Join Engineering Heritage Victoria and the RHSV at an illustrated talk to mark the centenary of the Yallourn Briquette Works. Achieving its first commercial production in February 1925, the Yallourn Briquette Works was the third key element of the ambitious state-owned enterprise to harness the immense brown coal resources of the Latrobe Valley. Championed by the Victorian geologist and engineer Hyman Herman, later remembered as the ‘father of Yallourn’, and constructed under the leadership of Sir John Monash, the Yallourn Briquette Works consumed at times up to half the output of the Yallourn Open Cut, transforming the damp crumbly raw brown coal into hard shiny nuggets of energy that could be readily transported, stored and burnt.

Complementing the electricity flowing from the Yallourn Power Station, the train loads of briquettes dispatched daily from Yallourn filled a thriving demand for industrial and domestic fuel, helping Victoria to become independent of the vicissitudes of imported black coal supplies. Over half a century the Yallourn Briquette Works played a key role underpinning the State’s industrial and social development.

Our speaker Matthew Churchward is Senior Curator of Engineering & Transport at Museums Victoria, which holds examples of the first and last briquettes made at Yallourn and an extensive photographic collection documenting the construction of the Briquette Works. Over the past three decades Matthew Churchward has worked extensively on collections & database development, public programs, exhibitions and the creation of websites & online content. His research interests encompass Victoria’s mining, engineering and transport history including shipping, railways, roads, bridges, ports, sewerage, water and electricity supply.