1.
Grafton Bridge
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Grafton Bridge is a road bridge spanning Grafton Gully in Auckland, New Zealand. Built of reinforced concrete in 1910, it connects the Auckland CBD and it spans about 97.6 metres, rises 25.6 metres above the abutments to a height of around 43 metres over the gully. The bridge is listed by Heritage New Zealand and on the IPENZ Engineering Heritage Register, since 2009 the bridge has formed a core part of the Central Connector public transport route between the CBD and Newmarket, and is closed to private vehicles during the day. Designed by engineers R. F. Moore and Karl Rosegger Agster for the Ferro-Concrete Company of Australasia, the bridge was built between 1908 and 1910 and was the third to cross Grafton Gully. The first, built in 1884, was a pedestrian bridge from the bottom of St Martins Lane to Bridge Street in Grafton. Designed by the City Engineer Edward Anderson, the first bridge proved to be comparatively unstable, at least towards the end of its life when it would appear that maintenance was not kept up. By the time it was approaching 20 years old, police were stationed at each end after rugby matches to ensure rowdy crowds did not cause it to wobble alarmingly by jumping or stamping on it. In 1904, a report showed it was not only beyond repair and it was immediately closed and supplemented by a temporary bridge of quite simple design at the bottom of the gully. The old disused bridge stood until 1906, there was conflict over whether any new bridge should be another pedestrian bridge or one that would take vehicle traffic as well. Eventually the decision to build a bridge was taken. The current bridge was championed by the mayor Arthur Myers, who advocated for it to be twice as wide as built, many people maintained that the city would never get big enough to warrant the cost of so large a piece of engineering. Conversely Myers predicted that the population of Auckland would double in the two decades, and he was proved correct. Built of reinforced concrete by the Ferro-Concrete Company of Australasia Ltd and it resembles closely similar bridges of the period, specifically the Howard Taft Memorial Bridge in Washington DC Taft Bridge which took ten years to construct 1897-1907. In order to dispel doubts about the strength of the relatively untested type of construction. This also added to the costs, which were around £33,000. The bridge crosses part of the Symonds Street Cemetery, a historic Auckland cemetery containing the graves of important early settlers. When the current bridge was constructed the cemetery had been in existence for 70 years, the bridge carries one traffic lane in each direction and a footpath on each side. It underwent reinforcing repairs in 1938 when cracks were discovered in the Vierendeel frames of the areas of the bridge
2.
Clarence River (New South Wales)
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The Clarence River, a mature wave dominated, barrier estuary, is situated in the Northern Rivers district of New South Wales, Australia. The river reaches its mouth at its confluence with the Coral Sea in the South Pacific Ocean, on its journey it passes through the towns of Tabulam and Copmanhurst, the city of Grafton, and the towns of Ulmarra, and Maclean. The river features many large islands, including Woodford, Chatsworth, Ashby, Warregah and Harwood islands. The river supports a large prawn trawling and fishing industry, the Clarence River system is an extensive east coast drainage with many tributaries of differing size. Apart from the Murray River, it is the largest river in mainland Australia south of the Tropic of Capricorn and its basin is, together with the very similarly-sized Hawkesbury, Australias largest Pacific watershed south of Bundaberg. The climate of most of the basin is subtropical, though the highest areas with cooler weather are of the temperate Cfb type, annual rainfall ranges from 1,600 millimetres on the coast at Yamba down to 1,080 millimetres in the shielded valley at Grafton. At higher altitudes, rainfall may reach 2,000 millimetres on exposed slopes, most of the high areas actually receive no more rain than Grafton though variability from year to year is less. Temperatures are generally warm, with maxima in lower area ranging from 27 °C in January to 19 °C in July. In the highlands, however, temperatures are cooler and in July range from lows of around 2 °C to maxima around 13 °C - though in January days remain very warm at around 25 °C. At Grafton, the peaked at a new record height of 8.1 metres. Two years earlier, the river peaked 7.6 metres, on both occasions, the citys levee was credited with preventing more severe flooding. The local historical society has published an account of newspaper reports documenting flooding of the river from the late 1800s to 2011, tourism is also a significant industry in the Clarence Valley generating around A$457million per annum and employing around 2500 people. Most of the Clarence basin is forested, with important areas of remnant subtropical. Only in alluvial areas where soils are less leached is there major agricultural development, in areas the chief industries are cattle rearing. Of particular interest is the island town of Harwood, where a Sperry New Holland factory. Harwood is also the location of the sugar mill, the Harwood Sugar Mill built in 1873 and is the oldest Australian mill still operational. The sugar mill is situated on the due to its importance in transporting sugar cane from farms in the surrounding area in previous times. Harwood is just after the Harwood Bridge on part of Australias National Highway from Sydney, Port Macquarie, the Aboriginal people of the lower reaches call the river Breimba or Berrinbah
