History of the Incinerator Ipswich

A Special Event

At 7.30pm, Saturday 9 November, Ipswich Little Theatre will be hosting a very special presentation on the origins of the Burley Griffin Incinerator in Ipswich at the Incinerator Theatre. Jim Happ will give an illustrated presentation on the history of the Ipswich incinerator, with a detailed explanation of the key design features which made this model of incinerator the preferred choice of Councils in the 1930s.  The incinerator not only had superior hygiene conditions and lower operating costs than conventional incinerators, but the RIECo buildings were works of art designed by the studios of Walter and Marion Burley Griffin. Here is a summary of his talk:

Incineration of Municipal Garbage at Ipswich – the origins of ILT

Commitment to building an incinerator for municipal garbage in Ipswich was a long-drawn-out process.  Although the City Medical Officer recommended a unit in early 1924, endless squabbling in Council and protests by ratepayers would prevent a decision for another decade plus.

Early inquiries into the cost of an incinerator by the Engineer frightened off any decision to switch away from dumping garbage into the obnoxious tip.  However, during a holiday in Newcastle in late 1930, City Health Inspector Rogers heard about the Waratah Council’s contracting the Reverberatory Incinerator and Engineering Coy Ltd (RIECo) to build them an incinerator.  Promptly travelling down to Bexley in Sydney, Rogers inspected the unit installed by the predecessor company to RIECo (using an identical furnace design) and was most impressed.  This became the preferred option for Ipswich.

Objections by a ratepayer pressure group, adverse legal advice and ultimately a Ministerial decree overcame the many obstacles to firing up the incinerator in August 1936, at the edge of Queen’s Park.  In short time, the capacity of the single-furnace installation was overloaded, with the operators flogging the furnace at excessive temperatures to cope with the load.  A second furnace was installed by early 1940, with its own stack.  The incinerator operated until the 1960s.

Jim Happ is a retired Metallurgical Engineer, with extensive experience in the technology and science of smelting and refining metals such as lead, copper, zinc and precious metals.  He has worked at Mount Isa, as well as other non-ferrous smelters in Australia and overseas.  He has given presentations on four of the RIECo incinerators to other groups in NSW and Victoria.

The event will be free and open to members of the public. However, it would be appreciated if those who intend to come along would let ILT know in advance. info@ilt.org.au