Cowley Steam Traction Engine

Darren Gregory stands proudly with the steam engine.

THIS recognisable 1916 single-cylinder six nominal horsepower steam traction engine is believed to be one of only two surviving examples built by Cowley’s Ballarat-based Eureka Ironworks. 

The Cowley Steam Traction Engine is one of the most significant surviving artifacts of Australia’s steam-powered era, being the last steam traction engine made in Australia. 

The engine features unique specifications including 4ft wide and 6ft high flywheels, 26kw of horsepower, steam pressure of 827kpa, a weight of 12.6 tonnes, and is fuelled by black coal or wood. 

The engine began its working life with John Barlow & Son who commissioned several traction engines for hauling mining machinery and timber houses around the district. 

In 1919 it was sold to Coleraine resident Thomas Murtagh who used it for contract chaff-cutting and threshing.

Later in the 1920s it spent time carting logs to a sawmill at Balmoral, just west of the Grampian Ranges.

By the late 1930s, the engine had found its way to Mount Gambier at a pine box-making mill during World War II.

Yahl resident Donald Gregory was the last owner to work the engine commercially, using it during the 1950s for driving a chaff-cutter and pulling out pine trees and boxthorn hedges with the powerful winch.

After over a decade lying neglected in a paddock, the engine was sold to a collector and later returned to Victoria.

It was acquired for preservation by the Museum of Victoria in 1985 where it is now displayed. 

Donald Gregory’s grandson Darren Gregory now believes the engine is where it should be. 

“Family members have taken significant interest in the machine as it is something they haven’t grown up with or seen before,” he said. 

“There are not a lot of them around here anymore. 

“I first saw the engine when I was a kid and it is something that was rusting away in a paddock that could have been lost forever.”

Recently playing a star role in the 2018 Mount Gambier Christmas Parade, Scienceworks engineering workshop supervisor Des Lang was happy to bring the engine back to the South East due to the family connections. 

“The engine went well in the parade with no dramas and there was lots of noise from the gears,@ he said.

At a speed of 4kmph, the engine was said to be a traffic stopper. 

“We were not amused as we were going around the lake,” Mr Lang said. 

“There was a lady walking and she ended up in front of us. 

“A brisk walk and you can keep up with it quite comfortably.”

Mr Lang elaborated on the length of time it takes to get the engine in full working order. 

“Today you can get in your car turn a key and you are gone,” he said. 

“With the engine you light a match, two hours later you are gone. 

“You save half an hour if it was hot from the day before.”

Two people operate the engine while in working order. 

“One person drives it and one person steers it,” Mr Lang said. 

“The engine driver maintains the engine, the fire and the speed. 

“The steerer makes sure it goes in a straight line.”

Restoration began in 1988 when Lake Goldsmith Steam & General Engineering fabricated a boiler to the engine and later when the museum’s own engineering workshop at Scienceworks took over. 

Work included riveting a new tender, recasting and machining new bearings and several gears, forging and machining a new crankshaft and reconstructing a new canopy based on old photographs.

The restoration was completed in 2001 and today the engine is regularly operated under steam as part of the working machinery program at Scienceworks.