The contract for construction of the pipeline was estimated to be worth $1.4 million. This was the second of the two pipelines built by the VPC before all pipeline construction in Victoria was handed back to the Gas & Fuel Corporation of Victoria.
Between Brooklyn and Werribee the pipeline followed the same general route as the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW) outfall sewer and from Werribee to Corio it followed the general route of the existing oil pipelines owned by Shell.
The pipeline involved the construction of 1.4 miles of 16 in. diameter and 30.6 miles of 14 in. diameter pipe with all pipe manufactured by Humes Ltd.
The pipeline terminated at a pressure regulating station at Corio, at which point the gas was metered and delivered to the Geelong Gas Company for distribution throughout the Geelong area. McConnell Dowell in their early days in Australia laid most of this new natural gas pipeline system for Geelong Gas. They were the days when Stuart McDonald headed up the company and Jim Gubb was in charge of construction.
Carter Johnson headed up APC which was then a joint venture between his company Central Pipeline Co. and Woodhall. Carter listed his pipeline construction crew in the September issue of Pipeline News (the predecessor to The Australian Pipeliner) as shown in the box on page .
Carter told The Australian Pipeliner “They’re all Aussies, some of the Americans I could have put on that list I kept in the background. As it happens on that job was my first cousin H.L. Johnson.”
The non-destructive testing contract was awarded to ETRS. Bob Gration recalls that it was the first time that an internal crawler unit utilising a gamma ray isotope and not x-rays was permitted to be used on a major pipeline to examine the circumferential welds. The unit had been produced by Andrex in Denmark during late-1970 and was the first one produced by them. Andrex subjected the crawler to its final tests while Bob was present in Copenhagen. The Project Manager for ETRS was David Kennedy with his Supervisor Stewart Dalley. David left ETRS after this project and worked as an inspector on several pipelines before he commenced with Esso Australia as a materials engineer.
This pipeline was the subject of a vicious union campaign which involved the destruction of machinery and the death of one of the “˜vigilantes’ who drowned in a sewerage channel after fleeing the construction site at night when confronted by APC’s security people.
The first strike started on 17 November 1970 when nine welders walked off the job demanding new conditions and reinstatement of two welders laid off because of lack of pipe. The more responsible unions with approximately 100 men on the job did not recognise the black ban placed on the project by the Boilermakers Union. Many of these men had been with the company for at least two years.
A number of meetings were held with further demands by the unions with the Boilermakers’ demands being well in sight of their aim of bringing Australian rates of pay up to American rates.
On 27 November 1970 Bob Hawke, who was then President of the ACTU and later became Prime Minister of Australia, chaired a meeting of seven unions, APC and five other member companies. That weekend four welders let it be known they wanted to return to work and three did so on the Monday, the fourth was allegedly frightened off by threats of physical violence.
With no settlement of the strike in sight an advertisement was inserted in the national press on 3 December 1970 offering jobs for welders on the line. This was interpreted in some quarters, and inflamed by the press, as a call for scab labour to break the strike.
A new advertisement was run on following days which said:
Welders:
Our company is paying $2.83 per hour plus other allowances, and has been for over a year. We normally work a sixty hour week and for this our welders earn over $253 per week (Author’s note: according to Reserve Bank of Australia figures, average weekly earnings in 1970 were about $80 per week). We have vacancies because some of our ex-welders and the Boilermakers & Blacksmiths Society Union officials have demanded that we increase our wages to $4.00 and including allowances makes a gross pay of $349 per week for sixty hours work.
The company cannot pay such wages and remain in business, neither do we want to be a party to increasing the cost of natural gas whereby it would be to expensive for the consumer to use.
The union has threatened to “black” the welders that are currently working and threatened to take away their union membership for accepting work paying $253 per week, even though they have thousands of members earning much less.
If you are experienced in down hill welding technique to the API 1104 standard and willing to work 6 days a week, we have a job for you, and will have for many months.
On 9 December at about 4.30 pm a group of trade union vigilantes arrived on the site and in the subsequent rampage did an estimated $7,000 worth of damage. Truck windows were smashed, radios destroyed, tools and gear stolen and attempts were made to destroy tractors and plants by thrusting burning rags in the petrol tanks.
The homes of site workers were also kept under surveillance by vigilantes, so arrangements were made for five families to be sent interstate for their own safety.
