Spotswood Pumping Station – Spotswood, Australia - Atlas Obscura
Places near me Random place

Spotswood Pumping Station

Spotswood, Australia

A youth-centric science center hides an industrial triumph. 

View all photos
Spotswood Pumping Station Adam Selwood (Creative Commons)
Spotswood Pumping Station Adam Selwood (Creative Commons)
Spotswood Pumping Station - this was the Halls of Justice in the original 1979 "Mad Max" film. David Hourigan (Atlas Obscura User)
Spotswood Pumping Station - this was the Halls of Justice in the original 1979 "Mad Max" film. David Hourigan (Atlas Obscura User)
157
108
Top Places in Australia
Paronella Park
Paronella Park
Mena Creek, Australia
The Butterfly Room
Frewville, Australia
Penguin Parade At Phillip Island
Ventnor, Australia
 See All

When it was constructed, Australia’s Spotswood Pumping Station served the sewage disposal needs of the greater Melbourne area, but now the complex is preserved behind a children’s museum. 

The pumping station was built in the late 1890s and decommissioned in 1960. In 1914 the pumps were powered by ten gigantic stationary steam engines.  Today five steam engines remain. As of 2001 one of them had been restored and was operating on compressed air and the staff was in the process of restoring the second one.

The up-front museum, ScienceWorks, is a hands-on science museum built at the site of a former sewage pumping station that served the city of Melbourne.  The museum is housed in a modern building at the front of the site and the pumping station itself comprises a complex of several large brick buildings behind it.The building is also featured as the Halls of Justice in the 1979 Australian film Mad Max.

retro-tech industrial museums and collections museums
Nearby
The Trugo Mural
1.06 miles
Titanic Theatre Restaurant
2.52 miles
Timeball Tower
2.68 miles
Want to see fewer ads? Become a Member.
Near This Place
The mural, painted at Yarraville in 2003 by Peter McMahon.
Yarraville, Australia

The Trugo Mural

The artwork celebrates Trugo, a odd yet beloved local sport played only around Melbourne.
Titanic Theatre Restaurant
Williamstown, Australia

Titanic Theatre Restaurant

Enjoy all the trappings from 1912 aboard this Titanic-themed restaurant.
Williamstown, Australia

Timeball Tower

An obsolete form of timekeeping still marks the hour in this adapted 19th century lighthouse.
The Great Barrier Reef.
Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne GlowGolf Docklands

Putt your way around Australia in a black light environment.
Related Places
Grenoble, France

Musée de la Ganterie (Museum of Glove-Making)

The cellar of a former factory is now home to a collection of gloves, machines, and tools of the trade.
Cattaraugus, New York

American Museum of Cutlery

This edgy museum will whet your appetite for the industrial history of Western New York.
Steam engines.
Meridian, Mississippi

Soulé Steam Feed Works

The last intact steam engine factory in the United States.
The museum.
Fakenham, England

Fakenham Museum of Gas and Local History

The last gas works in England and Wales details how people once extracted the resource from coal.
In partnership with KAYAK

Plan Your Trip

From Around the Web