Published Resources Details
Conference Paper
- Title
- A Case of Civil Service Involvement in Engineering in 1841
- In
- Engineering Heritage Matters: Conference Papers of the 12th National Conference on Engineering Heritage, Toowoomba, 29 September to 1 Oct 2003
- Imprint
- Engineers Australia, Barton, Australian Capital Territory, 2003, pp. 8-14
- ISBN/ISSN
- 064642775X
- Url
- https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.334587560307384
- Abstract
On 30 September 1841 Sir John Franklin, the Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land, dismissed Alexander Cheyne, the Director of Public Works, over dissatisfaction with his conduct relating to a bridge planned to cross the Derwent River at Bridgewater. Cheyne, believing that he was unfairly dismissed, published the correspondence between the Office of the Colonial Secretary and his office in The Van Diemen's Land Chronicle in October 1841. Copies of the correspondence have survived and give a fascinating insight into politics, engineering design and the contracting methods of the time. This situation is contrasted with the findings of the Coroner's Court of the Australian Capital Territory in 1999. The significance of this heritage, particularly in concert with the drastic down sizing of engineers in key advisory positions within Government, is that engineers must be politically aware.
Related Published resources
isPartOf
- Engineering Heritage Matters: Conference Papers of the 12th National Conference on Engineering Heritage, Toowoomba, 29 Sept to 1 Oct 2003 edited by Sheridan, Norman (Barton, Australian Capital Territory: Engineers Australia, 2003), 183 pp, https://search.informit.org/doi/book/10.3316/informit.064642775X. Details