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60-528: The Whitbread Engine preserved in the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney , Australia , built in 1785, is one of the first rotative steam engines ever built, and is the oldest surviving. A rotative engine is a type of beam engine where the reciprocating motion of the beam is converted to rotary motion , producing a continuous power source suitable for driving machinery. This engine was designed by

120-568: A horse wheel at the Chiswell Street premises of his London brewery. It was installed in 1785, the second steam engine to be installed in a brewery, and enabled Whitbread to become the largest brewer in Britain. The horse wheel was retained for many years, serving as a backup in case the steam engine broke down. The drive gear of the engine, still evident today, was connected to a series of wooden line shafts which drove machinery within

180-410: A 7 1⁄2-inch Merz Telescope that was manufactured in 1860–1861. The EcoLogic exhibition focuses on the challenges facing the environment, human impact, and ways and technologies to stop this effect. There is a house setup called Ecohouse where people toggle light variables to see the outcome as well as other energy use simulators and a 'ecological footprint' game. The exhibition includes a section of

240-643: A Ransom and Jeffries agricultural engine and the Broken Hill Fire Brigade's horse-drawn pump-engine. The museum owns a collection of mechanical musical instruments, of which the fairground barrel organ is located in the steam exhibition, where it is powered by a small fairground engine. The most popular exhibit is arguably the museum's model of the Strasbourg astronomical clock in Strasbourg Cathedral (which at that time

300-556: A building of such fragile materials would be an expensive and "catastrophic" failure. Powerhouse Parramatta is due to open in 2025. In December 2023, Arts Minister John Graham announced that the Ultimo site would be closed from early February for up to three years, to allow for significant upgrades and redevelopment. A new public square is planned, and the entrance will be moved so that it faces The Goods Line walkway from Central Station . On 5 February 2024, Powerhouse Ultimo began

360-416: A cafeteria, as well as some offices. Workshops, library, storage and additional office space is located in the annexed tram sheds (still known in-house as "Stage One"). The size and continually expanding nature of the museum's collection means that offsite storage facilities are also maintained. The new Powerhouse made it possible to rehabilitate hundreds of treasures stored at Alexandria and "exhibit them for

420-483: A celebration included items from the collection at her ancestral home, Althorp , including her wedding gown, family jewellery and film of Diana as a child. Harry Potter: The Exhibition in 2011–2012 was another popular exhibition, showcasing real costumes and sets from the eight Harry Potter films including the golden snitch, Nimbus 2000 and the Firebolt broomsticks, and various artefacts associated with all of

480-457: A major industrial location to a cultural, educational and tourism precinct". In January 2019, Lisa Havilah , former director of Carriageworks , took up the position of CEO of MAAS. She became the fourth head of MAAS in 5 1 ⁄ 2 years. As of December 2023 she is still in the role. The museum hosts a number of permanent exhibitions, including many concerning different modes of transport and communication. The Powerhouse Museum houses

540-532: A marketing coup for both the brewer and the engine's manufacturer, King George III and Queen Charlotte visited the brewery on 24 May 1787. The engine remained in service for 102 years, until 1887. The engine made its way to the Powerhouse Museum (then known as the Technological, Industrial and Sanitary Museum) through Archibald Liversidge , an English-born chemist, scientist and academic at

600-637: A number of large temporary exhibitions, including ones based on popular cinema franchises such as Star Trek , The Lord of the Rings , and the Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination exhibition, showing models, props and costumes from all six Star Wars films, together with recent advances in technology that are turning fantasy into reality. About 95 percent of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences collection

660-563: A number of unique exhibits including the oldest operational rotative steam engine in the world, the Whitbread Engine . Dating from 1785, it is one of only a handful remaining that was built by Boulton and Watt and was acquired from Whitbread 's London Brewery in 1888. This engine was named a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1986. Another important exhibit

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720-779: A period of temporary closure until 2027 for major redevelopment. Community consultations were due to run until 25 February 2024. The statement of significance for the Federation building says the Powerhouse played a "major part in the 20th-century development of the Ultimo/Pyrmont area and in the wider heritage conservation movement in NSW." and it was part of the Darling Harbour Bicentennial citywide adaptation project, incorporated into "the transition of

