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ARTICLE BY M a r g o t R i l e y , S t a t e L i b r a r y o f N S W G r a h a m R e e d , M . A I R A H
8 EcoLibrium September 2004
Eugene
Dominique
Nicolle
PIONEER REFRIGERATION ENGINEER
The State Library of New South Wales is presenting
an exhibition entitled Vive la différence! The French in
NSW, which includes the history of Eugene Nicolle, an
engineer who was a contemporary of James Harrison and
Thomas Sutcliffe Mort and an important figure in the early
development of refrigeration in Australia.

Figure 1 - Nicolle and Mort’s patent
revolving freezer c. 1874 – NSW Patent
429 (ink drawing on paper, State Library
of NSW)
The Vive la difference exhibition includes
a design by Eugene Nicolle for an ice
making machine (Figure 1) that used
ammonia to chill a metal cylinder which
revolved in a bath of cold water, causing
ice to form on the outside of the cylinder.
The ice was then scraped off, dropping
down a chute to be compressed by
hydraulic rams into ice blocks.
Born in 1823 in Rouen, France, Eugene
Nicolle arrived in Sydney in 1853 and
started work as an engineer soon
afterwards. He later became manager for
P N Russell and Son, where he remained
for several years before leaving to set up
his own business at Circular Quay. He
designed and supervised the erection
of the sawmills for Wilkinson and Co.,
and installed the colony’s first vertical
saw system. At times long distances
had to be travelled in connection with
the erection of milling and brewery
machinery.
In late 1859, Nicolle decided to construct
an ice making machine based on a
process using the compression of
ether that had been invented by James
Harrison. The Sydney Ice Company had
been formed by P N Russell & Co.
and James Harrison and as Nicolle
had shares in P N Russell, he put
aside his lucrative saw milling
and brewery work to become
involved in the newly-formed
company.
In those early days natural ice,
cut from rivers and lakes, was
imported from America, and
stored at Circular Quay. But
the waste and losses of this trade
were so unsatisfactory that they
spurred Nicolle to further efforts in the
manufacture of ice himself.
At first his efforts were to refine the
Harrison process but in 1861 he
registered a patent, jointly with Richard
Dawson, for an ice making machine.
Freezing works were erected at
Darlinghurst, and there for several years
Nicolle carried on the manufacture of
ice by a new process for which he took
out patent rights. This process was the
liquidation by pressure of ammonia gas.
No mechanism was required, or motive
power, the process being purely a
chemical one and capable of producing
a low temperature of -56ºC.
It was in 1863 that Nicolle took out
the first patent for ice-making, and not
only was he able to stop the American
importations, but supplied the northern
ports of Queensland as well.
The following year he and Dawson,
together with the Wilkinson brothers,
who had previously employed him,
bought the Sydney Ice Company
(subsequently renamed the NSW Ice
Company) and in 1863 they began to
produce ice with Nicolle’s machine.
Nicolle and his partners designed and
built a variety of cooling apparatus
and successfully applied them to both
domestic and industrial use, such
as making powdered milk, the first
refrigerated meat works in Darling
Harbour, as well as the refrigeration
of railway vans for meat and milk.
They convincingly demonstrated that
it was both possible and safe to
freeze food for long periods and
then thaw it for human consumption.
Nicolle’s techniques included ammonia
absorption, air expansion, low pressure
ammonia absorption and ammonia
reabsorption.
Figure 2 – gold medal awarded to Nicolle
and Mort in 1874 by the Agricultural
Society of New South Wales for their
refrigeration machine (State Library
of NSW)
feature
The one challenge that eluded Nicolle
throughout his career was the design
and manufacture of special refrigerating
machinery for shipping meat overseas.
In the mid-1860s he began work on this
project with an enthusiastic new partner,
Augustus Morris, who had large pastoral
interests. Morris introduced Nicolle to
Thomas Sutcliffe Mort, who offered to
find the capital if Nicolle contributed
the skill. Mort had read about a frozen
mammoth being found in Siberia, making
him think that frozen meat was the only
answer for long haulage transportation
and that the frozen conditions must
be maintained on ship for a minimum
of three months to deliver the cargo to
markets in Europe.
Nicolle designed a machine able to
store and freeze some 40 tons of meat
in 1867. A trial of the apparatus was
conducted lasting over 12 months and
was very satisfactory. Always with
the future in view, this apparatus was
designed to suit shipboard use and it
was in connection with this that the
partners met their first rebuff.
At that time ships rarely exceeded 600
tons, and shipmasters were unwilling to
alter the internal construction for fear of
weakening their vessels. Exception was
also taken to the circulation of ammonia
gas at high pressure that might escape
in heavy weather, and perhaps damage
the rest of the cargo.
To get over this difficulty a second
apparatus was constructed on the lowpressure
basis, capable of freezing half
a ton of water daily, and still maintaining
an even temperature. A freezingchamber
was erected at the rear of the
Royal Hotel, George Street (on the site
of the Dymocks Building) and was
in operation for some 15 months,
during which time thousands
of people visited the place and
witnessed the experiments being
carried out.