3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
Motor vehicle
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For legal purposes motor vehicles are often identified within a number of vehicle classes including cars, buses, motorcycles, off-road vehicles, light trucks and regular trucks. These classifications vary according to the codes of each country. ISO3833,1977 is the standard for road vehicles types, terms, as of 2010 there were more than one billion motor vehicles in use in the world excluding off-road vehicles and heavy construction equipment. Global vehicle ownership per capita in 2010 was 148 vehicles in operation per 1000 people, the United States has the largest fleet of motor vehicles in the world, with 239.8 million in 2010. Vehicle ownership per capita in the US is also the highest in the world with 769 vehicles in operation per 1000 people. The Peoples Republic of China has the second largest fleet in the world, with more than 78 million vehicles. In 2011, a total of 80 million cars and commercial vehicles were built, led by China, the US publisher Wards, estimate that as of 2010 there were 1.015 billion motor vehicles in use in the world. This figure represents the number of cars, light, medium and heavy duty trucks, and buses, the world vehicle population passed the 500 million-unit mark in 1986, from 250 million motor vehicles in 1970. Between 1950 and 1970, the population doubled roughly every 10 years. Two US researchers estimate that the fleet will reach 2 billion motor vehicles by 2020. Navigant Consulting forecasts that the stock of light-duty motor vehicles will reach 2 billion units in 2035. The global rate of motorization increased in 2013 to 174 vehicles per 1000 inhabitants, in developing countries vehicle ownership rates rarely exceed 200 cars per 1,000 population. The five largest markets, Germany, Italy, France, the UK, the EU-27 member countries had in 2009 an estimated ownership rate of 473 passenger cars per 1000 people. According to Wards, Italy had the second highest vehicle ownership per capita in 2010, Germany had a rate of motorization of 534 vehicles per 1000 people and the UK of 525 vehicles per 1000 inhabitants, both in 2008. France had a rate of 575 vehicles per 1000 people and Spain 608 vehicles per 1000 people in 2007, portugal, between 1991 and 2002 grew up 220% on its motorization rate, having had in 2002,560 cars per 1000 people. Italy also leads in alternative fuel vehicles, with a fleet of 779,090 natural gas vehicles as of June 2012, sweden, with 225,000 flexible-fuel vehicles, has the largest flexifuel fleet in Europe by mid-2011. According to Wards, the United States has the largest fleet of vehicles in the world. Vehicle ownership per capita in the U. S. is also the highest in the world with 769 vehicles in operation per 1000 inhabitants, or a ratio of 1,1.3 vehicles to people
5.
Glossary of rail transport terms
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Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term railroad and the term railway is the most significant difference in rail terminology. There are also others, due to the development of rail transport systems in different parts of the world. Various global terms are presented here, where a term has multiple names, the abbreviation UIC refers to standard terms adopted by the International Union of Railways in its official publications and thesaurus. Instead, an alarm is sounded at an interval in which the operator must respond by pressing a button to reset the alarm. If the operator does not respond within a time, the prime mover is automatically throttled back to idle. They also serve to support the arch or equivalent. The only significant difference is the size, measured in feet rather than inches, the fireman remains with the locomotive and, when the driver is at the other end, the fireman controls the cut off and vacuum ejectors in addition to his usual duties. Axlebox or axle box The housing that holds the bearings of a locomotive The housing attaching the end of the axle to the bogie which contains the bearing allowing the axle to rotate. Bad order A tag or note applied to a piece of equipment. Generally, equipment tagged as bad order is not to be used until repairs are performed, revolving masses can easily be balanced by counterweights, but the balancing of reciprocating parts is a matter of compromise and judgement. Balloon A looped length of track, usually at the end of a spur or branch, can be used as part of a freight installation to allow the loading or unloading of bulk materials without the need to stop the train. Early locomotives burned coke, provision of an arch was necessary before coal could be used without producing excessive smoke. Many early railroads were broad gauge, for example the Great Western Railway in the UK which adopted 7 ft gauge until it was converted to standard gauge in the 1860s - 1890s, russia still has over 80,000 km of broad gauge railroads. Broad gauge is also normal in Spain and Portugal, in India, as well as Ireland, cabless A locomotive without a cab. Commonly referred to as a B unit or a Slug, although not all Slugs are cabless, caboose A railroad car attached usually to the end of a train, in which railroad workers could ride and monitor track and rolling stock conditions. Largely obsolete, having been replaced by the electronic end-of-train device, the correct classification is CoCo, but Co-Co is used more often. One set uses high pressure steam, then passes the low pressure exhausted steam to the second, also known as master and slave, as in the British Rail Class 13 shunters at Tinsley Marshalling Yard
6.
