He was then appointed consulting engineer (and subsequently engineer) for the development of the Melbourne cable tramway system in Australia, a post he held until 1892, being largely responsible for the development of over 44 miles of cable tram route.
Whilst in London he was elected a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers for his efforts on the Melbourne cable tramway system.
However what he saw on his travels lead him to question the future of cable tramways, and on his return to Australia he advised Brisbane against adopting such a system in favour of electric traction.
He later became involved in experiments to extract gold from seawater, and achieved this in 1912 from the waters of Port Phillip.
He continued to experiment until shortly before his death, but failed in his aim of making the process economically viable.