The most authentic part of the pre-Fire Workshops was the Pattern Makers’ Shop. It looked almost as it did when the Pattern Maker and his apprentice worked there. Back in August, I passed on an article about Don Jones who was an apprentice pattern maker back in the 1950s. This month I’m explaining what these people did.
Back in the early days of the 20th Century, when machinery parts broke or wore out, it wasn’t possible to order in replacements. Most of the machines came from England or Melbourne. Transport from these places was by sea. The Workshops had to replace all parts, from small cogs on the lathes to railway engine wheels, for the many Millars’ mills. They also provided for other mills as well as other industries such as the railways. This work involved a process using the skills of many tradespeople.
It may begin with engineer’s drawings produced by draughtsmen and/or the damaged article itself. From these the pattern maker designed the pattern. The patterns were made from yellow pine from America or kauri pine from New Zealand. This wood did not shrink or expand when machined or exposed to air.
The wood was shaped using a wood lathe or a variety of chisels such as those used by Don Jones. The shaping of the wood was more than just a trade skill, it was a work of art. Allowances had to be made for the behaviour of the clay that formed the moulds and then the metal that was to be poured into them. The tolerance of the finished parts had to be such that they precisely fitted the machine from which the original came.
Geoff Fortune, as a boy, knew the pattern maker Mr Jim Connolly, who was a master craftsman, highly and widely regarded for his work. He trained a number of apprentices in his many years at the Workshops. It was possibly he to whom Don Jones was apprenticed.
Our collection of patterns consisted of those that were produced at the Workshops and those that came from other industry sources. They ran into the many hundreds and were mostly stored in the Pattern Store near the south end of the Main Building. A farmer friend of mine, seeing them there, was concerned about the white ants and suggested that they be sprayed with kerosene. Despite their age the wood, or the clay on the wood, seemed to be of no interest to the ants but the patterns burnt extremely well without the kerosene. After the Fire we found about six of them that had been protected by being in the Vault.
We have heard that there are still some of the Workshops’ produced patterns in the community and would appreciate donations to enhance a display of this art.
[Some information comes from Geoff Fortune’s booklet ‘Yarloop Workshops Welcome You’.[1]]
The Pattern Maker in the Shop.
Patterns in the Pattern Maker’s Shop.
Don Jones’s tools.
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[1] From ‘The Phoenix Rises Very Slowly’ Part 16, by Allan Ward.