Malcomson, Thomas James (1909 - 1994)

Summary

Thomas Malcomson was a member of the Ministry of Munitions for over thirty years. In 1940 he joined the Engineering Division and was Project Manager in the Ordnance Production Directorate for four years during the war. In this role Malcomson helped establish an Optical Munitions Industry which produced previously unavailable precision optical components and assemblies for weapons for use by the British and Australian troops. In 1946 he left the Ministry for the private industry but returned eighteen months later as an Engineer (Grade 1) at the Ordnance Factory in Maribyrnong. In 1953 Malcomson was promoted to Senior Engineer and at some time during the next eight years spent three-and-a-half months as Acting Engineer-in-Charge at the Sydney office of the Ordnance Section. However, in 1961 due to a major restructure at both the Bendigo and Maribyrnong Ordnance Factories Maclomson was demoted to Technical Officer because of a technicality and his lack of formal qualifications. Despite this, he continued with the Ministry and even spent the first few months training his replacement. In 1967 the Director of the Ordnance Supply Branch made a formal request to have Malcomson re-instated as an Engineer, but the outcome of this request is unknown. Malcomson retired in 1972.

Details

Chronology

1933 - 1937

Career position - Fitter at Johns & Waygood Ltd., South Melbourne

1937 - 1938

Career position - Fitter(?) at Holeproof Ltd., Brunswick

1938 - 1939

Career position - Moved to New Zealand for eight months and worked as a Fitter at Reid New Zealand Rubber Mills Ltd (three months)

April 1938 - August 1938

Career position - Fitter at Filtration and Water Softening Pty. Ltd. (five months)

1940 - 1941

Career position - Engineer in the Tool and Jig Section of the Engineering Division at the Government Ordnance Factories

1941 - 1942

Career position - Assistant Project Supervisor of Optical Munitions at the Production Division of the Government Ordnance Factories

c. 1942

Career position - Attended the Optical Munitions Panel Meeting at the University of Sydney

1942 - 1943

Career position - Project Supervisor (Grade 1) of Optical Munitions at the Government Ordnance Factories

1943

Career position - Project Supervisor (Grade 2) of Optical Munitions at the Government Ordnance Factories (five months)

1943 - 1946

Career position - Senior Project Supervisor of Optical Munitions at the Government Ordnance Factories

August 1943 - 14 September 1946

Career position - Member of the Scientific Instruments and Optical Panel

1 September 1944 - 14 September 1946

Career position - Secretary of the Optical Industry Advisory Panel (Secondary Industries Commission)

28 February 1945

Notes on the Australian Optical and Fine Instrument Industry report written

1946 - 1947

Career position - Works Manager at the F. & R. Tough works in Perth (18 months)

1948 - 1951

Career position - Engineer (Grade 1) at the Ordinance Factory in Maribyrnong, Victoria

1951 - 1952

Career position - Engineer (Grade 3) at the Ordnance Section Central Office (five months)

1952 - 1961

Career position - Senior Engineer with the Ordnance Section Central Office

1961 - c. 1967

Career position - Technical Officer then Senior Technical Officer at the Mechanical sub-section

1972

Career position - Retired from the Ministry on the Commonwealth Medical Officer's recommendation

Archival resources

National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection

• Phillip Garth Law - Records, 1940 - 1980, MS 9458; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details

Published resources

Books

• Mellor, D. P., The Role of Science and Industry, Australia in the War of 1939-1945, Vol. 5 of Series 4 (Civil) (Canberra: Australian War Memorial, 1958). Details

Resources

• 'Malcomson, Thomas James (1909-1994)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1475663. Details