First Ice in Sydney

First Ice in Sydney

ByCCBHS Editor

The first ice in Sydney arrived in 1839. It had been harvested from North American lakes and carried through the tropics in a heavily insulated sailing ship, the Tartar. The ice trade was conducted by American and Norwegian entrepreneurs. Merchants in Australia, India, the West Indies and elsewhere built ice houses, where this precious commodity…

Residence of Eugene Nicolle, Burwood, c1870-78

Eugene D. Nicolle, Inventor

ByCCBHS Editor

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…