780-560: A tree with a time line marked on its rings, dating back to the 17th century. The 'Interface: people, machines, design' explores how humans have been impacted by technology. A gallery of computing technology from the typewriter to the Tamagotchi. It explores successful and not-so successful design approaches made in the computing technology world. "Experimentations" is a science exhibition and contains interactive displays demonstrating aspects of magnetism, light, electricity, motion and

840-470: Is angular frequency (or angular speed , the magnitude of angular velocity ), for which the SI unit is the radian per second (rad/s). Although they have the same dimensions (reciprocal time) and base unit (s ), the hertz (Hz) and radians per second (rad/s) are special names used to express two different but proportional ISQ quantities: frequency and angular frequency, respectively. The conversions between

900-466: Is Locomotive No. 1 , the first steam locomotive to haul a passenger train in New South Wales , built by Robert Stephenson & Company in 1854. The most popular exhibit is arguably "The Strasburg Clock Model", built in 1887 by a 25-year-old Sydney watchmaker named Richard Smith. It is a working model of the famous Strasbourg astronomical clock in Strasbourg Cathedral (which at that time

960-592: Is a collection of museums in Sydney , and owned by the Government of New South Wales . Its main centre is in Ultimo, New South Wales (Powerhouse Ultimo), the others being the historic Sydney Observatory at Observatory Hill , and the newer Powerhouse Castle Hill (previously known as the Museums Discovery Centre) at Castle Hill . Powerhouse Parramatta is due to open in 2025. The Ultimo site

1020-634: Is a well-known and popular Sydney tourist destination. The Federation-style building is listed on the New South Wales Government's State Heritage Register. The Ultimo building, designed by Lionel Glendenning for the Australian Bicentenary in 1988, won the Sir John Sulman Medal for architecture. It includes a specially installed reticulated steam system, run from the old boiler house, to drive

1080-409: Is maintained in storage at any one time. From late 2004, 60 percent of this was moved to a new 3 hectares (7.4 acres) site in the northwestern Sydney suburb of Castle Hill . Built at a cost of A$ 12 million , this facility consists of seven huge sheds, including one the size of an aircraft hangar , within which are housed artefacts as a section of the mast of HMS  Victory , Nelson 's flagship at

1140-460: Is remarkable in that nearly all of the engines on display are fully operational and are regularly demonstrated working on steam power. Together with the Boulton and Watt engine, and the museum's locomotives, steam truck and traction engines, they are a unique working collection tracing the development of steam power from the 1770s to the 1930s. Engines on display include an 1830s Maudslay engine,

1200-643: Is the largest suspended plane in any museum in the world, and an example of the most successful flying boat ever introduced and one that was important in connecting Australia by air with the rest of the world after World War II . After involvement in the air-sea rescue squadron, the museum's specimen flew from the Rose Bay flying boat base across the Pacific Ocean on the first uncharted air route between Sydney and Valparaiso , Chile. The use of Catalina flying boats by Qantas Empire Airways after World War II

1260-577: The Battle of Trafalgar , and the spare wheel from Bluebird-Proteus CN7 , the car Donald Campbell drove to break the world land speed record on Lake Eyre in the 1960s. Revolutions per minute ISO 80000-3 :2019 defines a physical quantity called rotation (or number of revolutions ), dimensionless , whose instantaneous rate of change is called rotational frequency (or rate of rotation ), with units of reciprocal seconds (s ). A related but distinct quantity for describing rotation

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1320-651: The Technological, Industrial and Sanitary Museum of New South Wales (1879–1882) and the Technological Museum (August 1893 – March 1988). As of 2022, the collection contains over 500,000 objects collected over the last 135 years, many of which are displayed or housed at the site it has occupied since 1988, and for which it is named – a converted electric tram power station in the Inner West suburb of Ultimo , originally constructed in 1902 and

1380-399: The brewery . Connected machinery included rollers to crush malt ; an Archimedes' screw , that lifted the crushed malt into a hopper ; a hoist , for lifting items into the building; a three-piston pump , for pumping beer; and a stirrer within a vat. There was also a reciprocating pump connected to the engine's beam, used to pump water from a well to a tank on the roof of the brewery. In

1440-503: The 1920s or 1930s, an electric motor was added so that people could see the engine in motion. During the 1980s the Technology Restoration Society was formed in order to raise funds for the engine's restoration. Restoration took place at the museum's Castle Hill site. During the restoration, some parts – including the piston – were replaced to preserve the original parts. The engine, restored to steaming condition,

