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Technology in Australia 1788-1988Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering
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Table of Contents

Chapter 6

I Construction During The Settlement Years

II The Use Of Timber As A Structural Material

III Structural Steel

IV Concrete Technology

V Housing
i First Settlement Technology
ii Development of the Industry
iii The Adoption of Solar Energy for Water Heating
iv Most Favourable Construction Productivity
v Housing in Cyclone Prone Localities

VI Industrialised Pre-cast Concrete Housing

VII Ports And Harbours

VIII Roads

IX Heavy Foundations

X Bridges

XI Sewerage

XII Water Engineering

XIII Railways

XIV Major Buildings

XV Airports

XVI Thermal Power Stations

XVII Materials Handling

XVIII Oil Industry

XIX The Snowy Mountains Scheme

XX The Sydney Opera House

XXI The Sydney Harbour Bridge

XXII Hamersley Iron

XXIII North West Shelf

Sources and References

Index
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Development of the Industry

Throughout our 200 years of history, although there have been many attempts to mass produce houses by means of prefabrication, the basic technology of housing surprisingly has changed little. New materials such as steel, plastic and aluminium have been introduced, but the basic materials in the average Australian house are still timber, nails, bricks and mortar. It is through the innovative use of these local materials and building techniques that the Australian home building industry had made such significant advances. So that the quality of the average Australian home and its contents compare most favourably with its counterparts in most parts of the world.

After housing the early settlers, the need arose to provide adequate housing in rural and often remote areas to provide shelter for those who pioneered the wool, cattle and agricultural industries.

Timber was the logical material for frames and for cladding rough log slabs gave way to weatherboards. Corrugated iron became almost the universal roofing material and the traditional wide verandahs created a distinctive appearance. Since little attention was given to thermal insulation, verandahs often gave welcome relief to the occupants on hot summer evenings. Also they provided accommodation for guests and, too often, to the detriment of the general appearance, repositories for bicycles, boots, buckets and other farm paraphernalia.

In the cities during the second half of the last century, with the ready availability of bricks, a considerable quantity of accommodation was provided in the form of terraced cottage housing, designed along traditional European lines. For the more affluent individuals, spacious houses with solid double brick walls came very much into favour. For the masses, however, while weatherboard houses remained significantly cheaper to construct, maintenance when properly performed became quite expensive.

In the immediate years following the Second World War, inability to fund housing during the depression, re-direction of construction resources during the war and a rapidly increasing population after the war, created enormous demands for homes. At this stage of our history people required homes of quality at acceptable prices. Land was still relatively cheap compared with overseas prices and the solution to the problem of quantity lay in the development of mass housing schemes, both public and privately funded. These schemes were developed in all capital cities and major provincial centres. While satisfying the quantitative need for houses, they created significant problems for public authorities in the provision of services; and the excessive demands for resources, both human and material, were largely overcome by importation, particularly from the United Kingdom, Europe and North America.

While it was the ambition of most citizens at that time to own solid brick homes, the cost was prohibitive and it led to the development of a most effective compromise between brick and timber -the Australian brick veneer home. It was a home in which the outer wall was of single brick construction tied to a timber studded frame, the timber usually being hardwood, pine or imported Oregon. The lining on the inside consisted of plaster and various other types of wallboards and roofs were constructed usually with either terra cotta or cement tiles. In later years colour-bonded steel and aluminium roofing planks also were used extensively for roof cladding.
The advantages of the brick veneer design were -

  1. Lower capital cost than solid brick,

  2. External appearance equivalent to brick,

  3. Exterior maintenance cost lower than for timber construction,

  4. Improved suitability for thermal insulation,

  5. Simple installation of services.


People in Bright Sparcs - Rowell, L. E.

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© 1988 Print Edition pages 333 - 334, Online Edition 2000
Published by Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, using the Web Academic Resource Publisher
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