The building of the nation began on 26th January, 1788, in the oppressive heat of a Sydney midsummer's day. Marines paraded, while convicts toiled and swore, felled the trees, cleared the ground, set up a forge, landed provisions and erected the first structures in Australia. A search for construction materials immediately after the landing had revealed some fine stands of timber and vast deposits of sandstone. The problem was how to adapt European technology for their effective utilisation. It was found that the local timbers were particularly hard to work with the tools sent out with the First Fleet, since tradesmen had been accustomed to the soft woods of Europe. Not only were the local timbers difficult to work, but shrinkage, warping and splitting also caused many structural and water penetration problems. During the summer, the baked countryside, the hardness of the local rocks, and the unaccustomed properties of local timbers rendered those early tools almost useless. More tools were sent out two years later, but they were of the same inferior quality and maintenance was such a constant problem that tradesmen, at their locally established forge, fabricated their own superior implements from scrap metals obtained from the ships.

There was a great shortage of skilled labour and the convict labour which was available in those early days was, to say the least, unwilling to work and more interested in resisting authority than in effective production. The situation improved with the advent of Governor Macquarie, who adopted a more liberal attitude to pardons for those who performed to satisfactory standards.

There were vast deposits of sandstone in and around Sydney, a material which was relatively easy to quarry and shape, and with the inspiration of former convict architect-engineer Francis Greenway, many splendid public buildings were produced from this material. In concept and design most of them followed European traditions, but some of them, particularly the later buildings, developed a distinctive style not widely recognised at the time, but now known as the Greenway style.

The basalts of Victoria and Tasmania were much harder to use. Quarrying and cutting bluestone blocks without pneumatic tools were body breaking tasks, but the architects and masons used them with skills equivalent to those which had mastered similar unaccustomed tasks in New South Wales. Their buildings were durable, solid and in many cases splendidly proportioned. A prominent early architect-civil engineer was John Lee Archer, who was appointed Civil Engineer and Colonial Architect to Van Dieman's Land in 1826. He was responsible for all its government buildings, including those for penal and military purposes: they include Parliament House and Anglesea Barracks. The virtues of his designs were good proportion, simplicity and stability, influenced by his knowledge of the Georgian Renaissance period. This has given Hobart a unique architectural character. Archer's engineering competence was more clearly identified with his work on masonry bridges, the most outstanding example of which is the arch bridge over the Macquarie River at Ross (Fig. 1). It still serves today and, with its impeccable proportions and scenic surroundings, is a popular attraction for tourists.

1 Macquarie River, Ross Bridge, Tasmania. It is a monument to the artistic convict craftsmanship. The bridge consists of three perfect symmetry arches, all bearing contemporary patterns of colonial sculptured stone.

Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering