75-515: Rock Davis (1833-1904) was a shipbuilder, mainly associated with his shipyard, the Rock Davis shipyard , colloquially known as 'the Big Shed', on Brisbane Water at Blackwall, New South Wales , Australia. After his death, the business of ship building was carried on by his second son, also Rock Davis. The shipyard constructed around 165 wooden-hulled vessels, between 1862 and 1913. Rock Davis
150-459: A coal seam , and draw slate referred to shale that fell from the mine roof as the coal was removed. The British Geological Survey recommends that the term "slate" be used in scientific writings only when very little else is known about the rock that would allow a more definite classification. For example, if the characteristics of the rock show definitely that it was formed by metamorphosis of shale, it should be described in scientific writings as
225-430: A green ban after a development company intended to remove all native vegetation to make way for construction on the island. The Brisbane Water estuary and foreshores have particularly high scenic value and include areas of pristine vegetation and extensive views of the water from a number of locations. Beaches, inlets and bays can be distinguished in the foreground with inherent juxtaposition of bushland-covered hills in
300-605: A building at the yard—not long before it would have been demolished—and is in the collection of the National Library of Australia . There are builder's half models of the steamers, Alice (1888) and Grazier (1896), both built at the yard, in the collection of the Powerhouse Museum . Blackwall is now a largely residential suburban area of the Central Coast. The family home, which was adjacent to
375-703: A high reputation and the shipyard was busy; in 1878, six vessels were launched there in eleven months, and it was described as a 'thriving township'. In 1868, the yard had employed around a dozen men. However, it soon became the largest of the yards on Brisbane Water, with Davis employing around 100 men in total, and his businesses were a mainstay of the local economy. The yard only built vessels with wooden hulls. Any steamships would be fitted with engines and any other machinery elsewhere, usually in Sydney. Hulls were typically clad in copper and fitted with decking, typically of imported timber such as kauri , and superstructures, at
450-477: A large shelter, known as 'the Big Shed', which was a distinctive landmark in the area, until its demolition in 1923. On the northern end of the shipyard was Davis's large house, constructed of brick and with a slate -tiled roof, very different to the other rustic dwellings in the area. Lying to the south of the shipyard was Davis's extensive vegetable and fruit garden, which was tended by a man of Japanese ethnicity, Harry Kowarta. Vessels made by Rock Davis achieved
525-406: A long-lasting weathertight roof with a lifespan of around 60–125 years. Some mainland European slate suppliers suggest that using hook fixing means that: The metal hooks are, however, visible and may be unsuitable for historic properties. Slate tiles are often used for interior and exterior flooring, stairs, walkways and wall cladding. Tiles are installed and set on mortar and grouted along
600-535: A metashale. If its origin is uncertain, but the rock is known to be rich in mica, it should be described as a pelite . Slate can be made into roofing slate, a type of roof tile which are installed by a slater . Slate has two lines of breakability—cleavage and grain—which make it possible to split the stone into thin sheets. When broken, slate retains a natural appearance while remaining relatively flat and easy to stack. A series of "slate booms" occurred in Europe from
675-516: A rapid tidal current . The oyster industry is an important part of the local economy. In terms of Sydney rock oyster production, in 2007–2008 a total of ~250,000 dozens of oysters were produced in the Brisbane Water estuary, with a total value of A$ 1.3 million representing approximately 3.6% of the NSW industry total for 2007–2008. During 2009, over 110 bird species were recorded within
750-570: A rudimentary damp-proof membrane . Small offcuts are used as shims to level floor joists. In areas where slate is plentiful it is also used in pieces of various sizes for building walls and hedges, sometimes combined with other kinds of stone. Because it is a good electrical insulator and fireproof, it was used to construct early-20th-century electric switchboards and relay controls for large electric motors . Because of its thermal stability and chemical inertness, slate has been used for laboratory bench tops and for billiard table tops. Slate
825-536: A shipyard, at Terrigal Haven , in the lee of Broken Head. Thomas was the builder of the stern-wheel paddle steamer , General Gordon . She was built for the tourist trade but is most remembered as the ferry that connected the two railways on either side of the Hawkesbury River , before and during the construction of the first Hawkesbury River railway bridge . Benjamin Davis had a shipyard at Bensville , which
