Cumming, Denis Arthur (1923 - 1995)

Summary

Denis Cumming, MInstCE MIEAust, was a civil engineer who led research into the history of engineers and engineering in Australia, and developed methods for researching, documenting and recording these histories. He contributed significantly to the formal establishment of Engineering Heritage South Australia in 1974, and Engineering Heritage Australia in 1979.

Details

Denis Cumming was a Senior Lecturer in Civil Engineering, University of Adelaide from 1967 until 1990, with a particular interest in Geomechanics, Transport Engineering and Surveying, and the History of Technology.

Through his strong interest in history, the history of engineering and engineering heritage, he became the driving force in forming Engineering Heritage committees, at Division, State and National level, of the Institution of Engineers, Australia. He was chair of the first committee in South Australia from 1974, and was on the National Committee from 1979, until 1995.

His many research papers and books have contributed significantly to the knowledge and understanding of engineers and engineering in Australia. In particular the definitive book They Built South Australia - Engineers, Technician, Manufacturers, Contractors and Their Works that he co-authored, the book Westralian founders of twentieth century mining: career biographies of mining engineers, mine managers and metallurgists who worked in the Western Australian mining industry 1890-1920 that he co-authored, and similar research papers about engineers in Victoria, and Western Australia.

Chronology

1944

Education - Master of Arts, Engineering Science, Oxford University, England

1949

Life event - Migrated to Australia

1949 - 1951

Career position - Engineer, Eildon Weir, Victorian State Rivers and Water Supply Commission

1951 - 1952

Career position - Engineer, Woomera, Commonwealth Department of Works

1952 - 1958

Career position - Engineer, Adelaide, Highway Department South Australia

1958 - 1967

Career position - Lecturer, Civil Engineering, University of NSW

1967 - 1990

Career position - Senior Lecturer, Civil Engineering, University of Adelaide

1986

Career event - Book published: They built South Australia : engineers, technicians, manufacturers, contractors and their work

1988

Award - Institution of Engineers Australia Plaque

2014

Career event - Book published: Westralian founders of twentieth century mining: career biographies of mining engineers, mine managers and metallurgists who worked in the Western Australian mining industry 1890-1920

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• Cumming, D. A., Some Public Works Engineers in Victoria in the Nineteenth Century (Melbourne: University of Melbourne, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, 1985), 59 pp. Details
• Cumming, D. A.; Moxham, G. C., They built South Australia : engineers, technicians, manufacturers, contractors and their work (Adelaide: D.A. Cumming and G.C Moxham, 1986), 241 pp. Details
• Cumming, Denis A.; and Hartley, Richard G., Westralian founders of twentieth century mining: career biographies of mining engineers, mine managers and metallurgists who worked in the Western Australian mining industry 1890-1920 (Rossmoyne W.A.: Richard G. Hartley, 2014), 190 pp. Details
• Cumming, Denis Arthur, The Murray Bridge 1864-1982: a Report to the Australian Heritage Commission and the Heritage Conservation Branch of the South Australian Department of Environment and Planning (Adelaide: University of Adelaide, Department of Civil Engineering, 1982). Details

Book Sections

• Cumming, D.; Jones, L. J., 'Engineering' in Australians, a Guide to Sources, D. H. Borchardt and Victor Crittenden, eds (Broadway: Fairfax, Syme & Weldon Associates, 1987), pp. 283-289. Details

Conference Papers

• Cumming, D. A., 'Processing of Copper Ores in South Australia in the Nineteenth Century', in Conference on The Protection of the Engineering Heritage, 1982, Brisbane, 9-12 May. Preprints of Papers (Barton, Australian Capital Territory: Institution of Engineers, Australia, 1982), pp. 66-73.. Details
• Cumming, D. A., 'The Burra Mine and Smelter', in Engineering Conference 1984: Conference Papers (Barton, Australian Capital Territory: Institution of Engineers, Australia, 1984), pp. 7-12., https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.610713673171928. Details
• Cumming, D. A.; and Drew, G. J., 'Copper smelting in South Australia, the first fifty years', in South Australia's Mining Heritage: AUSIMM Seminar on Mining Heritage (Adelaide, South Australia: South Australia. Department of Mines and Energy, 1987), pp. 115-138.. Details
• Cumming, D. A.; Leverett, K., 'A Preliminary Survey of the Literature on Industrial and Mechanical Engineering in Australia', in Fifth National Conference on Engineering Heritage 1990: Interpreting Engineering Heritage; Preprints of Papers (Perth, Western Australia: Institution of Engineers, Australia, Western Australian Division, 1990), pp. 123-131.. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.624762933500611. Details
• Cumming, D. A.; Leverett, K., 'Australian Databases & Engineering Heritage', in Sixth National Conference on Engineering Heritage, 1992, Hobart 5-7 October 1992: Preprints of Papers (Hobart, Tasmania: Institution of Engineers, Australia, Tasmania Division, 1992), pp. 15-22.. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.423806338480924. Details

Journal Articles

• 'People (Obituaries)', Engineers Australia, 67 (3) (1995), 36-37. Details
• 'Denis Cumming MA (Oxon), MICE, MIEAust CPEng 1923 - 1995', Engineering Heritage Australia : newsletter of the National Committee on Engineering Heritage, the Institution of Engineers, Australia, No.4 (May 1995) (1995), 8. Details

Resources

• 'Cumming, Denis Arthur (19230917-19950128)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1772541. Details

See also

• Institution of Engineers Australia, 'Annual Report - Colleges [1978]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 51 (4) (1979), 33-37. 'General College of Engineering - Sub-committee of Engineering History and Heritage', p.37. Details