I have decided to write a blog post that will chronicle some of the research I’m undertaking that will be used in my film for this assignment, and possibly the next one if this turns out to be a continued area of interest for me. This research will focus particularly on the Hume Pipe Company, which was an international company with an Australian base in Maribyrnong, Victoria, on the land we now know as Pipemaker’s park.

Reginald Hume (1873 – 1943) who hailed from Fitzroy, was an industrialist and inventor who was behind the production of modern pipes. Here is a portrait of him painted by William Dargie in 1944. He and his brother Walter had a number of industrial endeavours but ended up opening a pipe-making factory in Maribyrnong, Victoria. I have found a whole lot of information about Hume pipe co. from the LMotW’s website, particularly from the ‘Pipemarker’s Park conservation analysis’ that I will link below.

Regarding the work of Hume pipe company, Vines and Ford describe that they were involved in “many large scale public works projects”. In regards to the factory at Maribyrnong, it is described as “an important training ground for Humes personnel and the site of much of the experimental work of the company.” (p. iv)

It’s quite interesting to me that Hume was an Australian company with factories overseas and that it made such significant contributions to the industry. However outside of the resources on the museum’s website and within the museum itself, I can’t find out very much about it aside from a few academic articles.

I have also elected to look online on the national library of Victoria’s website in order to sift through newspaper articles related to Hume. I find this kind of research quite intriguing. I have found a number of articles which recount accidents that had occurred at the Maribyrnong factory, as well as various reports on the company. This article from ‘The Register’ dated 19 Aug 1922 writes that “a laboratory has been established at the company’s works at Maribyrnong factory .. improvements in the manufacture and construction of concrete pipes and joints have been evolved by the company’s staff during the year, and additional valuable patents have been taken out.”

I would love to include excerpts from newspapers into the film for assignment two.

References

Ford, O. and Vines, G. (1996). Pipemakers Park Maribyrnong Conservation Analysis. 1st ed. [ebook] Melbourne: Melbourne’s Living Museum of the West, pp.vi, 80 – 85. Available at: https://www.livingmuseum.org.au/download%20pdf/PipmakersParkConservationAnalysis1996.pdf [Accessed 5 Aug. 2018].

The Register (1922). Hume Pipe Company. [online] p.5. Available at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/63928279?searchTerm=hume%20pipe%20maribyrnong%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20&searchLimits=exactPhrase|||anyWords|||notWords|||requestHandler|||dateFrom|||dateTo|||sortby [Accessed 8 Aug. 2018].