Making the Vesuvian Apparatus

Watch the Vesuvian Apparatus being designed and tested by Masters of Mechatronics student Xinyu Xu, and Masters of Mechanical Engineering student Yuji Zeng.

Pietro Fabris, Campi Phlegraei: Observations on the volcanos of the two Sicilies, as they have been communicated to the Royal Society of London, 1776, hand-coloured engraving, Rare Book Collection, Archives and Special Collections, UniMelb Baill SpC/Archit ef 709 HAM

Andrew Kogios, Department of Mechanical Engineering, FEIT (research engineer)
Xinyu Xu, Yuji Zeng (Masters of Mechatronic Engineering students)
Creator Space (fabrication)
Dr Richard Gillespie, Senior Curator, FEIT (project supervisor)

Vesuvian Apparatus, 2025
Multimedia installation based on:

William Hamilton (designer)
England, 1730-1803
Pietro Fabris (artist)
unknown, active England and Italy (Kingdom of Naples), c.1756-c.1784

Vesuvian Apparatus, 1775
Multimedia installation

This installation recreates an apparatus designed by Sir William Hamilton to capture the beauty and awe of Mount Vesuvius erupting - an early example of multimedia art.

Hamilton arrived in Naples in 1765 as British ambassador to the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily, remaining for over 30 years. Vesuvius commenced an active phase for several years in the 1760s and 70s. Hamilton became a keen observer of its eruptions, documenting the changes in letters to the Royal Society of London, collecting lava samples for scientists at home, and commissioning artist Pietro Fabris to paint the dramatic landscape.

Hamilton was inspired by the innovative stage mechanisms being adopted in the theatres and pleasure gardens of Georgian London. Fabris painted the image onto canvas that had been varnished to make it transparent, while Hamilton designed a clockwork mechanism to rotate a perforated drum that would filter candlelight onto the image. Additional mechanisms lifted vanes to indicate lava flow higher up the volcano, and struck a drum to mimic explosions.

250 years after Hamilton designed the apparatus, a team from the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology has used modern mechatronics to reproduce its effect for The Grand Tour.

Hamilton's design

Richard Gillespie, Senior Curator in the Faculity of Engineering and Information Technology discusses the history and origins of William Hamilton's apparatus.

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