{{EngvarB|date=April 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2014}} '''Austral Otis''' was a Melbourne engineering works established in 1887 on site of former Langlands foundry in Grant Street, South Melbourne. It was one of the largest manufacturers of elevators in Australia and continued as the Otis Elevator Company.
==Origin== The company was initially formed in 1878 as Hughes, Pye & Rigby manufacturing mining plant, steam engines, elevators, wool & other hydraulic presses. It was incorporated as a public company in 1887 as The Austral Otis Engineering and Elevator Company Limited<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article7864034 |title=Advertising. |newspaper=The Argus |location=Melbourne |date=12 November 1887 |access-date=24 September 2012 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> and in October 1893 changed its name to The Austral Otis Engineering Co Ltd. The company epitomised the boom era. It was founded with just £600 in capital, but by the end of the 1880s it employed 300 workers, producing pumping engines, mining machinery, hydraulic lifts and huge steam engines for the city's cable trams and first electric power stations.<ref>[http://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM00524b.htm eMelbourne School of Historical Studies Department of History], University of Melbourne July 2008</ref>
Austral Otis tendered the Victorian Government to produce two steam traction engines after starting up in 1880 as a general engineering business, and in the late 1880s it set up a well equipped works for heavy engineering which covered about four acres. It had important agencies for machinery including Worthington pumps and the Otis Bros & Co. elevators. The company undertook many major contracts for mining and other machinery equipment and it was awarded prizes for its steam engines and hoisting equipment at the Melbourne Centennial Exhibition in 1888.<ref>''The Australasian ironmonger, builder, engineer, and metal worker'': A strictly intercolonial journal, May 1889</ref><ref>[http://www.auspostalhistory.com/articles/1708.shtml Australia Post History]</ref> It also built steamrollers, but only two examples of these are known in the world.<ref>[http://www.chrysler-restorers-sa.org.au/crcmag150.pdf ''The Chrysler Collector'', no. 150, January / February 2004]</ref>
Herbert Brookes came to Melbourne to improve the management of Austral Otis. He was highly successful and by 1912 was a director of the firm.<ref name=":0">{{Cite Australian Dictionary of Biography|last=Patrick|first=Alison|id2=5372|title=Brookes, Herbert Robinson (1867–1963)|access-date=18 September 2012}}</ref>
==Elevators and steam engines== With the development of multi-storeyed iron and steel framed buildings during the skyscraper boom in the 1880s, there was created a demand for fast and reliable passenger lifts such as those of the Otis Elevator Company in the US and Richard Waygood & Co of Britain. With these came the establishment in 1889 of a reticulated hydraulic power system, one of very few in the world at that time.<ref>[http://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM00257b.htm eMelbourne School of Historical Studies Department of History, The University of Melbourne July 2008]</ref> Austral Otis had a substantial part of this market. The company also made steam engines for the Melbourne cable tramway system, for gold mines and sluicing plant, and the Ballarat Woollen Mills. The Melbourne City Building was originally served internally by an early Otis hydraulic lift,<ref>[http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/?nosession=1#detail_places;745 VHR 112–118 Elizabeth Street Melbourne, Melbourne City H0437]</ref> while the 1932 Manchester Unity Building has a rare surviving original Otis-Waygood escalator between the ground floor lobby and mezzanine. This was the first building in Victoria to have escalators installed.<ref>[http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/?nosession=1#detail_places;728 Victorian Heritage Register Number H0411]</ref>
==Spotswood pumping station==
About 1896 the Melbourne & Metropolitan Board of Works (MMWB) sewage pumping station at Spotswood was being built and fitted with large triple expansion steam engines built by Hathorn Davey of Leeds, England, and Thompson & Co Worthington type triple-expansion engines installed at Spotswood between 1895 and 1897. Austral Otis also built an engine for the No. 6 pumping well in 1901.
