Overview

• The reconstruction brings to life a 250-year-old design by Sir William Hamilton to animate Mount Vesuvius eruptions.
• Master’s students Xinyu (Jasmine) Xu and Yuji (Andy) Zeng spent three months building the apparatus with laser-cut timber, acrylic, programmable LEDs and electronic controls.
• Engineers based their work on Pietro Fabris’s 1771 watercolor “Night view of a current of lava” and a detailed 1775 sketch from the Bordeaux Municipal Library.
• Dr. Richard Gillespie, senior curator in the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, initiated and supervised the project.
• The completed device serves as the centerpiece of The Grand Tour exhibition at the University of Melbourne’s Baillieu Library and will remain on view through June 28, 2026.