Esso and BHP had formed a joint venture to develop and produce the gas offshore and build an onshore gas processing plant at Longford in Gippsland. This led to the building of what was then known as the Dutson to Dandenong natural gas pipeline, which was to be the first pipeline to supply natural gas to Melbourne. From Melbourne, gas would then be supplied to Victorian country and regional centres.

The Gas & Fuel Corporation Victoria (GFC), which had constructed the 18 inch diameter pipeline from the Lurgi plant at Morwell to Dandenong in the mid-1950s, had hoped to construct the pipeline. In late 1966, the GFC announced that it would seek to become the supervising authority for the natural gas pipeline’s construction.

However, the GFC would be disappointed when the Victorian Pipelines Commission (VPC) was set up, with legislation ensuring that the Victorian Government would retain full control of natural gas developments in the state. The VPC’s first project was to build and operate the 177 km, 30 inch diameter pipeline that was to run from Dutson to Dandenong.

The GFC was not to be disappointed for long, as the VPC disbanded shortly after completing the Dutson to Dandenong pipeline at which time the Brooklyn to Geelong gas pipeline, and all pipeline construction and operations were handed over to the GFC. The corporation operated the Victorian gas pipeline network until its privatisation in the 1990s.

After prolonged price negotiations, a Letter of Intent for the gas supply arrangement was signed on 16 March 1967, with a key stipulation that all parties should endeavour to ensure the commencement of gas supply in two years. Esso and BHP were under pressure to begin production at the Marlin and Barracouta fields, with pipelines to shore and the gas processing plant at Longford already built. On 30 June 1967, Victorian Premier Henry Bolte said $14 million would be needed in the coming financial year to build the natural gas pipeline to Melbourne.

BHP was a 50 per cent partner in the Bass Strait fields and at the time, the company reported that the gas produced would be sold to gas distribution companies at the gas processing plant’s outlet, and then delivered to the transmission pipeline by the March 1969 deadline.

By February 1968, pipes were being transported in large quantities to Lyndhurst and the pipeline’s construction had begun in late March after several months’ delay. The first pipes were laid on private farm property, two miles southeast of Dandenong.

The VPC appointed the GFC as consultants supervising all aspects of construction. Graham Barnard was the GFC’s Site Engineer, with Len Parsonage and Bob Tyrell looking after various construction activities. Len Parsonage had been involved in the construction of the GFC’s Morwell to Dandenong Lurgi gas pipeline in the mid-1950s. He went on to become the construction superintendent on other major GFC gas pipelines, including the first looping of the Dutson to Dandenong pipeline between Traralgon and Sale in the late 1970s.

An international flavour

SnamProgetti (now Saipem), a subsidiary of the Italian government-operated ENI, was appointed as the main construction contractor. Solus Schall (now a division of Oceaneering International) supplied the welding inspectors, who were then known as ‘technical inspectors’.

The combination of an Italian contractor and British inspectors constructing a pipeline through prime Gippsland dairy country caused conflict with the local farmers.

John Barker and Brian Trevena formed the partnership of Barker & Trevena to supply right of way supervisors who ensured that access to milking sheds and temporary fences to control the dairy herds would be maintained. Peace was restored and most of the non-technical inspectors were then supplied from local personnel. Both John and Brian were involved in the construction supervision and hydrostatic testing of the pipeline.

ETRS won the contract for the radiographic inspection of all field welds. The crawler machines used by ETRS were some of the first battery powered units. Previously, power to the machines had been supplied by cable, which limited the machine’s entry into the pipeline. At the time, The Age newspaper described the crawler machines as “mechanical ferrets with electronic ears”, and showed a photo of David Kennedy, then Assistant General Manager of ETRS, demonstrating the wand used to control the crawler machines’ movements.

Pipe suppliers Humes were later to report considerable costs incurred in meeting pipe specifications for the pipeline.

Meanwhile, Neil Smith had been appointed as Joint Manager of the GFC, after leaving his position as an Ansett Executive Director.

Industrial disputes

During September 1968, a strike by 35 welders threatened the pipeline’s progress when they stopped work to protest the highly skilled Italian welders receiving lower pay than ten of their Australian counterparts. The men were employed by SnamProgetti Australia.

Boilermakers & Blacksmiths Society State Secretary Jim Roulston said that the 10 Australians were being paid $88.15 for a 40-hour week, while the Italians were only receiving $77.49 for a six-day, 48-hour week.

SnamProgetti Industrial Relations Manager David Roff said that the union claims were misleading as they did not take into account the many financial benefits enjoyed by the Italian welders. The dispute was settled and work was later reported to be progressing at approximately 1.6 km per day.

SnamProgetti had a further incentive to finish on time as the company was named in the second half of 1968 as the successful contractor to build the 782 km South Australian natural gas pipeline from Moomba to Adelaide.

First gas flow

On 18 March 1969, Esso and BHP announced that gas flow had begun through the pipeline, from the Longford gas processing plant to the Dandenong City Gate station. The purpose of this first flow was to purge the pipeline of air and fill it with gas in readiness for regular supply to Melbourne by the end of March.

Esso said that the pipeline was capable of taking gas at a pressure of 1,000 pounds per cubic inch and could deliver up to 700 MMcf/d. Actual supplies however, would depend upon daily consumer requirements.

On 1 April 1969, natural gas from Bass Strait entered the Melbourne distribution system for the first time. Victorian Minister for Mines Jim Balfour ceremonially ‘turned on’ the gas to the metropolitan distribution system of the Dandenong terminal. Fourteen days later, Victoria’s natural gas supply was officially commissioned in the metropolitan area. Over the next two years, 500,000 households and businesses were converted to natural gas.

This heralded the beginning of construction for Victoria’s natural gas pipeline system, with gas first going to Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo. Natural gas also became the main supply to many Gippsland towns previously supplied with Lurgi gas from the Morwell to Dandenong pipeline, which was decommissioned as a Lurgi gas pipeline in 1970 and recommissioned as a natural gas pipeline with the gas entering the pipeline at Dandenong.