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#1732791519475900-454: A single roofing tile made of slate, or a writing slate , which was traditionally a small, smooth piece of the rock, often framed in wood, used with chalk as a notepad or notice board, and especially for recording charges in pubs and inns. The phrases "clean slate" and " blank slate " come from this usage. Slate is a fine-grained, metamorphic rock that shows no obvious compositional layering but can easily be split into thin slabs and plates. It
975-521: Is St Huberts Island , Rileys Island, Dunmar Island and Pelican Island; and adjoining the estuary is Brisbane Water National Park to the west and Bouddi National Park to the east. Forming part of the same tidal estuary system is a separate but connected basin, the Kincumber Broadwater, lying to the east of Davistown . The total catchment area of the river is approximately 165 square kilometres (64 sq mi). The land adjacent to
1050-414: Is flanked, to its south-west, by a long and wide sand shoal, upon which waves often break, that extends from Ocean Beach nearly to Little Box Head. Further, not far from the entrance, the narrowest part of Brisbane Water, The Rip , is also known for its strong tidal currents. Consequently, Brisbane Water was difficult for ocean-going vessels to navigate. From 1879, Davis operated a shipping service across
1125-460: Is frequently grey in color, especially when seen en masse covering roofs. However, slate occurs in a variety of colors even from a single locality; for example, slate from North Wales can be found in many shades of grey, from pale to dark, and may also be purple, green, or cyan. Slate is not to be confused with shale, from which it may be formed, or schist . The word "slate" is also used for certain types of object made from slate rock. It may mean
1200-519: Is in planes perpendicular to the direction of metamorphic compression. The foliation in slate, called " slaty cleavage ", is caused by strong compression in which fine-grained clay forms flakes to regrow in planes perpendicular to the compression. When expertly "cut" by striking parallel to the foliation with a specialized tool in the quarry, many slates display a property called fissility , forming smooth, flat sheets of stone which have long been used for roofing , floor tiles, and other purposes. Slate
1275-570: Is independent of any sedimentary structures in the original mudrock, reflecting instead the direction of regional compression. Slaty cleavage is continuous, meaning that the individual cleavage planes are too closely spaced to be discernible in hand samples. The texture of the slate is totally dominated by these pervasive cleavage planes. Under a microscope, the slate is found to consist of very thin lenses of quartz and feldspar (QF-domains) separated by layers of mica (M-domains). These are typically less than 100 μm (micron) thick. Because slate
1350-656: Is named after him. Edward (Ned) Davis eventually left the Brisbane Water area, and set up a sawmilling and shipbuilding business, on the Nambucca River , near Nambucca Heads , on the Mid North Coast . Between them, the four Davis brothers and their families operated a total of eight shipyards and made over 300 wooden vessels up to 1913. Initially, Rock Davis's shipbuilding business was on Cockle Channel (sometimes known as Cockle Creek) at Davistown. Davis moved his operations to thirteen acres of foreshore land, on
1425-417: Is named after the Davis family. It is where the various family shipbuilding businesses had their origin, and where Rock Davis's elder brother George Davis and his wife Jane were for many years storekeepers and butchers. Rock and two other Davis shipwright brothers built their first vessel, together, around 1854. In 1858, Rock set up in business for himself, building wooden-hulled vessels. Thomas Davis later had
1500-446: Is now Yattalunga . Piper was one of the first of the shipwrights to build wooden-hulled vessels in the Brisbane Water area. The area had plentiful sheltered tidal foreshore, not far from the open sea at Broken Bay , and nearby sources of hardwood timber and stands of sub-tropical rainforest . Brisbane Water was well-suited to the construction of wooden-hulled vessels, and over 500 would be built there, between 1829 and 1953. Davistown
1575-721: Is used by building professionals as a result of its beauty and durability. Slate is incredibly durable and can last several hundred years, often with little or no maintenance. Natural slate is also fire resistant and energy efficient. Slate roof tiles are usually fixed (fastened) either with nails or with hooks (as is common with Spanish slate). In the UK, fixing is typically with double nails onto timber battens (England and Wales) or nailed directly onto timber sarking boards (Scotland and Northern Ireland). Nails were traditionally of copper, although there are modern alloy and stainless steel alternatives. Both these methods, if used properly, provide
