Mephan Ferguson
Encyclopedia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n manufacturer, particularly of water supply pipes, notably for the pipleline to the Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
n goldfields. He was born in Falkirk
Falkirk
Falkirk is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies in the Forth Valley, almost midway between the two most populous cities of Scotland; north-west of Edinburgh and north-east of Glasgow....
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. He immigrated with his parents to Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
in the colony of Victoria in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
arriving in 1854. In 1857 Ferguson was indentured as an apprentice blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
to John Price of Ballarat
Ballarat, Victoria
Ballarat is a city in the state of Victoria, Australia, approximately west-north-west of the state capital Melbourne situated on the lower plains of the Great Dividing Range and the Yarrowee River catchment. It is the largest inland centre and third most populous city in the state and the fifth...
.
Businesses
Around 1874 Ferguson established a business in Melbourne as an Iron foundry and rail construction contractor. After successfully building a bridge over the Yarra RiverYarra River
The Yarra River, originally Birrarung, is a river in east-central Victoria, Australia. The lower stretches of the river is where the city of Melbourne was established in 1835 and today Greater Melbourne dominates and influences the landscape of its lower reaches...
he was awarded many other government contracts. His company built twenty bridges along the north-eastern railway and another eight for the Clifton Hill line
Clifton Hill railway station, Melbourne
Clifton Hill railway station is a Premium Station in the suburb of Clifton Hill, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It services the Epping and Hurstbridge railway lines and is located just before the junction of these lines. The station falls within the Metcard Zone 1 area.The station is located...
. Ferguson supplied 1300 long tons (1,320.9 t) of wrought iron
Wrought iron
thumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...
and cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
for the building of the Newport rail workshops.
In 1885 the Victorian Government decided to change the Melbourne water supply pipes from wrought iron to cast iron. Ferguson won the contracts to supply the new pipe. To enable this expansion he brought the Glasgow Iron works in West Melbourne
West Melbourne, Victoria
West Melbourne is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km north-west from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Melbourne...
. With the Carlton Foundry, Ferguson now employed over 300 people. He soon after established a new foundry in Footscray
Footscray, Victoria
Footscray is a suburb 5 km west of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its Local Government Area is the City of Maribyrnong. At the 2006 Census, Footscray had a population of 11,401....
.
Goldfields Water Supply Scheme
The Goldfields Water Supply Scheme is a pipeline and dam project which delivers potable water to communities in Western Australia's Eastern Goldfields, particularly Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie...
. The pipes used Ferguson's patented rivetless pipe or locking bar, the design of which improved the water flow. A stylised drawing of the design is now used to indicated places of interest along the pipeline.
To manufacture the pipe, Ferguson imported sheet steel from England and the United States then rolled these into the sections at foundries in Midland Junction
Midland, Western Australia
Midland is a suburb in the Perth, Western Australia metropolitan area, as well as the regional centre for the City of Swan local government area that covers the Swan Valley and parts of the Darling Scarp to the east. It is situated at the intersection of Great Eastern Highway and Great Northern...
and another he built in Maylands
Maylands, Western Australia
Maylands is a suburb located approximately northeast of Perth centred on the Midland railway line and located on the northern bank of the Swan River....
.
Further reading
- Ferguson, James Mephan.(1992) Mephan Ferguson : a biography.Torquay, Vic. J.M. Ferguson.ISBN 0646050532
- Mr Mephan Ferguson's engineering works in the West Australian, 5 September 1896, p.2.
- Mephan Ferguson and the pipework issues - in the Coolgardie miner, 14 Sept. 1898, p.4g; 20 April 1899, p.4f; 24 April 1899, p.4g; 28 Aug. 1899, p.4g; 22 Jan. 1900, p.5; 24 Jan. 1900, p.3; 12 March 1900, p.4; 30 March 1900, p.4
Photographs
See also
Goldfields Water Supply SchemeGoldfields Water Supply Scheme
The Goldfields Water Supply Scheme is a pipeline and dam project which delivers potable water to communities in Western Australia's Eastern Goldfields, particularly Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie...