Peter Degraves:  Noteable Tasmanian VDL Innovator, Inventor and Entrepreneur
by Betty Rockliff
Australia's first Sawmill
Australia's Oldest Brewery
Australia's Oldest Theatre
and more Tasmanian firsts from early 1800s

PETER DEGRAVES
"Constructed first powered sawmill in Van Dieman's Land"

Peter Degraves, the son of a doctor, grew up in Dover, England. He studied engineering and established a good reputation in his chosen profession. He married Sophia, the daughter of Major Hugh MacIntosh and raised a family of eight chuildren.

In 1821 he decided to emigrate to Van Dieman's Land and with a Major MacIntosh purchased a ship "Hope". The aim was to profit financially from this venture by carrying a party of Wesleyan associates to the colony. However, soon after leaving port, the ship was damaged by a storm and forced to return to England. Repairs to the damaged ship took longer than expected, as Degraves was responsible for the welfare of his passengers, and as they waited for the ship to be made seaworthy, he found himself in financial difficulties. A survey also showed that the ship had been overloaded.The passengers complained to the Customs Authorities and were given passage in an old convict vessel accompanied by Major MacIntosh. Degraves then found himself in more debt when sued for debt by the previous owners of the "Hope" and he spent a year in Fleetwood Debtor's Prison awaiting trial. When his case finally came before the court, Degraves won the case, regained his freedom and possession of the "Hope". Once again he set out for Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), arriving in 1824, with a new group of passengers on the "Hope".

On his arrival in Hobart Town he found there was a great demand for timber with a sawn surface for building purposes.With Degraves had shipped a small sawmill of his own design on the ship which had brought Major MacIntosh to Van Dieman's Land. The authorities in England had subsidised the freight for the sawmill and offered he and his family free rations for six months and also the services of three convict carpenters and a blacksmith to help in the building of the sawmill.

Degraves and MacIntosh were given a grant of 200 acres in the Cascades where they established their sawmill. They were later granted a further 2000 acres on the slopes of Mount Wellington. The mill was the first to be powered by means other than the efforts of human hands. Up until the time of Degraves venture good sawlogs were left standing in the forest because of the labour involved in sawing by hand. Only the small proportion of trees, those suitable for splitting, had been taken. Degraves was still in debt to his English creditors and in 1926 was recognised by the proprieter of the tavern "Help Me Through The World" in Collins Street, as a man wanted for debt in England. He as once again arrested and remained in Hobart Gaol until released upon the intervention of Lieutenant Governor Arthur. During this sojourn in gaol, his sawmill was operated by an overseer with the help of twenty convicts.

Not only did Peter Degraves construct the first powered sawmill in the colony, he also built a brewery, flour mill and bakery, all in the one complex and driven by water power.

Power was provided by a 12 foot diameter wheel. Water hit the wheel with the momentum of a high head and was then retained in trough shaped vanes to fall the height of the wheel. The invention was a combination of the old type of large wheel, by which the power of water was harnessed in falling the diameter of the wheel, and the newly invented Pelton wheel.

Water was gathered in races built to collect water from the springs and streams running off the mountain. It was stored in a reservoir called Mountain Lake from which it fell in high pressure wooden pipes to the factory complex. Mountain Lake was still used by the Cascade Brewery up until 1926. The sawmill at the Cascades (1826) was built in an area containing a large amount of saw-logs. Teams of up to 20 bullocks pulled logs and skids down to the sawmills. A log shoe consisted of a heavy bent metal plate with a hole near the front which acted as a cradle for the leading log as it skidded over the ground thus preventing it from snagging. The leading edge of the plate was curved up to facilitate it riding over obstacles. It was kept in position by the "bull chain" or "snotter chain" which connected the motive power to the log, passing through the log near the leading edge of the shoe. The curved shape of the show was obtained by rapidly punching a heavy sheet of metal with a new device known as a steam hammer.

In the sawmill were two rip sawing machines. One was a vertical saw which worked on a similar principle to a pit saw. It was set in a vertical wooden frame 6 feet wide and 9 feet high and it reciprocated in a vertical motion. It was prevented from movement in other directions by tubular guides. It was powered by a crank which was fastened to an eccentric on the end of the driving shaft. This saw was known as a frame saw and was used for breaking logs down into manageable flitches. A carriage set on small diameter wheels carried the log through the frame at a pre-set speed depending on the size of the log.

The second machine was a circular saw set into a bench that had feed and tailing out rollers to facilitate the movement of a flinch passing through the saw. Finally a powered, swinging docking saw cut the timber into required lengths. A power winch made for easy movement of logs and the flitches were easily removed by placing flitch skids on a downward slope.

The energy to power the mill was transferred from the water wheel to a countershaft. Pulleys on the countershaft were purposely made heavy enough o store sufficient energy to enable the circular saw to complete a cut without a loss of speed. The slowing down of a circular saw would cause the timber to cut crookedly.

In 1834 Peter Delgraves, commenced building the Hobart Theatre Royal.


Referenced from:
HEARTS OF OAK by BILL LEITCH
"The story of the Southern Forests"
Published by Southern Holdings
Lucaston, Tasmania
P.O.Huonville, 7109
1990

Sourced by:
Betty Rockliff
Port Sorell,Tasmania 7307