On 11 December the press reported that the body of a young man, believed to have been in the raiding party, had been found drowned in the Werribee Sewerage channel after having apparently slipped into the fast flowing effluent. This was later confirmed by his colleague who was fortunate enough to escape the sewer after the two had gone into the sewer to escape being caught by a security guard.
On 14 and 15 December the dispute was heard by Justice Aird, who directed that the terms of the settlement should not be disclosed to the public. After the intervention of the Arbitration Commission, work resumed some days before the job closed down for Christmas recess.
Work resumed again on Monday 4 January 1971 and the Australian Pipe Line Contractors Association (APLCA) placed a large advertisement in the Australian Financial Review on the following Thursday, the advertisement was entitled “˜FRESH START ON PIPELINE’. It set out the sequence of events as described above and quoted Carter Johnson, making it clear that the union allegations of scabbery and strike breaking tactics were incorrect: “Our company has been involved in pipeline construction since the first developments in Bass Strait occurred. We have always employed union labour and will continue to do so. The three welders who returned to work did so on their own free will. Their right to do so involves the principles of freedom and self respect, which I will always fight to maintain. I am quite prepared to pay high wages as long as the resulting cost of the project does not escalate the overall cost of our client and the consumer to a point where we price ourselves out of the pipeline construction business.
“Let’s put last year’s unrest behind us and get on with the job of finishing the pipeline.”
The pipeline was due to be completed in December 1970, however, due to the strike, it was still 18 miles short of Corio when work resumed in January. With no further industrial problems the project was completed 26 February with gas into Geelong in early March.
When APC was awarded the contract to lay the Brooklyn to Corio Gas Pipeline, one of the major pipelaying problems was what to do with the rock that came out of the ditch. The company decided to solve this problem in a quite unique way; the rock would be crushed down to an acceptable size for backfilling, and for this purpose APC required a portable crushing plant with a high capacity to get the job finished.
Whilst mobile crushing plants were by no means a new concept, these plants were always jacked up and stabilised before being operated; however, APC requirement was that the crushing plant be continually moving alongside the trench towed by a bulldozer whilst the large rock was fed into the plant and crushed product discharged direct into the trench, fine material first to cover the pipe, then larger material to complete the filling.
They solved the problem by approaching Austral Mining of Melbourne, a major manufacturer of this type of equipment, who designed a special plant which would be capable of this requirement. This unique machine was manufactured at the Brisbane works of Austral Mining and towed to Melbourne to go immediately into operation.
This crushing machine performed well and was typical of the innovative type of problem-solving that Carter brought to the Australian pipeline industry in its early days.
Thirty six years later, duplication of this pipeline is about to start with AJ Lucas being awarded the construction contract.
Pipeline construction crew
Field superintendent – Art Gaddy Assistant field superintendent – Tom Forde Field office manager – George Farrow Time keeper – Colin McQuillen Public relations – Graham Stephens Material manager – John Brennan Parts chaser – Jack Dalton Storeman – Henry Shingles Engineer – Dalton Henderson Surveyor – Brian Bowen Right of way grade – Pat Stephens Stringing – Graham Fridey Ditch – Jim Finch Road crossing – Peter Anderson Pipe – Bill Bicknell Welders – Ron Morton Dope – Winston Price Lower in – Noel McKenzie Backfill – D.B. Blake Master mechanic – Floyd Roberts Testing – Murray Fennell Tie-ins – Ron Jeffries Clean up – Richard Eddie From the September 1970 issue of Pipeline News.
The Brooklyn to Lara Pipeline today
The APA Group is constructing a new pipeline between Brooklyn and Lara (near Corio) to accommodate anticipated flows from South West Victorian gas fields and to provide increased system storage capacity. The APA Group has been working on route selection, design and regulatory approvals for the past two years and construction commenced in late September. An EPC contract has been awarded to AJ Lucas, and they are working closely with APA Group to ensure the project is delivered on time.
Since construction of the Brooklyn to Corio pipeline in 1971, times have changed considerably with pipeline owners and contractors having to adapt to the stringent safety and environmental requirements expected of them today. There is now more emphasis on ensuring impact to the environment and the community is kept to an absolute minimum and that safety standards are maintained. Since the project commenced there have been numerous issues to deal with including land values along the new pipeline route more than doubling, introduction of the new Pipelines Act 2005, the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 and a native vegetation Net Gain Policy.
The project involves many challenges with the route traversing both urban and rural areas. The bulk of the route is through rocky terrain and includes two freeway crossings, a rail crossing, four water crossings and sensitive environmental areas. Completion is scheduled for the end of March 2008.