high, solid bank, which is considered to be on e of the principal features of the scheme. The conveyors can also be raised or lowered to the height required in building the bank. It is estimated that the machine will scoop a length of 50 feet per day, at which rate the plant in about twelve months should complete the work to the bridge. 

The defective feature in the work from the viewpoint of local opinion is the cutting of a parallel drain instead of widening the river. However, it is explained the reason of this is that to work into the river would necessitate great expense in the leveling of the bank for the rails to run on, whereas by working  some 15 feet from the present waterway this bank can be avoided. It is not intended, as originally proposed, to join the two streams by crosscuts. One of the principal drawbacks in working is the necessity of carting fresh water about two miles, as the salt water in the river would be very destructive to the boiler. This official starting was satisfactorily carried out by Mr R. Carr, the engineer in charge, who was ably assisted by his staff. (13)

From a report in The Argus on October 13, 1915 there are other details of how the Dredge operated - 

The dredge is an impressive looking machine weighing about 40 tons or more. It excavates or means of an endless chain arrangement, wherein each link of the chain consists of a heavy steel shovel head. These shovel heads first scrape away the "spoil," then they deliver it on to a mechanical conveyer on the far side of the machine. The conveyer in its turn, dumps the earth on to a regular embankment or if necessary, into waggons that cart it away. (14)

Lubecker Dredge taken on May 21, 1914, the day it was officially started. 

Carlo Catani is on the ladder, see here for another photo of Carlo on the day. 

State Rivers & Water Supply Commission photographer, State Library of Victoria Image rwg/u855

The work at Lang Lang was practically completed in December 1916 and in April 1917 the Lang Lang Guardian could report the the SRWSC had taken over the Dredge. Also in April Carlo Catani visited Lang Lang to explain to  Mr G. Kermode, Engineer for Ports and Harbours, who will probably be his successor, details of the work being done by the land dredger. (15) 

Draining Swamp Land at Lang Lang - left caption: Land Dredging excavating 80 yards an hour; right caption: View showing excavated channel with railway for dredger

The Weekly Times October 30, 1915 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/132708829

A year later, in March 1918 it was reported that the dredge was working on the Yallock  Creek, this is the earliest report I can find of it on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp, however it had obviously arrived much earlier as the next month it was noted that the work there was finished and it was being moved to the Main Drain -

The outlet which is to be substituted for the Yallock Creek has been cut by the dredge, and the machine is being transferred to the main drain, where excavating is to be commenced at once. Owing to the great weight of the dredge it has been found necessary to construct a special bridge to enable the dredge to be taken over the main drain (16) 

In December 1918, the Koo Wee Rup Sun could report on more progress of the dredge on the Main Drain  - 

The land dredge previously worked at Lang Lang by the Public Works department was kept working steadily throughout the year with good results. After enlarging the existing Yallock cut to the Melbourne road [South Gippsland Highway] and connecting it at this point to the Upper Yallock Creek proper, the dredge was transferred to the north western side of the main drain, near the sea end. It is now cutting new outlets for the new main western drain and the main northern catch drain. The results obtained by the operation of this dredge have been so satisfactory that the Commission is now arranging for a similar machine to be built in this State. (17)

It was later put to work on the Cardinia Creek in the 1920s. It would actually be interesting to know if it worked at other locations in Victoria, I have no information about that, and it is hard to pick up references in the newspapers, as after the War they didn't seem to mention the fact that it was a German dredge. 

This photograph of the dredge on the Cardinia Creek was taken by Albert Arnell, sometime between 1922 and 1929 during his travels around Victoria. 

State Library of Victoria image H2013.48/77

In March 1935, Ron East,  presented a paper Swamp Reclamation in Victoria to the Institute of Engineers Australia. He noted that by June 1934 total excavation by the Dredge was 1,332,231 cubic yards; it never worked at more than at 60 percent of its capacity.  The average cost of excavation was 7.9 pence per cubic yard, but with interest and depreciation the total cost was 9.15 pence per cubic yard, well over the Lang Lang Guardian’s original estimate of one penny per yard.  East also reported that the dredge has now practically completed its useful life. (18)

Lubecker Dredge,  May 21, 1914, the day it was officially started.

State Rivers & Water Supply Commission photographer, State Library of Victoria Image rwg/u871

  

Other machines, as noted by Ron East, owned by the State Rivers & Water Supply Commission, and not necessarily working on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp,  included a steam powered Stiff Leg Dragline, weighing 25 tons, purchased in 1925 for the cost of £2,200.  This had a five man crew and was rail based and a working cost per cubic yard of 7 pence.  In 1929 a 45 ton steam powered Full Swing Dragline was purchased for £3,100. This had a three man crew and a caterpillar undercarriage and a per cubic yard cost of 4.4 pence.  In 1929 the first non-steam powered machine, another Full Swing Dragline was purchased for £3,700. This weighed 26 tons, had a two man crew a caterpillar undercarriage and had a working cost per cubic yard of 2.4 pence.  East said that the economy of caterpillar traction and of crude oil power are obvious. (19)

Finally, what happened to the Lubecker Dredge? We don’t know but presumably it was cut up for scrap, perhaps around World War Two,  as all that remains are a set of wheels on display at the Swamp Look-out tower on the South Gippsland Highway.

The Lubecker Dredge wheels at the Swamp look-out tower.

Image: Heather Arnold

Trove list - I have created a list of articles on Trove, connected to the Dredge; access it here. 

Footnotes

(1) Read an overview of the history of the drainage of the Koo Wee Rup Swamp here - https://kooweerupswamphistory.blogspot.com/2014/10/a-short-overview-of-drainage-of-koo-wee.html  I also write about Carlo Catani here https://carlocatani.blogspot.com/

(2) Catani, Carlo Earth excavators and their use in Victoria, published in Proceedings of the Victorian Institute of Engineers vol. XVI 1916 (14), see here.   Link to the entire 1916 volume  http://hdl.handle.net/11343/120

(3) Lewis Ronald East (1899-1994) Australian Dictionary of Biography entry   https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/east-sir-lewis-ronald-ron-29428

(4) East, Lewis Ronald Swamp Reclamation in Victoria published in the Journal of the Institute of Engineers, Australia, March 1935, pp. 85-86

(5) Roberts, David From Swampland to Farmland: a history of the Koo Wee Rup Flood Protection District  (Rural Water Commission, 1985), p. 25

(6) Lang Lang Guardian, October 30, 1912, p. 3

(7) Lang Lang Guardian, June 11, 1913, p. 2; Roberts, op. cit., p.24.

(8) Lang Lang Guardian, June 4, 1913, p. 3.

(9) Lang Lang Guardian, July 16, 1913, p. 2.

(10) Lang Lang Guardian, July 16, 1913, p. 2.

(11) Lang Lang Guardian, July 23, 1913, p. 2.

(12) Lang Lang Guardian, November 12, 1913, p. 2.

(13) Lang Lang Guardian, May 27, 1914, p. 2, see here.

(14) The Argus, October 13, 1915 see here. 

(15) The Age, December 30, 1916, see here; Lang Lang Guardian  April 18, 1917, see here; The Herald, April 30, 1917, see here.

(16) The Age, April 2, 1918, see here.

(17) Koo Wee Rup Sun, December 18, 1918, see here.

(18) East, Lewis Ronald Swamp Reclamation in Victoria published in the Journal of the Institute of Engineers, Australia, March 1935, pp. 85-86

(19) Ibid.