Western Australia's vast mineral development began in earnest about 1964, the year in which the State's now commercial and vital energy reserves of oil and natural gas were discovered at Barrow Island and Dongara.
In the next six years there was a 1,200 per cent increase in mineral production. The vast development projects are directed from Perth, the State's commercial and financial heart, Capital City. The metropolitan population topped the half million.
The rapid economic growth has brought with it explosive building activity in the city centre, which challenged Perth's city planners.
A wedge of land occupied by the Central Railway Station and shunting yards was planned to be developed with underground station open space and mixed accommodation to allow for smooth communication and development to the North. The idea was to erect a centre piece in this proposed complex which would have state, national and international appeal led to the Ore Obelisk.
At this juncture, in 1969, an approach was made to the P.E.E.R. (Planned Environment and Education Research) Institute. The Director of the Institute, Paul Ritter, considered something symbolic of the mining boom would be appropriate, and the Ore Obelisk was conceived. Furthermore, he believed the design would need to reflect future developments and he saw it as a symbol of growth which could, itself, change.
The Ore Obelisk is really a simple mirror symbol: Mining goes on underground. To make it visible the process is turned upside down. The steel base is engraved as a 3-D production graph, and each year a current ½ in. plate is laid to keep the graph up to date. From it rises the 45 ft. oil drill pipe. It threads through the 15 ores in turn and at its peak the drill bit dramatically points upwards symbolising the ore boom spirit 'The Sky is the Limit'. The virility of the symbol further reflects the character of the industry. The Obelisk nestles amongst trees and infers that mining need not ruin the environment.
The railway project, which gave birth to the idea of the Ore Obelisk was deferred, but as an exercise in co-ordination and co-operation the P.E.E.R. Institute, donated the design to the community and set about realising it as a creative, social experiment.
The hypothesis was that, given an acceptable idea, co-ordination could make it come true, without a client.
As a first step the Lord Mayor of Perth was shown a scale model, and the ideas were explained to him. He kept the model in the Mayor's parlour for some months, to test opinion.
The next approach was to the Minister of Industrial Development and the Premier. Both found the idea attractive but made it clear that the Government would not run the project, but might contribute the ground steel base and the engraving costs if the Obelisk was built.
The private sector was then contacted. Within one week of meeting the President of the Chamber of Mines, the Chamber met, listened, looked, judged and wrote, calling the idea excellent, but declined to undertake the project. But it did offer to obtain, through its members, all the ores required.
Sites had been investigated after official contact with the Perth City Council. The General Purpose Committee was shown a tiny replica of the model, placed on the Selected Stirling Garden site, on Council's special scale city centre model. With a modelscope it was possible to see precisely what the Obelisk would look like when seen from true eye level. Permission to use the site was given unanimously.
The ores began to arrive from far and wide, some were delayed by floods. The preparation of the rocks involved more than had been expected. Some were so hard, the drilling took ten hours per foot, with a new 10 inch diameter diamond drill. Some sent were so massive they had to be split. Others were tiny, or so soft, that they had to be broken up and combined in a concrete conglomerate to give them sufficient strength. All had to be coated with plastic spray to stop discolouring and disintegration.
Methods of erection were worked out and the base and the mast were placed in position. With the help of several authorities and firms the entire installation was completed in twelve hectic hours of non-stop activity and the floodlights turned on as the guests walked past to attend the banquet in Government House to celebrate W.A.'s growth beyond the one millionth citizen.
The Ore Obelisk was unveiled by the Hon. H. E. Graham, M. L.A., Deputy Premier and Minister for Industrial Development and Decentralisation on the 23rd July, 1971. The hypothesis had been confirmed.
There it stands, a stone's throw from the spot where the City was formally founded in 1829, a monument to the energy and good will of the people of Perth.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Ore Obelisk was a co-operative effort of some 50 agencies, often solving novel problems.
- Mount Newman Mining Co. Pty. Ltd., The Broken Hill Proprietary Co. Ltd., Norseman Gold Mines N.L., Ravensthorpe Copper Mines, British Metal Corporation (Aust.) Pty. Ltd., Western Mining Corporation Ltd., and also Kambalda Nickel Operations. Lake View and Star Limited, North Kalgurli (1912) Limited, all cut attractive lumps of ore and arranged for their transport, in some cases over a thousand miles, and often with the aid of Bell Bros. Pty. Ltd.
- Information and help with ores came also from the· Minister for Mines and the North-West, the Hon. A. Griffith, and his inspectorate.
- West Australian Petroleum Pty. Ltd. (WAPET) donated a high tensile steel oil drill pipe, 45 ft. long, and the entire cost of manufacturing the mast, fixing the collars, and transporting it from Fremantle Foundry and Engineering, who also helped with on-site work. The steel was weather-proofed by Dimet (W.A.) Pty. Ltd.
- The Broken Hill Proprietary Co. Ltd., apart from ore samples, contributed the expensive steel required for the cylindrical base.
- Manufacture of the ground steel base, in cooperation with the Government Railway Workshops, was done at cost by Structural Engineering Co. of W.A. Pty. Ltd., with their riggers playing a vital part on erection day.
- Mount Newman Mining Co. Pty. Ltd., as well as its ore, provided the costly drill bit for the apex of the Obelisk.
- J. 0. Clough & Son Pty. Ltd. placed the concrete for the foundations, brought on site by Readymix Concrete (W.A.) Pty. Ltd. with reinforcement supplied by IPA Steel Reinforcement Co.
- The mast was transported to the site by Mayne Nickless Ltd. and O'Connor ·cranes lifted the mast into place and threaded the 3,000 lb ore lumps onto the mast, a much televised spectacle.
- Drilcrete drilled the 10 in. cores, after IngersollRand (Aust.) Pty. Ltd. and Atlas Copco Aust. Pty. Ltd. had co-operated to reduce the rocks to .the appropriate size.
- The P.E.E.R. Institute cast the seven conglomerates with material help from Selleys Chemicals Limited and expert advice from Cretex Construction Limited.
- The cut and cast rocks were sprayed by Triplet Industries with material provided by Dulux Colour Centre and compressors from Crommelin's. Hire Service.
- A crane was provided by the Armadale/Kelmscott Shire Council for loading the rocks onto a truck kindly provided, with driver, by Kargotich & Orton to transport the rocks to Stirling Gardens.
- The Premier Sir David Brand and the Minister for Industrial Development and Decentralisation the Hon. Charles Court, guaranteed the cost of the base.
- Graphs, engraving and lettering were done at cost price by W. S. Ball Pty. Ltd., with statistics provided by the Department for Industrial Development.
- The Perth City Council contributed the site and the City Engineer, Director of Parks and Gardens, City Building Surveyor, Plant Officer, the Town Clerk each played their part.
- The W.A. Fire Brigades Board lent one of their ladders and many firemen were in attendance during erection.
- The late Councillor Fletcher donated the floodlights.
- The Commissioner of Police provided a guard during the sensitive stages of the first night.
- The P.E.E.R. Institute designed, co-ordinated and supervised operations and painted, waterproofed and set the ores into the freshly poured concrete base on erection day.
- Bruechle, Gilchrist & Evans acted as honorary structural engineers.
- This book was made possible by a donation from Bond Corporation and Goldsworthy Mining Co., and production at cost by Jubilee Printing Co.
- WA PET contributed· the·major photographs.