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#17327915194751650-445: Is usually formed by low-grade regional metamorphism of mudrock . This mild degree of metamorphism produces a rock in which the individual mineral crystals remain microscopic in size, producing a characteristic slaty cleavage in which fresh cleavage surfaces appear dull. This is in contrast to the silky cleaved surfaces of phyllite , which is the next-higher grade of metamorphic rock derived from mudstone. The direction of cleavage
1725-584: The Hawkesbury River . In the late 1860s, he was already operating a steamer, Alchymist , from Sydney to the Hawkesbury River, to Mangrove and as far upstream as Windsor , and, beginning in the early 1870s, operated his steam launch, Eva, on Brisbane Water. Davis was an advocate of the Main Northern railway line running via Woy Woy and the western foreshore of Brisbane Water. The original route from Sydney to Gosford , opened around 1848,
1800-684: The Mid North at Mintaro and Spalding . Slate is abundant in Brazil , the world's second-largest producer of slate, around Papagaios in Minas Gerais , which extracts 95 percent of Brazil's slate. However, not all "slate" products from Brazil are entitled to bear the CE mark . Most slate in Europe today comes from Spain , the world's largest producer and exporter of natural slate, and 90 percent of Europe's natural slate used for roofing originates from
1875-756: The confluence of the Narara and Coorumbine Creeks, to the south–east of Gosford and travels for approximately 18 kilometres (11 mi) in a southerly direction to its mouth at Broken Bay , about 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) from the Tasman Sea , at Barrenjoey Head . A number of towns and suburbs surround the shores of Brisbane Water, including Blackwall , Booker Bay , Davistown , Empire Bay , Erina , Ettalong Beach , Gosford , Green Point , Hardys Bay , Kilcare , Kincumber , Koolewong , Phegans Bay , Point Frederick , Point Clare , Saratoga , Tascott , Wagstaffe , and Woy Woy . Contained within Brisbane Water
1950-421: The swamp mahogany trees are in flower. Slate#Slate in buildings Slate is a fine-grained, foliated , homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale -type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism . It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic rock. Foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering, but instead
2025-592: The 165 vessels that were constructed in the Rock Davis shipyard. The last was the double-ended single-screw ferry, Lady Chelmsford , which plied the waters of Sydney Harbour , for over sixty years until 1971, first as a steamer and later as a diesel-powered vessel. She was taken to Port Adelaide —making the sea voyage to there under her own power—and used as a showboat until 1985. After being taken to Melbourne in 2005, she sank at her moorings, at Victoria Harbour, Docklands , in 2008, after ninety-eight years afloat. She
2100-500: The 1870s until the First World War following improvements in railway, road and waterway transportation systems. Slate is particularly suitable as a roofing material as it has an extremely low water absorption index of less than 0.4%, making the material resistant to frost damage. Natural slate, which requires only minimal processing, has an embodied energy that compares favorably with other roofing materials. Natural slate
2175-597: The 1930s. Nothing remains of 'the Big Shed'. In 1923, it was badly damaged in a gale, and was then demolished. There are two works, made in 1917 and 1918, respectively, by the artist Lionel Lindsay , which show its unusual design; the 1917 etchings and pencil sketches are in the collection of the State Library of New South Wales and the 1918 etching is in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia . Another of Lindsay's etchings, made in 1923, shows
2250-604: The Brisbane Water was occupied for many thousands of years by Australian Aboriginal peoples, the Darkinjung and Kuringgai , who used the estuary and foreshore areas for cultural purposes. Brisbane Water was named in 1825 in honour of Sir Thomas Brisbane , a Governor of New South Wales , serving between 1820 and 1825. Brisbane Water is part of the traditional lands of the Darkinjung and Kuringgai aboriginal peoples. Places of significance to Aboriginal people located in
2325-561: The Rip, which due to its swift tidal currents was difficult to navigate. At times, Rock Davis, would provide assistance to vessels that got into difficulty crossing the Rip. Proximity to Broken Bay allowed him to rescue, or otherwise assist, survivors of shipwrecks, in the area. In October 1869, the ketch Tim Whiffler , coming from Sydney, was passing by the shipyard when it was caught in a wind squall and suddenly capsized, coming to rest afloat but bottom up. Rock Davis and his workers were quickly at
