This cache aims to give an insight into some little known
history of the commercial activities undertaken here at the turn of
the last century.
While well known for it's fishing industry of the time, people
today are often surprised to learn that a glass factory was
established at the site you find yourself at undertaking this
cache.
Edward Leveson Russell Roberts, or "Cocky" Roberts was an
English migrant to Australia in the late 1800's. Having commenced
the study of medicine back in England he learnt that he was not
keen on dissecting cadavers during his education. He changed to a
different career path and studied industrial chemistry.
He became involved in glassmaking before he left England and may
according to some reports had some connection with the renowned
Wedgewood company. What ever the case he left the mother country
and arrived in Australia in 1890 on the SS OROYO.
After his move to Lake Tyers he became known as "Cocky" Roberts.
An early environmentalist he championed causes such as the
cessation of commercial fishing of the Lake - a cause which took
100 years to come to fruition.
Involved in many enterprises here, from running the guest house
"Lake Tyers House" at this site, to steamboat owner-driver when he
ran the "Firefly" in the early 1900's, he eventually took up a
contract for glass making when the sand at the site appeared to be
suitable.
While it may appear that you are at the site of a furnace that
is actually not the case.
Identifying the factory site is now very difficult after various
methods of destruction ranging from nature to bulldozers have been
used to reduce the historically significant remnants to near
nothing. Even the historical homestead was pulled down, though the
framework was stored by DCNR (now DSE) when a lonely squatter
occupied the prime location - surely one of the best situated
squats in the country.
What remains today is actually the chimney of a guest house that
"Cocky" Roberts commenced construction of but never completed.
Though I feel sure that the boilers and steel work just off shore
from the chimney must somehow be related to the sites industrial
history.
The Glasshouse
The Glasshouse was situated on the eastern side of Lake Tyers near
where you now stand. The furnace was a substantial affair built in
1908 to a design common to only two known furnaces any where else
in the world. The others being in Belgium and England, this was the
only one fired solely on wood as a fuel.
Constructed of fired clay bricks it stood 3.6m
long, 1.8m wide and 1.5m high. It faced north south along it's
length. I have been unable to verify if the arched fireplaces near
the brick chimney now home to a large wombat were part of the
furnace system or whether they were the "lehr" where the glass
products cooled slowly to anneal the glass. A large steel door
facing the lake provided access to fuel the fire with wood and a 9
metre high chimney, half a metre in diameter, towered over the
furnaces.
The main item the factory produced were glass insulators for the
telegraph poles, a booming early 1900 industry. "Cocky" had a
contract to supply the Post Master General. Special moulds were
required and Roberts had to make an exact wooden shape on lathes on
the site before the wooden male mould was shipped to Melbourne to
get rough cast in iron. The family then finished the rough iron
mould on site, and machined it into four pieces to allow quick
removal of the product.
Due to issues with vandalism of the insulators the department
had to incorporate a second thread. The first was to enable the
insulator to be screwed onto the wood, the second was an inovation
putting a thread on top to screw a protective wooden cover over the
glass insulator. "Cocky" Roberts was the only person in the country
able to perfect the two thread design.
The sand here was rich in silica, a necessity, and the mineral
impurities produced a glass in a beautiful greeny blue colour. Soda
Ash was imported from Germany and lime was sourced nearby. Firewood
was cut further up the lake and transported by barge to the site
where a long jetty once stood.
Once the sand, lime & soda ash was mixed it was loaded into
the furnace. Amazingly the furnace fired on wood alone heated the
glass to the required 1200 - 1600 degrees Celsius. Roberts used to
tell the temperature based on experience and the colour of the
flame and the sand. As the sand melted it ran into the bottom of
the first tank, from there to the second tank and was then ladled
into the moulds.
The finished product was packed into crates tightly packed with
seaweed which was a novel idea, the seaweed in plentiful supply on
the beach. It was loaded to a barge and towed to to a spot nearby
the Waterwheel Tavern and carted overland to Lakes Entrance where
it was again placed back on another boat and this time shipped to
Melbourne or Sydney by steamer.
The contract was for 100,000 insulators at threepence each.
World War I was a hinderance both through supply of the Soda Ash
and other complications. After diversifying into preserving jars,
ornaments, glass walking sticks and umbrella handles Roberts ceased
production at Lake Tyers in about 1915.
He did however continue making glass in the area, with small
factory at Lakes Entrance behind his son's garage on the Esplanade.
With an oil fired burner, and homemade and machined rollers made
from water bore casings he manufactured a french style window glass
in a variety of colours. The rollers gave it a rough finish and it
was sought after both locally and by lead lighters, with some being
used in the windows of the Old Melbourne Gaol chapel. When his sons
closed the garage he worked from due to the war he was forced to
move on.
For a time he moved to 5 Grant St in Clifton Hill in Melbourne
in a similar operation, and in the 1930's was listed as a director
of the Victorian Glass Company in Welshpool.
Sadly, very few artifacts or samples of "Cocky" Roberts work
remain. All that remains at the Lake Tyers House site is a brick
chimney and some other relics, a few fruit trees and winter
daffodils. Hardly a fitting memory to one of the districts true
pioneer industrialists.
At the first way point on the site you will locate the chimney
mentioned earlier. Visiting here on sunset is recommended but the
view is outstanding at any time of day.
From the chimney determine the following.
A = the number of bricks which can be viewed end on making the
large arch of the fireplace. (2 digit number)
B = the number of bricks viewed end on making the arch of the
window. (1 digit number)
C = the number of bricks viewed end on making the window
ledge/sill. (2 digit number)
The final is a short walk away at
S 37° 50.(B-2) (C-5) (B-5)
E 148° 06.(A÷5) (B÷3) (B÷3)
where each equation in brackets produces one digit in the three
digit number.
Enjoy your time here. Watch out for wildlife, there are lots of
roos and wombats here, one even calls the site home having his hole
in the back of one of the fireplaces! There are camping sites
nearby with the best being at Pettmanns Beach which is maybe 100m
from the beach and has a drop loo, though it will be busy on
weekends and holidays and only has about 8 sites. If you were
prepared for bushcamping you could probably camp at the cache site,
and many do from the look of it, but there are no facilities.
Enjoy,
DJ