It was at this stage that Mort
decided something more ambitious
should be attempted. Large freezing
works were erected at Darling
Harbour under Nicolle’s supervision
and designs. An attempt was made to
fit up the Whampoa, a large steamer,
which seemed to possess the necessary
space. Negotiations were entered into,
backed up by Captain Farquhar, a retired
P & O commander who at the time was
the manager of the F F and I Company.
The proposal was vetoed, however,
EcoLibrium September 2004 9

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Figure 3 – Eugene
Dominique Nicolle
by the captain of the vessel on learning
that liquefied ammonia was the freezing
agent.
Nicolle and Mort were mortified at the
captain’s refusal, but recognised that
either a high or low pressure ammonia
apparatus would be against insurance
regulations. Therefore, they turned their
attention to the compressed air system
but this was discarded for another
ammonia plant. The next attempt,
in 1877, was to fit up the Northam,
an iron sailing vessel, for which they
paid a heavy fee (demurrage) to hold
the ship in port for three months whilst
the refrigeration plant was installed and
commissioned.
Originally, the ship was to sail in April but
it was July before the plant was finally
operating perfectly. The temperature of
the meat chamber was reduced to 2ºC
in only sixty hours and thus all seemed
ready to go. Alas, a few hours before
the prepared frozen meat was to be
loaded onto the ship, it was discovered
that the ammonia had reacted with the
iron of which some the components
were made.
Repairs would have taken another three
weeks. The heavy demurrage and
outraged protests from the captain and
other shipping agents caused Mort to
reluctantly allow the Northam to sail
without the meat on board but with
the machinery and engineering staff to
affect repairs and test the equipment
on the voyage. These men, returning
from England on a mail boat, proved by
records taken that the apparatus had
performed its work satisfactorily.
In 1878, two unfortunate incidents
occurred: the death of Mort, aged 61,
About the authors
Margot Riley is the curator of Vive la différence!, assisted by Emeritus Professor Ivan Barko, former McCaughey
Professor of French at the University of Sydney. Graham Reed is currently involved in the upgrade of the HVAC
systems at the State Library of NSW.
The exhibition will be on show in the Picture Gallery of the State Library of NSW until 10 October 2004.
10 EcoLibrium September 2004
at his Bodalla estate; and the loss at sea
of the Northam on her return voyage to
Sydney with the refrigeration plant.
Elsewhere, other trials were being carried
out. In 1873, James Harrison
of Geelong had sent off an
unsuccessful shipment from
Melbourne to England on the
Norfolk. A shipment of frozen
meat on the French vessel, La
Frigorifique, sailing from Buenos
Aires to Rouen arrived in August
1877 successfully using the
process built by the French
engineer M. Tellier who had
been experimenting for some
ten years. The first successful
shipment from Australia to
England, on the Strathleven,
arrived in February 1880.
Despite this, both Mort and
Nicolle should be rated highly as
pioneers of refrigeration. Many
minor features incorporated in
refrigeration systems were first identified
by Nicolle. Together Nicolle and Mort,
from 1864 to 1876, were issued with
twelve patents. Importantly, Mort’s
vision, energy and determination made
refrigeration transportation widely
accepted in Australia. Indeed, by
1937, some 60 years after the Northam
experiment, the statistics for Australian
export of frozen (or chilled) products,
show that some 2,300,000 tons of beef,
over 1,900,000 tons of mutton/lamb and
1,700,000 tons of butter had been sent
overseas.
In July 1875, Nicolle sold his interest in
the business and most of his patents
(except for the revolving freezer) to Mort
and associates who formed The NSW
Fresh Food and Ice Company. Nicolle
declined shares in this firm preferring
to continue in a consulting capacity
for another three years. After a trip to
Europe in 1879 during which his wife,
Jane Williamson, died, he retired to his
300-acre property Whiteheath at Lake
Illawarra, where he continued to tackle
problems with the same dedication that
characterised his professional life.
He kept himself abreast of the scientific
times and had a keen interest in
photography and medicine. Eugene
Nicolle died in 1909 and was survived
by a son, twin daughters and a
stepdaughter.
Figure 4 – section of ship fitted for cold storage
(planned by Nicolle, 1867) - Selfe (1900)
Bibliography
Australian Dictionary of Biography, 1851-
1890, vol 5. p. 342
Barnard, A. (1961) Visions and Profits
(Studies in the Business Career of
T.S.Mort) Melbourne University Press
Ice & Refrigeration, Vol. 16, No. 1-6
(April 1899), “A Pioneer Refrigeration
Engineer, by Norman Selfe”.
Lang, W.R. (2003) James Harrison,
pioneering genius. IMAG Digital Media
Royal Australian Historical Society
Journal and Proceedings, Vol. 24, Part 5,
(1938) “Thomas Sutcliffe Mort: A National
Benefactor” by James Jervis
Royal Australian Historical Society
Journal and Proceedings, Vol. 34, Part 5,
(1948) “Notes on the Lives of Augustus
Morris & Eugene Dominique Nicolle” by
James Jervis
Selfe, N. (1900) Machinery for
Refrigeration H.S. Rich & Co. Chicago