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2400-591: The area surrounding Brisbane Water that are listed on the Register of the National Estate include Daleys Point area and Staples Lookout, west of Woy Woy. Initial colonial explorers of the area were assisted by Bungaree , a leader of the Kuringgai tribe who went on to assist Phillip Parker King and Matthew Flinders in the circumnavigation of Australia. Twentieth century European settlement led to
2475-668: The calls of all four species of wild turkey in North America: eastern, Rio Grande, Osceola and Merriam's. Slate is found in the Arctic and was used by Inuit to make the blades for ulus . China has vast slate deposits; in recent years its export of finished and unfinished slate has increased. Deposits of slate exist throughout Australia, with large reserves quarried in the Adelaide Hills in Willunga , Kanmantoo , and
2550-485: The christening of vessels, at their launching. Mrs Davis outlived all her children and was the oldest Australian-born resident of the Brisbane Water district, at the time of her death. Davis died on 27 June 1904, of tuberculosis , at Blackwall. His coffin, draped in the Union Jack , was brought over the Brisbane Water, towed on a specially constructed raft, to St Paul's Anglican Church Cemetery, at Kincumber . There,
2625-468: The cleavage direction, so caution is required in using reduction ellipsoids to estimate deformation. Before the mid-19th century, the terms "slate", " shale ", and " schist " were not sharply distinguished. In the context of underground coal mining in the United States, the term slate was commonly used to refer to shale well into the 20th century. For example, roof slate referred to shale above
2700-479: The colony in October 1833. His parents later had another son, Edward (1837–1908). The Davis family settled on the eastern side of Brisbane Water, and William became the first schoolmaster at the then small settlement of Kincumber . After moderate success, mining gold at Beechworth , Rock joined his brothers, Benjamin, Thomas, and Edward, as apprentice shipwrights, in the yard of Jonathan Piper (1810–1879), at what
2775-488: The construction of the Woy Woy Tunnel (1884-1887), it was Davis who was given the task of transporting, over the water to the construction site, the many millions of bricks—made at Gore Hill —for the tunnel lining. Completion of the railway, in 1889, significantly reduced the travel time from Sydney, and led to the growth of the town of Woy Woy . Davis employed men cutting hardwood timber, around Brisbane Water and
2850-439: The daughter did not make it out in time, and went down with the vessel, but the mother and infant were saved. The ketch was raised and returned to service, only to capsize for a second time in 1871, with the loss of three more lives. In May 1898, Rock Davis was one of the first on the scene of the wreck of the ocean-going paddle steamer, Maitland , at what is now Maitland Bay. He reached the site, using his steam launch, assisted
2925-553: The demand for new Sydney Harbour ferries was falling, in anticipation of the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge . The then recently completed 'Lady class' ferries were built with a light construction, in anticipation that they would only be used until the bridge was completed; paradoxically, because they were well-built and economical to operate, they would go on to have very long service lives. Davis's nephew, Arthur, continued to build vessels, at Empire Bay , into
3000-490: The development of an extensive local ferry network, including one supplying an otherwise isolated orphanage, a commuter service from Gosford to Woy Woy and a third operation dedicated to carrying farm produce. The last commuter ferries between Brisbane Water townships ceased in 1971. The only ferry service to exist now services the communities of Empire Bay, Davistown, Saratoga and Woy Woy and is operated by Central Coast Ferries. In 1973, local residents on Rileys Island requested
3075-592: The direction of compaction, which begin to impart cleavage to the rock. Slaty cleavage is fully developed as the clay minerals begin to be converted to chlorite and mica. Organic carbon in the rock is converted to graphite . Slate is mainly composed of the minerals quartz, illite , and chlorite, which account for up to 95% of its composition. The most important accessory minerals are iron oxides (such as hematite and magnetite ), iron sulfides (such as pyrite ), and carbonate minerals. Feldspar may be present as albite or, less commonly, orthoclase . Occasionally, as in
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3150-470: The distance. Access to existing key vantage points allows for the public to experience the landscape character of the Brisbane Water estuary and its surrounds. With the approximate average bed level at 5 metres (16 ft) and often as low as 3 metres (9.8 ft), Brisbane Water is considered mostly shallow, with a tidal impact of ±0.4 metres (1 ft 4 in). The inlet narrows at a point known as The Rip, located adjacent to Ettalong Beach. The Rip has
