Bendigo Gas Works - Bendigo, Victoria, Australia
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themd
S 36° 44.720 E 144° 17.367
55H E 257998 N 5929951
The Bendigo Gas Works were constructed during 1859-1860 under the direction of engineer Alexander K Smith, and remained in operation until 1973. The site is an internationally significant example of an entire provincial gasworks.
Waymark Code: WMA93E
Location: Victoria, Australia
Date Posted: 12/06/2010
Views: 11
The former Bendigo Gas Works were established by the Bendigo Gas Company in 1860 and operated continuously until the introduction of natural gas in 1973. The Bendigo Gas Works were amongst the first in the colonies and were constructed by Messrs George White and Co of Melbourne. Expansion of the works occurred during the 1860s and 1870s, but from the 1890s they experienced difficulties caused in part by falling gas consumption and rising costs. The retort house and gas distribution system underwent significant improvements between 1923 and World War II. Further upgrading of the plant occurred after purchase by the Gas and Fuel Corporation in 1958.
The former Bendigo Gas Works is the only coal gas production plant to survive in Victoria. The plant represents 113 years of coal gas production and major plant components including twentieth century modifications remain intact.
The Bendigo gas works are of architectural and historic importance for the following reasons:
1 as the last and technologically most complete gas works in Victoria, having operated continuously from 1860 to 1973.
2 as a substantially complete example of the town gas process which was associated with towns and cities in Victoria in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
3 for the quality and technological design attributes of the plant's various elements - notably the retort house, the gasholders and associated equipment.
4 it is an important monument to black coal gas production in Victoria during the nineteenth century.
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