1500-738: The 1980s. Arts oriented temporary exhibitions have included the Fabergé exhibition, the Treasures of Palestine exhibition, the Strictly Mardi Gras exhibition, the Christian Dior exhibition, the Audrey Hepburn exhibition, Kylie: an exhibition – a tribute to Kylie Minogue and her contribution to music, stage and screen, featuring many of her costumes. An exhibition about Diana, Princess of Wales , called Diana:

1560-728: The NSW government announced it had abandoned plans to relocate three of the Powerhouse Museum's biggest exhibits – the Boulton and Watt steam engine, the Locomotive No. 1, and the Catalina flying boat. The planned three centres of Sydney's Powerhouse Museum were the existing building at Ultimo, the Parramatta riverside, Museum Discovery Centre at Castle Hill and the Sydney Observatory. The decision to keep Ultimo site

1620-521: The University of Sydney, who was a trustee of the museum. Liversidge was in London in 1887, at the time of the engine's decommissioning, and when he heard that the engine was to be scrapped he asked whether it could be donated to the museum. Whitbread & Co agreed on condition that the engine be set up and used for educational purposes. Subsequently, the engine was dismantled and shipped to Sydney on

1680-561: The areas of technology, science, engineering and design at two major locations", and that like other large collections such as the Smithsonian museums in the United States, multiple centres would display the institution's collections. While Government Ministers argued the decision would be a "win-win" for Sydney and Parramatta, critics argued it would be a "lose-lose", with both cities losing important heritage. On 29 July 2020,

1740-540: The blaze despite a 5-storey plunge. Maiden commenced rebuilding the collection, but for the subsequent decade the new museum found itself housed in a large tin shed in The Domain , a facility it shared with the Sydney Hospital morgue . The ever-present stench of decaying corpses was not the best advertisement for an institution dedicated to the promotion of sanitation. Eventually – after intense lobbying –

1800-477: The clock displays the position of the planets, the days of the month, solar time , lunar phases and analog time . The Space exhibition looks at space and discoveries relating to it. It includes a life size model space-shuttle cockpit. It has a feature on Australian satellites and joins the Transport exhibit through an underground temporary exhibit walkway and two side entrances. The Powerhouse Museum has

1860-572: The conclusion of the exhibition, the Australian Museum (Sydney's museum of natural history) appointed a committee to select the best exhibits with the intention of exhibiting them permanently in a new museum to be sited within the Garden Palace. The new museum was to be called The Technological, Industrial, and Sanitary Museum of New South Wales; its purpose was to exhibit the latest industrial, construction and design innovations with

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1920-519: The decrepit Ultimo Power Station , several hundred metres north of the Harris Street site had been earmarked as the museum's new permanent home along with the adjoining former Ultimo Tram Depot . The museum spent an interim period exhibiting as the Powerhouse Museum – Stage One in the nearby tram sheds before re-opening as the Powerhouse Museum at the new site on 10 March 1988. The main museum building contains five levels, three courtyards and

1980-644: The electric current through the glowing gas inside it, and changes when touched. The museum holds an extensive and significant collection of Doulton ware and other ceramics, as well as industrial equipment and industrial design, such as furniture. Various exhibitions have paid tribute to Australian popular culture. Some of these have included On the box: great moments in Australian television 1956–2006 tribute to 50 years of Australian television and The 80s are back which looks back at life in Australia in

2040-472: The engine begins to overload was added some years after this, and beam and main driving rod, both originally of wood, were replaced in sand-cast iron. Apart from its age, the engine is notable in that it embodies the four innovations which made Boulton & Watt's engines a significant driver of the Industrial Revolution . The first is a separate condenser , which increases the efficiency of

2100-417: The engine by allowing the main cylinder to remain hot at all times. The second is the parallel motion , which converts the up-and-down motion of the piston into the arcing motion of the beam, whilst maintaining a rigid connection. The rigid connection allowed the engine to be double-acting, meaning the piston could push as well as pull the beam. Third is the centrifugal governor , used to automatically regulate

2160-524: The first time in almost a century". In 1982, the museum incorporated the Sydney Observatory . The museum moved to 500 Harris Street in March 1988, and took its new name from the new location. Following its closure as a working observatory in 1982, Sydney Observatory was incorporated into the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, as the museum was still formally known, though from 1988 this name