3225-634: The edges. Chemical sealants are often used on tiles to improve durability and appearance, increase stain resistance, reduce efflorescence , and increase or reduce surface smoothness. Tiles are often sold gauged, meaning that the back surface is ground for ease of installation. Slate flooring can be slippery when used in external locations subject to rain. Slate tiles were used in 19th century UK building construction (apart from roofs) and in slate quarrying areas such as Blaenau Ffestiniog and Bethesda , Wales there are still many buildings wholly constructed of slate. Slates can also be set into walls to provide
3300-466: The estuary; with sixty vulnerable and fourteen endangered animal species, and sixteen vulnerable and eight endangered plant species. Some 2,277 hectares (5,630 acres) of Brisbane Water is classified by BirdLife International as an important bird area because it has an isolated population of up to ten breeding pairs of bush stone-curlews and sometimes supports flocks of the endangered regent honeyeater and swift parrot during autumn and winter, when
3375-505: The hull of the short-lived New Zealand owned steamer, Red Pine (1912), said at the time of its construction to be the largest cargo-carrying steamship yet built in Australia. Rock Davis not only built coastal ships, he also owned some vessels working in the coastal shipping trade, such as Friendship Wave and Colo . Davis did much to progress the development of the area around Blackwall, and operated steamers on Brisbane Water and
3450-572: The new Main Northern railway line . However, in 1862, Blackwall was sparsely populated and the only practical access to the area was by water, both would not change until the arrival of the railway. Into the early, 1880s, the area around Davis's shipyard and house was the only significant place of settlement in the southern part of the western shore of Brisbane Water. The yard had a sawmill to mill local hardwood timber for use in shipbuilding. To allow work to proceed in all weather, in 1864, Davis erected
3525-514: The north end of the shipyard, still stands at 380 Orange Grove Road / 21 Cedar Crescent, Blackwall, and was for many years the Orange Grove Private Hospital. 'Orange Grove' is a reference to the Davis's extensive vegetable and fruit garden. The yard was on the land that is now occupied by the houses on Cedar Crescent, Blackwall. The land that includes the site of the never-dedicated cemetery, where Rock Davis's workers buried
3600-449: The purple slates of North Wales , ferrous ( iron(II) ) reduction spheres form around iron nuclei, leaving a light-green, spotted texture. These spheres are sometimes deformed by a subsequent applied stress field into ovoids, which appear as ellipses when viewed on a cleavage plane of the specimen. However, some evidence shows that reduced spots may also form after deformation and acquire an elliptical shape from preferential infiltration along
3675-436: The relatively sheltered waters of Broken Bay , to carry passengers, mail, and produce to and from Gosford and Blackwall to the shore of Pittwater , from where it connected with an overland route to Manly , and thence Sydney. It was provided by the small steamer, Florrie , which was constructed in his yard. The service reduced the time, to travel between Gosford and Sydney, from nineteen and a half hours to seven hours. During
3750-419: The resting place of many members of his family and extended family, he was buried on 28 June 1904. Due to the number of mourners and the quantity of flowers, the departure of his last ride across Brisbane Waters had to be delayed, while more watercraft were obtained, and his coffin did not reach the church until nearly sunset. One of his former employees, in 1923, gave this description of Rock Davis, " By many he
3825-491: The rocks on the southern side of Maroubra Bay in January 1931. Sixty-miler was the colloquial name for a ship of the coastal coal-carrying trade . Steamships built by the yard that were sixty-milers, were Colo (1903) and Queen Bee (1907). Belbowrie was used also, at times, as a sixty-miler collier. Little ships like Colo were suited to shallow-water ports such as Sheas Creek , on Botany Bay . The yard also built
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#17327915194753900-419: The scene. They rescued all the crew and male passengers. However, three passengers, a mother, her infant child, and her daughter, were in the cabin when the ketch capsized, and became trapped inside the upturned hull. It would be necessary to cut an aperture in the hull—that might allow an escape, but would also cause the entrapped air to escape from the hull and send it to the bottom—which was done. Unfortunately,
3975-803: The slate from Wales and Cumbria is colored slate (non-blue): purple and formerly green in Wales and green in Cumbria. In North America, slate is produced in Newfoundland , eastern Pennsylvania , Buckingham County, Virginia , and the Slate Valley region in Vermont and New York , where colored slate is mined in the Granville, New York , area. A major slating operation existed in Monson, Maine , during
