Summary

Experimental briquette made from Morwell brown coal, without binder, by Hyman Herman, on 1 Nov 1918.
This experimental briquette was made by Herman using a hand-powered hydraulic press in the Engineering Department laboratory, at the University of Melbourne, through arrangement with Professor Henry Payne. Herman at the time was Director of the Geological Survey of Victoria (GSV), and from 1920 was Engineer-in-Charge of Brown Coal Research and Briquetting for the State Electricity Commission of Victoria (SECV).

The Morwell Brown Coal Mine was originally established by the Great Morwell Coal Mining Company in the late 1880s, to develop an outcrop of brown coal situated on the high northern bank of the Latrobe River, 5 miles (8 km) north of the township of Morwell. Production commenced in 1890, with an output of around 28,000 tons of coal and 1,200 tons of briquettes before the company was forced into liquidation in 1898, due to unprofitability and technical issues with establishing a reliable briquette manufacturing plant. Further intermittent mining occurred over the following 15 years, under the Morwell Brown Coal Company, before the Mines Department assumed management of the mine under a State Government directive in November 1916, aimed at securing an alternate fuel supply for Victorian industry and electricity generation against wartime shortages of imported NSW black coal.

Under the supervision of H. Herman, the Morwell Brown Coal Mine produced 370,000 tons of raw brown coal for Victorian industry between 1916 and 1920, with extraction being almost entirely by manual labour. From April 1921, the mine played a significant role in providing initial coal requirements for the SECV at Yallourn, supplying coal to the Temporary Power Station and bulk samples for briquette making trails and testing to determine technical requirements for the initial boilers, coal handling equipment and other machinery ordered for the Yallourn Power Station, Open Cut and Briquette Works.

Operation of the mine was transferred to the SECV on 1 April 1924, and over subsequent years it would become known as first the Old Brown Coal Mine (to distinguish it from the new Yallourn Open Cut Mine south of the river - initially also known as the Morwell Coal Mine), and later (following WWII) as the Yallourn North Open Cut.

Physical Description

Cylindrical disc-shaped briquette, about 3-inches diameter, with convex domed top and bottom and straight-sided 1¼-inch high circumferential band around the middle. With attached paper label, The label covers an earlier paper label.

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