A two-hour (70 km) bus trip around the Latrobe Valley including slide show and video presentation. Discover:

  • The world’s largest brown coal deposit.
  • A war hero who started an industry.
  • A giant dredger, up close, and the biggest bulldozers.
  • How plant material stores energy in the carbon cycle.
  • How to burn a fuel that’s mainly water.
  • A beautiful town that was swallowed by its mine.
  • Mine battles against fire and flood.
  • How high voltage pushes harder.
  • The difference between high grade and low grade energy.
  • Base load and peak load power.
  • Making pure carbons, synthetic oil and hydrogen.
  • Clean coal confusion.
  • German and Aussie innovations in High Efficiency Low Emission power generation.

This entertaining guided educational tour presents the history, engineering and adventures of 100 years of technological development with Victoria’s brown coal. (It is based on facts rather than politics or ideology.) It derives from the career of retired engineer Ronald J Camier, BE (Chem), MEngSc, PhD (Melb), C Eng (Lond), MIChE, FAIE. MAIPet, DipT, who worked at the University of Melbourne Brown Coal Research Laboratory, CSIRO Division of Mineral Engineering, SECV Herman Research Laboratory, Victorian Brown Coal Council Development Division, Brown Coal Liquefaction Victoria Pty Ltd, Coal Corporation of Victoria and HRL Limited.

Tours can be conducted in your visiting touring coach (equipped with DVD player and roving microphone), or in our mini-bus (for up to 6 passengers). Cost is $400.