Water supply
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Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. However, about 14% did not have access to a water source and had to use unprotected wells or springs, canals. A clean water supply - in particular water that is not polluted with fecal matter from lack of sanitation - is the single most important determinant of public health. Destruction of water supply and/or sanitation infrastructure after major catastrophes poses the threat of severe epidemics of waterborne diseases. Water supply systems get water from a variety of locations after appropriate treatment, including groundwater, surface water, the water treatment steps include, in most cases, purification, disinfection through chlorination and sometimes fluoridation. Treated water then flows by gravity or is pumped to reservoirs. In the U. S, the single family home uses about 69.3 gallons of water per day. This includes toilet use, washing machine use, showers, baths, tap use, many of the 3.5 billion people having access to piped water receive a poor or very poor quality of service, especially in developing countries where about 80% of the world population lives. Water supply service quality has many dimensions, continuity, water quality, pressure, and it is estimated that about half of the population of developing countries receives water on an intermittent basis. Drinking water quality has a micro-biological and a physico-chemical dimension, there are thousands of parameters of water quality. For more details, please see the entries on water quality, water treatment. Water pressures vary in different locations of a distribution system, Water mains below the street may operate at higher pressures, with a pressure reducer located at each point where the water enters a building or a house. In poorly managed systems, water pressure can be so low as to only in a trickle of water or so high that it leads to damage to plumbing fixtures. Typical UK pressures are 4–5 bar for an urban supply, however, some people can get over eight bars or below one bar. A single iron main pipe may cross a valley, it will have the same nominal pressure. So people at the bottom of a 100-foot hill will get about 3 bars more than those at the top, the effective pressure also varies because of the pressure loss due to supply resistance even for the same static pressure. An urban consumer may have 5 metres of 15 mm pipe running from the main, so the kitchen tap flow will be fairly unrestricted. A rural consumer may have a kilometre of rusted and limed 22 mm iron pipe, for this reason, the UK domestic water system has traditionally employed a cistern feed system, where the incoming supply is connected to the kitchen sink and also a header/storage tank in the attic
7.
Pedestrian
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A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, whether walking or running. In some communities, those traveling using tiny wheels such as skates, skateboards. In modern times, the term refers to someone walking on a road or pavement. Walking has always been the means of human locomotion. The first humans to migrate from Africa, about 60,000 years ago and they walked along the coast of India to reach Australia. They walked across Asia to reach the Americas, and from Central Asia into Europe, during the 18th and 19th centuries, pedestrianism was a popular spectator sport just as equestrianism still is in places such as Great Britain and the United States. One of the most famous pedestrians of that period was Captain Robert Barclay Allardice, known as The Celebrated Pedestrian and his most impressive feat was to walk 1 mile every hour for 1000 hours, which he achieved between 1 June and 12 July 1809. This feat captured many peoples imagination, and around 10,000 people came to watch over the course of the event. During the rest of the 19th century, many tried to repeat this feat, including Ada Anderson who developed it further. Since the 20th century, interest in walking as a sport has dropped, racewalking is still an Olympic sport, but fails to catch public attention as it did. However major walking feats are still performed, such as the Lands End to John o Groats walk in the United Kingdom, and these feats are often tied to charitable fundraising and are undertaken by celebrities such as Sir Jimmy Savile and Ian Botham as well as by others. Regular walking is important both for health and for the natural environment. Frequent exercise such as walking tends to reduce the chance of obesity, general availability of public transportation encourages walking, as it will not, in most cases, take one directly to ones destination. Roads often have a designated footpath for pedestrian traffic, called the sidewalk in North American English, the pavement in British English, and the footpath in Australian and New Zealand English. There are also not associated with a road, these include urban short cuts and also rural paths used mainly by ramblers, hikers. Footpaths in mountainous or forested areas may also be called trails, pedestrians share some footpaths with horses and bicycles, these paths may be known as bridleways. Other byways used by walkers are also accessible to vehicles, there are also many roads with no footpath. Some modern towns are designed with the network of sidewalks and cycle paths almost entirely separate from the road network, the term trail is also used by the authorities in some countries to mean any footpath that is not attached to a road or street
8.