When the MMBW required additional pumping engines in 1909, Austral Otis were asked to prepare plans for four new engines. While these were based largely on the successful Hathorn Davey design, Austral Otis was able to demonstrate its substantial expertise in steam engineering. The first two new Austral Otis engines were commissioned in June and July 1911, followed by the remaining two in mid-1914.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20111017155032/http://museumvictoria.com.au/collections/items/398791/steam-pumping-engine-austral-otis-no-8-pumping-engine-mmbw-spotswood-sewerage-pumping-station-1911 Steam Pumping Engine – Austral Otis, No. 8 Pumping Engine, MMBW Spotswood Sewerage Pumping Station, 1911]</ref>
==Other products== When a drought threatened water supply for Melbourne's gardens, the Dight's Falls Pumping Station located just below the tail race of the mill at Dight's Falls was erected in 1890 with 150 horsepower engines from Austral Otis.<ref>[http://www.collingwoodhs.org.au/docs/Dights-Falls-Pumping-Station.pdf Dight’s Falls Pumping Station] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130409180932/http://www.collingwoodhs.org.au/docs/Dights-Falls-Pumping-Station.pdf |date=9 April 2013 }}</ref>
As part of its pavilion at the New Zealand & South Seas Exhibition, Austral Otis erected a timber tower 40m high, which included an elevator that travelled about 30 m. It was estimated to have cost about £1200 and was known as ''New Zealand's Eiffel Tower''.<ref>{{cite web|title=New Zealand's Eiffel Tower|url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/new-zealands-eiffel-tower|publisher=Ministry for Culture and Heritage|access-date=12 November 2011|date= 16 December 2009}}</ref>
The Queenscliff lifeboat shed included a slipway with roller, channel, keelway and cradle supplied by the Austral Otis Engineering Co.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.onmydoorstep.com.au/heritage-listing/2596/queenscliff-pier-and-lifeboat-complex |title=On My Door Step |access-date=18 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304052407/http://www.onmydoorstep.com.au/heritage-listing/2596/queenscliff-pier-and-lifeboat-complex |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
An unusual piece of large machinery constructed by the Austral Otis company was ''Big Lizzie'', built for the Mount Gunson copper mine around 1912 when they needed a super heavy truck to handle swamps and to ford small rivers. It was fitted with Frank Bottrill's dreadnaught wheels which he patented in 1906. Some of the McDonald's tractors also had these wheels. The truck did not leave Melbourne for Mount Gunson South Australia until 1916.<ref>[http://www.auspostalhistory.com/articles/1708.shtml Australia Post History]</ref>
A unique contract was for the No 1 rail grinder, built in 1929 for the Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board, which was used to smooth tramway tracks.<ref>[http://www.tramway.org.au/collection-works.php Tramway Museum Society of Victoria, Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board Works Trams] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315143639/http://www.tramway.org.au/collection-works.php |date=15 March 2012 }}</ref>
Another large contract was for a dragline excavator for use in the newly opened brown coal fields of the State Electricity Commission in the Latrobe Valley,<ref>[http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/ruralwat/gid/slv-pic-aab94569 Dragline and associated machinery at Austral Otis Engineering Company, South Melbourne, 1920-1935State Library of Victoria rw008195] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140416182949/http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/ruralwat/gid/slv-pic-aab94569 |date=16 April 2014 }}</ref> which followed a plant for making briquettes in 1893–94, for the Great Morwell Coal Mining Company near what is now Yallourn North.<ref>[http://www.visitlatrobevalley.com/pages/energy-from-brown-coal/ Energy from Brown Coal], Latrobe Visitor Information Centre</ref>
==Demise== The Food Machinery & Chemical Corporation of USA acquired a controlling interest in the business on 30 July 1948 and Austral Otis became a subsidiary of the American company.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1301&dat=19480810&id=3ThkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xpMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7361,2957171 US Coy Seeks Control of Austral Otis] ''Sydney Morning Herald'' – 10 August 1948</ref> Its name was subsequently changed in September 1952 to Food Machinery (Australia) Ltd.<ref>[http://gallery.its.unimelb.edu.au/imu/imu.php?request=multimedia&irn=5082 Austral Otis Engineering Co Ltd], University of Melbourne Archives 60/10</ref> The Austral Otis name and company thereafter ceased to exist.<ref>[http://www.delisted.com.au/company/austral-otis-engineering-company-limited Austral Otis Engineering Company Limited 01/09/1952]</ref>
A two-storey brick building originally constructed in 1888 as the headquarters for Austral Otis Elevator and Engineering Company Limited survives at the corner of Kavanagh Street and Kingsway, Southbank, Melbourne. Although adapted for other uses and modified in detail, both internally and externally, the building retains its original general appearance.<ref>[http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/?nosession=1#detail_places;65168 National Trust b6088 Austral Otis Building]</ref>
==Engineers== A number of prominent engineers and manufacturers gained their start in the industry at Austral Otis. These include:
* Charles Ernest Ruwolt, (1873–1946) engineer and industrialist who worked at a number of foundries before starting his own Vickers Ruwolt<ref>{{Cite Australian Dictionary of Biography|last=Hayes|first=G.|id2=8309|title=Ruwolt, Charles Ernest (1873–1946)|access-date=18 September 2012}}</ref> * Ellis Harvey Davies, (1882–1942) engineer and wartime public servant served an apprenticeship with Austral Otis Engineering Co. Ltd.<ref>{{Cite Australian Dictionary of Biography|last=Brown|first=Nicholas|id2=9912|title=Davies, Ellis Harvey (1882–1942)|access-date=18 September 2012}}</ref> * Marshall Thomas Wilton Eady (1882–1947) engineer at Austral Otis before joining his uncle's firm.<ref>{{Cite Australian Dictionary of Biography|last=Hamer|first=Barbara|id2=10086|title=Eady, Marshall Thomas Wilton (1882–1947)|access-date=18 September 2012}}</ref> * Arthur William Murphy (1891–1963) engineer and airman worked in several engineering establishments.<ref>{{Cite Australian Dictionary of Biography|last=Fraser|first=Alan|id2=7700|title=Murphy, Arthur William (1891–1963)|access-date=18 September 2012}}</ref> * Herbert Brookes, (1867–1963) businessman, pastoralist, public official and philanthropist became a director of Austral Otis Engineering Co. Ltd.<ref name=":0" /> * Sir Harold Winthrop Clapp (1875–1952), railway administrator, served his apprenticeship in 1893–95 Austral Otis.<ref>{{Cite Australian Dictionary of Biography|last=Adam-Smith|first=Patsy|id2=5657|title=Clapp, Sir Harold Winthrop (1875–1952)|access-date=18 September 2012}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Australian companies established in 1878 Category:Manufacturing companies of Australia Category:Engineering companies of Australia Category:Otis Worldwide