4050-753: The slate industry there. Lesser slate-producing regions in present-day Europe include Wales (with UNESCO landscape status and a museum at Llanberis ), Cornwall (famously the village of Delabole ), Cumbria (see Burlington Slate Quarries , Honister Slate Mine and Skiddaw Slate ) and, formerly in the West Highlands of Scotland, around Ballachulish and the Slate Islands in the United Kingdom . Parts of France ( Anjou , Loire Valley , Ardennes , Brittany , Savoie ) and Belgium (Ardennes), Liguria in northern Italy , especially between
4125-660: The steamships built at the yard were 'auxiliary steamships', with two tall masts described as 'fore and aft schooner rigged'. Whether or not they normally carried sails in service is uncertain. The tall masts also allowed suspended planks, gaffs, winches, derricks, etc. to be erected for unloading at small ports. Such vessels included, Dairymaid (1876), Mikado (1889), and Friendship (1897). The yard built steam ferries for Sydney Harbour ferry companies, including Barranjuee (1872), Coomba (1872), Aleathea (1881), Defiance (1881), Possum (1884), Vaucluse (1905) and Lady Chelmsford (1910). The last vessel to be delivered by
4200-530: The survivors, and was the source of first news about those survivors. Workers from the shipyard retrieved the bodies of the victims and buried them, at Booker Bay , in wooden coffins made at the shipyard. Rock Davis married Mary Ann, née Ward, (1837–1922), who had been born at Hardys Bay . They had four children William Benjamin Davis (d.1921), Eva (later Eva Bogan) (d.1883), Rock Davis (Jun.) (d.1913), and Catherine, who died when about 4 years of age. Before her untimely death at only 25, in 1883, Eva Davis performed
4275-456: The town of Lavagna (whose name is inherited as the term for chalkboard in Italian ) and Fontanabuona valley; Portugal especially around Valongo in the north of the country. Germany 's Moselle River region, Hunsrück (with a former mine open as a museum at Fell ), Eifel , Westerwald , Thuringia and north Bavaria ; and Alta , Norway (actually schist , not a true slate). Some of
4350-413: The various estuarine waterways that join it. The main species of interest were Blue Gum , Turpentine , Blackbutt (ideal for ship frames), Red Mahogany (also a useful shipbuilding timber), and Ironbark . The cut timber was carried by water using scows , sometimes towed by steam launches. The timber was cut from 'old growth' forests . The shipyard lay just above the narrowest part of Brisbane Water,
4425-409: The victims of the wrecking of ss Maitland , is now covered by residential dwellings, at 42-50 Bogan St, Booker Bay, leaving only two Norfolk Island Pines from the old burial ground. Rock Davis lies in the cemetery at Kincumber, together with his son and successor, Rock Davis, Junior, and many other members of the Davis family, including three others named Rock Davis. There are no known survivors of
4500-414: The western side of Brisbane Water, in 1862. It was he who first named the area Blackwall , after Blackwall, London , which was also a centre of shipbuilding. This new site was alongside deeper water and closer to the main channel and the entrance to Brisbane Water, and it was easier for timber to be transported, over water or by sea, and landed at the shipyard. It would later benefit from its proximity to
4575-443: The yard included, Undaunted (1865), Enterprise (1866), Isabel (1891), Amelia Sims (1901). Fore-and-aft rig schooners built at the yard included, Eva (1857), the three-masted Neptune (1875), Susie (1878), Tivo (1894), Nukamanu (1897), Joseph Sims (1898), Three Friends (1903), and Goodwill (1906). In the later years, some sailing vessels, built in the yard, also had auxiliary engines, fuelled by oil. Some of
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#17327915194754650-539: The yard made proved well suited to the ' Stone Fleet ', which brought crushed stone from the southern Illawarra to Sydney. At least four ships built at the Rock Davis shipyard were 'Stone Fleet' ships; Civility (1872), Dunmore (1891), Kiltobranks (1908), and Belbowrie (1911). Ships from the Rock Davis shipyard had a reputation for being well-built, solid, and durable. When the wooden-hull steamer Civility collided with Illawarra , off Kiama , in August 1881, and it
4725-486: The yard was the steam ferry, Woollahra , in 1913. Vaucluse (1905), Lady Chelmsford (1910), and Woollahra (1913) were built to the designs of the innovative naval architect , Walter Reeks (1861–1925). The yard also built the paddle-wheeler 'horse ferry', Bungaree (1873), an early vehicular ferry, which crossed the harbour from Circular Quay to the North Shore . The ill-fated ferry, Greycliffe (1911)
4800-420: The yard. The first vessel built in the yard at Blackwall was Centurion in 1863. The yard built numerous sailing vessels, mainly ketches and schooners , but also some cutter-rigged boats . Ketches built at the yard included Champion (1880), Greyhound (1885, later converted to a steamer), Lokohu (1893), Ben Bolt (1895), Zeoma (1896), Arab (1898), and Wave (1902). Topsail schooners built at