2220-429: The flywheel. In the engine's youth, it had a maximum power output of approximately 26 kilowatts (35  hp ). It underwent a series of alterations in 1795, converting it from single-acting to double-acting; it was alleged at the time that this conversion improved its power to 52 kilowatts (70 hp), but the Powerhouse Museum claims this is false. A centrifugal governor , which moderates the level of steam provided if

2280-447: The intention of showing how improvements in the living standards and health of the population might be brought about. In September 1882, before the new museum could be opened a fire completely destroyed the Garden Palace, leaving the museum's first curator, Joseph Henry Maiden with a collection consisting of only the most durable artefacts including a Ceylonese statue of an elephant carved in graphite that had miraculously survived

2340-714: The large, rare steam machines in its collection. The Powerhouse Museum has its origins in a recommendation of the trustees of the Australian Museum in 1878 and the Sydney International Exhibition of 1879 and Melbourne International Exhibition of 1880 . The Sydney International Exhibition was held in the Garden Palace , a purpose-built exhibition building located in the grounds of the Royal Botanic Gardens . At

2400-408: The main characters. In 2011, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Wiggles , the Powerhouse mounted The Wiggles Exhibition , which exhibited memorabilia from the group as well as from The Cockroaches , since two of the group were previously members of The Cockroaches . Due to its popularity, the exhibition was kept as one of the museum's permanent exhibitions. Since 1988, the Powerhouse hosted

2460-511: The mechanical engineer James Watt , of the firm Boulton and Watt and originally installed in the Whitbread brewery in London , England . On decommissioning in 1887 it was sent to Australia's Powerhouse Museum (then known as the Technological, Industrial and Sanitary Museum ) and has since been restored to full working order. The engine was ordered by Samuel Whitbread in 1784 to replace

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2520-664: The museum was relocated to a three-storey building; a temporary home at the Agricultural Hall in the Domain, a new, purpose-built premises in Harris Street , Ultimo and was given a new name: the "Technological Museum". The new location placed the museum adjacent to the Sydney Technical College , and as such it was intended to provide material inspiration to the students. As time passed, its name

2580-482: The old Powerhouse site in Ultimo, containing of 30,000 square metres, with about half (18,000 square metres) slated for exhibition and public space. The NSW Government promised to develop the new facility to international standards and engineered to present larger objects from the collection including the Catalina flying boat and Locomotive No.1 but proposals for lending the large items to different organisations across

2640-481: The other side of which is the Governor of New South Wales 's railway carriage, of the 1880s. Also in this exhibition is the original Central railway station destination board , relocated to the museum in the 1980s when the station was refurbished. Powerhouse Museum restored the locomotives 3830 , restored to operational order in 1997 and 3265 , restored in 2009 after 40 years off the rails. Sydney's last Hansom Cab

2700-456: The plan was revisited and the move was confirmed with a decision made to close the Ultimo site between June 2020, and early 2021. The final design for a new venue was unveiled in December 2019. The former site was to become a Broadway style theatre and fashion museum. In July 2020, the decision to close the site and relocate the collections was reversed. The proposed new venue was larger than

2760-488: The proposed area flooded for the second time in two years, and even with increased setback from the river, experts were concerned about irreparable damage from increased humidity to items in the collection, especially delicate ones made of paper, textile and wood. In November 2020, revised plans to move Willow Grove "brick by brick" also created further controversy, with the National Trust advising that dismantling

2820-413: The public on a number of grounds, including loss of cultural heritage, risk and cost. The main concerns expressed about the proposed move included: On 4 July 2020, it was decided to keep and renovate the Ultimo building instead of demolishing it and relocating its collections, and build an additional venue in Parramatta. The NSW Premier said this would allow for "an outstanding visitor experience in

2880-439: The sailing ship Patriarch . For shipping purposes, the large flywheel was divided into two halves. While the flywheel's rim could be unbolted, the hub with attached spokes had to be drilled through and rejoined after shipping. A shortage of funds meant the engine was kept in storage for several years. Eventually the engine was erected in its own engine house, behind the main building at the museum's old Harris Street premises. During