Grafton, New South Wales
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The city of Grafton is the seat of Local Government, the Federal and State Government administrative centre, and the commercial hub of the Clarence River Valley. Established in 1851, Grafton features many buildings and tree-lined streets. It is located approximately 630 kilometres north of the New South Wales State capital, Sydney,340 km south of Brisbane, Queensland, as at June 2015, Grafton had a population of 18,689. Before European settlement, the Clarence River marked the border between the Bundjalung and Gumbaynggirr peoples, and so descendants of both groups can now be found in the Grafton region. Grafton, like other settlements in the area, was first opened up to white settlement by the cedar-getters. An escaped convict, Richard Craig, discovered the district in 1831, with the wealth of red gold cedar just waiting for exploitation, he was given a pardon and one hundred pounds to bring a party of cedar-getters on the cutter Prince George to the region. Word of such wealth to be had did not take long to spread and one of the arrivals was pioneer John Small on the Susan in 1838, the Settlement was established shortly after. In 1851, Governor FitzRoy officially named the town Grafton, after his grandfather, the Duke of Grafton, Grafton was proclaimed a city in 1885. Local industries include logging, beef cattle, fishing/prawning, sugar, manufacturing and this bridge is a one of a kind and is a major feature on the Clarence River in Grafton. Grafton has a subtropical climate with significantly more rainfall and higher temperatures in summer than in winter. Rainfall is lower than in stations directly on the coast, Grafton gets around 115.2 clear days on an annual basis. Grafton like many NSW regional centres, is affected by heatwaves in the summer months, on 12 February 2017 Grafton recorded a maximum temperature of 46.3, the towns highest recorded temperature since records began. Grafton is known and promoted as the Jacaranda City, in reference to its tree-lined streets, inaugurated in 1935, Jacaranda is held each October/November. A half-day public holiday is observed locally on the first Thursday of November, a half-day public holiday is also observed for the Grafton Cup horse race, held each year on the second Thursday in July. It is the point of the citys annual Racing Carnival—Australias largest and richest non-metropolitan Carnival—which takes place over a fortnight in that month. Grafton is the birthplace of renowned country music players. Local artist Troy Cassar-Daley received four Golden Guitar awards at the 2006 Tamworth Country Music Awards—the largest and most prestigious music awards in Australia. At the same event Samantha McClymont, the 2005/2006 Grafton Jacaranda Queen and sister of Brooke McClymont, christ Church Cathedral, designed by John Horbury Hunt, was consecrated in 1884 and is the seat of the Anglican Diocese of Grafton
9.
New South Wales
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New South Wales is a state on the east coast of Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south and it has a coast line with the Tasman Sea on its east side. The Australian Capital Territory is an enclave within the state, New South Wales state capital is Sydney, which is also Australias most populous city. In March 2014, the population of New South Wales was 7.5 million. Just under two-thirds of the population,4.67 million. Inhabitants of New South Wales are referred to as New South Welshmen, the Colony of New South Wales was founded as a penal colony in 1788. It originally comprised a more than half of the Australian mainland with its western boundary set at 129th meridian east in 1825, in addition, the colony also included the island territories of New Zealand, Van Diemens Land, Lord Howe Island, and Norfolk Island. During the 19th century, most of the area was detached to form separate British colonies that eventually became New Zealand. However, the Swan River Colony has never administered as part of New South Wales. Lord Howe Island remains part of New South Wales, while Norfolk Island has become a federal Territory, as have the now known as the Australian Capital Territory. The prior inhabitants of New South Wales were the Aboriginal tribes who arrived in Australia about 40,000 to 60,000 years ago, before European settlement there were an estimated 250,000 Aboriginal people in the region. The Wodi Wodi people are the custodians of the Illawarra region of South Sydney. The Bundjalung people are the custodians of parts of the northern coastal areas. The European discovery of New South Wales was made by Captain James Cook during his 1770 survey along the eastern coast of the Dutch-named continent of New Holland. In his original journal covering the survey, in triplicate to satisfy Admiralty Orders, Cook first named the land New Wales, however, in the copy held by the Admiralty, he revised the wording to New South Wales. After years of chaos and anarchy after the overthrow of Governor William Bligh, macquaries legacy is still evident today. During the 19th century, large areas were separated to form the British colonies of Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria. Responsible government was granted to the New South Wales colony in 1855, following the Treaty of Waitangi, William Hobson declared British sovereignty over New Zealand in 1840
10.
Australia
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
This Wikipedia article contains material from Grafton rail and road bridge over Clarence River, entry number 01036 in the New South Wales State Heritage Register published by the State of New South Wales and Office of Environment and Heritage 2018 under CC-BY 4.0 licence, accessed on 2 June 2018.