The Lake Mac Heritage Series was placed to pay homage to the people, places and events that contributed to building and pioneering the Lake Macquarie region. The pick and shovel were chosen in this geoart series to symbolise the hard work the people of Lake Macquarie put forth into the region.

Walter Drowley Filmer

W D Filmer was born in West Maitland on 1 September 1865. He was the eighth son of a family of eleven children of William Filmer and Amy (nee Hatton), who had migrated to Australia from Kent soon after their marriage in 1849. The family lived initially in Sydney and then moved to West Maitland, where William opened a business as a seedsman. He was an authority on botany, and was sent to England by the Sydney Botanic Gardens to study trees suitable for Sydney Botanic Gardens.

First X-Rays in Australia

In 1895 news came from overseas of the invention of an X Ray machine by W.K. Roentgen, a German physicist. Within two days of the news reaching him, Filmer (with the use of his Crookes tube and coil) was able to make a picture, and a few days later made the first medical X Ray examination in Australia at Newcastle Hospital. A patient had a broken needle in his foot, and on request Filmer took his equipment to the Hospital and made a successful X Ray. In 1896 Filmer and with his brother Bert were appointed Honorary Electricians to Newcastle Hospital. The Filmer X Ray equipment was used by the hospital until September 1896, when new equipment was ordered. Walter published two papers in the 'Australian Technical Journal' in 1897, describing a method to increase the efficiency and safety of the apparatus. Walter continued as Honorary Electrician at Newcastle Hospital until 1910, providing advice on X Ray and electrical matters. In about 1899 overseas reports began to come in of injuries received from X Ray radiation, and from early 1899 Walter ceased to take part in practical X Ray work, apart from teaching demonstrations. A commemorative postage stamp was printed in 1995 showing Walter Drowley Filmer with two other scientists who were connected with the early use of X Ray in Australia - Thomas Rankin Lyle and Reverend Joseph Slattery.

On 22 May 1920 Filmer read a paper before the Newcastle Division of the Institution of Engineers. The subject, "Notes on the Physiography of Lake Macquarie", contained information on tides at the entrance to Lake Macquarie, the effect of atmospheric pressure on levels in Lake Macquarie and specific gravity and solid contents of lake water at Toronto. This paper was the result of several years research by Filmer, and was later useful when the RAAF base was constructed at nearby Rathmines. During WWII, Walter spent much time at the RAAF base teaching service personnel physics, almost up until the time of his death in 1944.

The puzzle

All historical and heritage information courtesy of Lake Mac Libraries

Any questions regarding this puzzle cache or the LMHS geoart series will be answered by clicking HERE

*** The LMHS geoart was placed in conjunction with the OzGeoMuster 2018 mega event. The Oz GeoMuster 2018 committee would like to thank the following people for their contribution to this series. ahomburg, day1976, sedgwickDave, The Morris, bobbiesgirl, and the_garbageman.***

Enjoy!

Marcus Vitruvius