4875-674: Was Civility that towed Illawarra back to Kiama. She collided with You Yang in January 1886—after which she sank off Bradleys Head but was apparently refloated—and with Vision in July 1902, surviving to be broken up in 1918. The wooden-hulled Dunmore , survived several collisions, most notably when she collided with the larger steel-hulled sixty-miler , Kelloe, in May 1902; it was Kelloe that sank, with Dunmore picking up her crew before being beached at Kurnell . The small coastal steamer Belbowrie , had several lucky escapes, before she went onto
4950-477: Was a school teacher, and he and his Irish family had no background as shipwrights . At the time of his birth, Rock Davis had two elder sisters—Elizabeth (1828–1866) and Mary Ann (1830–1850)—and four surviving elder brothers—George (1821–1860), John (1823–1840), Benjamin (1826–1883), and Thomas (1832–1893). He also had two surviving half-siblings from his father's first marriage to Isobel, née Milsop (1790–1819), Sarah (1817–1902) and William (1819–1858). All arrived in
5025-545: Was born at sea—aboard the ship Mary Catherine on which the Davis family were migrating to New South Wales—on 2 July 1833. His parents were William Davis (1791–1846) and his second wife Sarah, née Mayer (1798–1845). His unusual first name is said to have been either after the Rock of Gibraltar —the ship was said to be near there at the time of his birth—or after the captain of Mary Catherine , Benjamin Rock Jones. William Davis
5100-401: Was considered a hard man, but he was invariably fair and just in all his dealings, and although he did well for his own, his was the enterprise which kept many families around the old ship-yard, and other parts of the Brisbane Water district. In my time he employed a great number of men, not only in the ship-yard, but cutting timber in the bush, on his ships, and in a variety of other ways ". It
5175-579: Was demolished, rather than raised, in June 2011, after her hundredth anniversary. Only one of her three sister 'Lady-class' wooden-hulled ferries, Lady Denman , built at Huskisson , survives. [REDACTED] Media related to Rock Davis shipyard at Wikimedia Commons Brisbane Water Brisbane Water is a wave -dominated barrier estuary located in the Central Coast region of New South Wales , Australia . Brisbane Water has its origin at
5250-428: Was formed in low heat and pressure, compared to most other metamorphic rocks, some fossils can be found in slate; sometimes even microscopic remains of delicate organisms can be found in slate. The process of conversion of mudrock to slate involves a loss of up to 50% of the volume of the mudrock as it is compacted. Grains of platy minerals, such as clay minerals , are rotated to form parallel layers perpendicular to
5325-446: Was his second son, also Rock—known as 'Young Rock' during the life of 'Old Rock'—who carried on the shipyard business, until his own death in 1913. By then, the era of large wooden vessels was nearing its end. The types of wooden vessels the Rock Davis yard had built, trading schooners, small steamships, and ferries, were being superseded by steel-hulled vessels—usually imported but otherwise built locally in more sophisticated shipyards—and
5400-646: Was sometimes erroneously attributed to the Rock Davis yard, which later made her companion ferry, Woollahra (1913), with which she may have been confused, but Greycliffe was made in the David Drake yard . The yard built a ferry for the Melbourne- Williamstown service, the Williamstown (1910). The yard also built ferries, for operation on Brisbane Water and Broken Bay, including Florrie (1879). The tough little wooden steamships that
5475-460: Was used by earlier cultures as whetstone to hone knives, but whetstones are nowadays more typically made of quartz. In 18th- and 19th-century schools, slate was extensively used for blackboards and individual writing slates , for which slate or chalk pencils were used. In modern homes slate is often used as table coasters. In areas where it is available, high-quality slate is used for tombstones and commemorative tablets. In some cases slate
5550-482: Was used by the ancient Maya civilization to fashion stelae . Slate was the traditional material of choice for black Go stones in Japan, alongside clamshell for white stones. It is now considered to be a luxury. Pennsylvania slate is widely used in the manufacture of turkey calls used for hunting turkeys. The tones produced from the slate, when scratched with various species of wood striker, imitates almost exactly
5625-472: Was via Peat's Ferry and a road from there to Gosford that took its name from a hairpin bend known as 'the Devil's Elbow'. Another route was via the open sea, between Broken Bay and Sydney Harbour, but Brisbane Water itself is relatively shallow. It has a narrow inlet, at the location known as Half Tide Rocks , which has swift tidal currents and mobile sand shoals, and is exposed to south-east winds. That entrance
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