After the 1848 revolution, Eugène Dominique Nicolle (1823 – 1909) came to Australia to pursue his career as an engineer. Arriving in Sydney in 1853 with his first wife, Nicolle registered his initial patent for an ice-making machine jointly with Richard Dawson in 1861.
Nicolle eventually secured the financial backing of Thomas Sutcliffe Mort for his experiments, which were often conducted at the Nicolle family home in Burwood, NSW. Although Nicolle and Mort were ultimately unsuccessful in their attempts to ship frozen meat overseas, they were awarded a gold medal at the 1874 Metropolitan Exhibition for their refrigerating machines.
Together with the Wilkinson brothers, they bought the Sydney Ice Company (subsequently renamed the NSW Ice Company) and began making ice with Nicolle’s machine in 1863. With his partners, Nicolle designed and built a variety of cooling apparatus for both domestic and industrial use. They demonstrated that it was both possible and safe to freeze food for long periods and then thaw it for human consumption.
More Industries of Exile Bay Major Brothers & Company The third company to purchase industrial land in Phillip Street was Major Brothers & Company, a manufacturer of marine paints, boot polish and floor wax. The company was founded in 1915 and moved to its 1.6 hectare site at Concord in 1924 when it had outgrown…
More Industries of the West Berger Paints (continued) During the 1960s the Rhodes site changed markedly in appearance. First, a modern paint factory arose on the site of the old corroding shed. Its single span construction was the largest in the southern hemisphere, and it had a two-storey mezzanine above the main floor which carried…
Why are so many people trying to re-write the nursery rhymes of our childhood to rid them of sexism, violence and social insensitivity? They should be left alone because they are important historic commentaries containing more than meets the eye. Not content with angry adults already knocking off Noddy, shooting down Biggles and black-balling the…
A great start for the Christmas festivities is a visit to the Yaralla Estate, Nullawarra Avenue, Concord West on Friday, 6th December for Carols at Yaralla. Gates open at 5:00 p.m. Parking in the grounds. Bring your children. Bring your grandchildren. Just come along. It’s a relaxing and fun evening for young and old. Musical…
Sunbeam Mixmaster In the years between the First and Second World Wars, Ivar Jepson designed and built dozens of kitchen appliances, including the indomitable Sunbeam “Mixmaster”. Born in Sweden in 1903, Jepson loved to design things as a boy, studied engineering as a youth, and went to Germany to pursue graduate studies in mechanical engineering. …
We recently had the pleasure of welcoming over thirty members of this group to our museum. They had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed looking for the various “curiosities” we had hidden around the museum and trying to identify them. Altogether they spent about two hours with us and all agreed it had been a…
