Collection 2018/6 - Photographs of E.Z. Co. Zinc Works at Risdon

Cell room in the 100-ton plant Excavation and construction below railway line at Risdon Construction of new Risdon wharf Stockpiles of rock and framework of new building Interior of cell room at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works Cladding a building at E.Z. zinc works Construction of retaining wall at E.Z. Co Zinc Works Exterior view of cell room at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works 100-ton plant Sawmill on site at Risdon Carpenter in workshop at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works Construction of new wharf at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works New weatherboard building at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works Loading bay at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works Horse carts and timber at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works Power house foundation work at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works Concrete formwork for power house at E.Z. Co Zinc Works Expansion of E.Z. Co. Zinc Works cell room 1930 Looking north to cell room extension at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works Concrete framework of new building at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works Construction of pure solution tank at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works Concrete pouring tower hoisted at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works Corrugated iron shed dwarfed by larger building under construction at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works at Risdon Workmen preparing footings for expansion at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works at Risdon Construction of furnace at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works Bricklayers building furnace at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works Workers assembling jacket of Derwent Prime furnace at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works Workers assembling base of furnace jacket at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works Staging for Derwent Prime furnace jacket at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works Excavation for Derwent Prime furnace at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works Excavation work for construction of furnace at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works Derwent Prime furnace jacket assembled at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works Horse and cart used in excavation of Derwent Prime furnace site at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works Building foundations for Derwent Prime furnace at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works Boxing for foundations of Derwent Prime furnace at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works Framework for pouring concrete in the power station building at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works Framework of roasting division building at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works at Risdon Bricks stacked inside corrugated iron shed at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works at Risdon Structure of power house takes shape at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works at Risdon 1921 Bricks and timber stacked near corrugated iron building at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works at Risdon Construction of roasting and leaching division for the 100-Ton Plant at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works at Ri... Construction of retaining wall below train line at E.Z. Co Zinc Works Construction of leaching division below train line at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works at Risdon Elevated view of newly constructed cell room and roasting division of 100-Ton Plant at E.Z. Co. Z... View downhill to River Derwent from E.Z. Co. Zinc Works 100-Ton Plant construction site Workers building framework of new building at E.Z. Co Zinc Works 1924 New buildings under construction above railway cutting at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works 1924 Workers pause for photo inside new building at E.Z. Co Zinc Works 1924 Timber trusses, bricks and framework of new building under construction at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works 1924 Interior tanks being fitted out in partially constructed building at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works View of construction site uphill at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works at Risdon 1924 Assembling crane on wharf at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works at Risdon Stone masons and bricklayers at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works at Risdon Stone and timber foundations at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works at Risdon Bricks and timber stacked at E.Z. Co. Zinc Works at Risdon 1924

Identity area

Reference code

AU TAS UTAS ITCCD 2018/6

Title

Photographs of E.Z. Co. Zinc Works at Risdon

Date(s)

  • 1920 - 1940 (Creation)

Level of description

Collection

Extent and medium

507 digital images

Context area

Name of creator

(1916-1984)

Administrative history

Electrolytic Zinc or the Electrolytic Zinc Company of Australasia (frequently abbreviated to EZ ) was the company that operated a Zinc refinery on the banks of the Derwent River in Risdon in Hobart in Tasmania between 1916 and 1984. For more information see http://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/E/Electrolytic%20zinc%20works.htm or for further reading: A Alexander, The Zinc Works, Hobart, 1992.

Name of creator

(1859-1930)

Biographical history

John Watt Beattie (1859-1930), photographer and antiquarian, was born on 15 August 1859 at Aberdeen, Scotland, son of John Beattie, master house-painter and photographer, and his wife Esther Imlay, née Gillivray. After a grammar-school education he migrated with his parents and brother in 1878, and struggled to clear a farm in the Derwent Valley, Tasmania. He soon turned to his life's work. From 1879 he made many photographic expeditions into the bush, becoming a full-time professional in 1882 in partnership with Anson Bros whom he bought out in 1891. Gifted with both physical zeal and craftsman skills, he probably did more than anyone to shape the accepted visual image of Tasmania. An admirer of William Piguenit, Beattie stressed the same wildly romantic aspects of the island's beauty. His work included framed prints, postcards, lantern-slides and albums, and was the basis for a popular and pleasing set of Tasmanian pictorial stamps (in print 1899-1912).
Many of Beattie's photographs of people and places were published in the Cyclopedia of Tasmania, (1st edn. 1900). He also prepared sets of lecture slides on the topography and history of Tasmania and gave many lectures himself. He was interested in the history and made an important collection of items relating to Port Arthur &convict days, which was sold to the Queen Victoria Museum, Launceston in 1927. Another collection was secured for the Tasmanian Museum Hobart after Beattie's death through William Walker, the City paying £250. Some of Beattie's lectures and photographic notes were placed with the Royal Society's manuscripts on loan by the Museum. Some other papers of J.W. Beattie were bequeathed by him to the Royal Society for safe-keeping. These consist of copies of historical manuscripts and some original manuscripts, press cuttings and notes.
For more information see: http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/beattie-john-watt-5171

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

The collection features photographs taken by Hobart photographic studio Beattie’s Studio, also known as J.W. Beattie, for the Electrolytic Zinc Co. at the company’s Risdon smelter between 1920 and 1940. The collection depicts construction of new facilities at the factory complex. The first sod was turned on the zinc smeltering plant at Risdon on the western shore of the Derwent River on 16 November 1916, and a test smelter called the 250 lb plant was opened in 1917 to produce 250 lb of zinc a day using the recently developed Roast-Leach-Electrowin (RLE) process of extracting zinc through electrolysis. Electrolytic Zinc’s office occupied the former Derwent Inn. The larger 10-ton plant opened in January 1918 and the 100-ton plant opened in November, 1921. This collection of photographs depicts the phases of construction of the 100-Ton Plant, further expansion of the smelter and decomissioning of some of the older equipment at the zinc works. Beattie’s Studio was a photographic studio founded by Scotsman John Watt Beattie (1859-1930), who began exhibiting photographs soon after his arrival in Tasmania in 1878.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Many images are identified with the original plate numbers as an Alternative Identifier.

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

These images available for private research and study.

Conditions governing reproduction

For permission to reproduce please contact UTAS SPARC special.collections@utas.edu.au

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Sources

Alexander, A. (1992). The zinc works, producing zinc at Risdon, 1916-1991, Risdon, Tas.: Pasminco Metals-EZ.

Alexander, A. (2006). Electrolytic Zinc Works. A Companion to Tasmanian History. Retrieved from http://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/E/Electrolytic%20zinc%20works.htm

Ramshaw, N. (2012). Electrolytic zinc zorks: nomination for a heritage recognition award. Hobart, Tas.: Nyrstar and Engineering Heritage Australia. Retrieved from https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/portal/system/files/engineering-heritage-australia/nomination-title/Electrolytic%20Zinc%20Works.Nomination.V5.pdf

The Mercury (1920). Electrolytic Zinc, The Mercury, p3, 27 November 1920. Retrieved from https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/11503222

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