2940-401: The senses. These include a machine that explains how chocolate is made and lets one taste four 'stages' of chocolate. There is a full-sized model of the front of a firetruck that measures the pedal-power used to sound its horn and lights, and a hand-powered model railway using a magnetic system to provide electric current to the track. One of the most popular features is a plasma ball that shows

3000-598: The speed of the engine. Finally the sun and planet gear convert the reciprocating motion of the beam into a rotating motion, which can be used to drive rotating machinery. The engine is featured on the Bank of England £50 note along with Matthew Boulton , James Watt, and the Soho Manufactory . Powerhouse Museum The Powerhouse Museum , formerly known as the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences ( MAAS ),

3060-513: The state were in train since 2019, and concern persisted about risks, logistics and decontextualisation of exhibits. The insecurity, the "deluge of controversy" and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the arts and cultural heritage sector made planning extremely difficult. The proposed closure and move attracted wide-ranging criticism from museum experts, architectural heritage and urban design experts, cultural and business leaders, and

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3120-423: Was called Strassburg or Strasburg). Smith had never actually seen the original when he built it but worked from a pamphlet which described its timekeeping and astronomical functions. The Catalina Flying Boat Frigate Bird II on display in the museum is the one that Sir Patrick Gordon Taylor flew on the first flight from Australia to South America, in which he brought home 29 soldiers from New Guinea in 1945. It

3180-409: Was called Strassburg or Strasburg). The reproduction is a working model built between 1887 and 1889 by a 25-year-old Sydney watchmaker named Richard Bartholomew Smith, who had never actually seen the original when he built it but worked from a pamphlet which described its timekeeping and astronomical functions. The museum acquired it in 1890. Made from carved and painted wood with gold painted detailing,

3240-460: Was changed to The Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences and it also established branches in some of New South Wales' main industrial and mining centres, including Broken Hill , Albury , Newcastle and Maitland . It also quickly outgrew the main Harris Street site and by 1978 the situation had become dire, with many exhibits literally stuffed into its attic, and left unexhibited for decades. On 23 August 1978, Premier Neville Wran announced that

3300-633: Was donated to the museum by its driver, who left it at the gates of the Harris Street building. There is also a horse-drawn bus and collection of motorbikes. Suspended aeroplanes, which can be viewed from balconies, include the Catalina flying boat and a Queenair Scout, the first Flying Doctor Service plane. Among the cars is a 1913 Sheffield Simplex, one of only 8 in the world. A four-minute film shows old footage of public transport. The Powerhouse Museum also has Sydney trams C11 (1898), O805 (1909), R1738 (1938. 1st of its type), steam tram motor 28A, hearse car 27s and Manly horse car 292. This exhibition

3360-430: Was installed in the new Powerhouse Museum in 1988. Today the engine is sometimes operated as part of the museum's Steam Revolution exhibition, steam being provided by the museum's central boiler . The engine has a 0.64 metres (25 in) diameter piston with a 1.8 metres (6 ft) long stroke , driven by a mean effective pressure of 70 kilopascals (10 psi). Its top speed is 20 revolutions per minute (rpm) of

3420-431: Was made in the context of increasing public awareness of the cultural damage that would be done by closing the Powerhouse, along with the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the arts and cultural heritage . The design of the Parramatta venue was subsequently amended by reducing the proposed presentation floor space and researcher apartments, along with a greater setback to the river. In March 2021, during heavy rains,

3480-557: Was no longer used in marketing materials in favour of the Powerhouse Museum brand. In February 2015, the State Government controversially announced that the Powerhouse Museum would be relocated to Parramatta . However this plan was reviewed, and an announcement from the NSW government in April 2017, suggested that the museum would stay in its current location. A decision to remain was announced on 18 July 2017. In 2018,

3540-453: Was scheduled to be closed for three years from February 2024 for redevelopment. Although often described as a science museum , the Powerhouse has a diverse collection encompassing all sorts of technology including decorative arts , science , communication , transport , costume , furniture , media , computer technology , space technology and steam engines . The museum has existed in various guises for over 125 years, previously named

3600-406: Was significant in the development of Australia's commercial air services. The transport exhibition looks at transport through the ages, from horse-drawn carts through steam engines, cars and planes to the latest hybrid technology. On display is Steam Locomotive No. 1243 , which served for 87 years, oldest contractor built locomotive in Australia. It stands beside a mock-up of a railway platform, on

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