Person
Smith, Alexander Kennedy (1824 - 1881)
- Born
- 7 July 1824
Cauldmill, Roxburghshire, Scotland - Died
- 16 January 1881
Studley Park, Victoria, Australia - Occupation
- Engineer and Politician
Summary
Alexander Smith was involved in the development of many of Victoria's gas and water works during the 1850s and 60s. Originally from Scotland, he was sent to Melbourne in 1854 to manage and build the Melbourne Gas and Coke Co. works. Once that project was complete, Smith remained in Victoria and set up his own practice. He built gas works in Victoria's Ballarat, Castlemaine and Sandhurst regions as well as one at Newcastle in New South Wales. Smith also drew up plans and specifications for many other works in Australia and overseas and worked as an engineer on the South Yarra Waterworks and was a consulting and locomotive engineer for the Melbourne and Suburban Railway Co. Smith was also a member of the Legislative Assembly from 1877 to 1881, member for the La Trobe Ward in the Melbourne City Council for fifteen years and Mayor of Melbourne from 1875 to 1876.
Details
Chronology
- 1846 - 1854
- Career position - Engineer with the Great Western Railway Co.
- 1853 - c. 1857
- Career position - Seconded to build and manage the Melbourne Gas and Coke Co. works - a five year contract
- 1854
- Career position - Arrived in Australia (Melbourne)
- c. 1857 -
- Career position - Civil and Consulting Engineer private practice established in Carlton, Victoria
- 1860 - ?
- Career position - Major in the Victorian Volunteer Artillery Regiment
- 1875 - 1876
- Career position - Mayor of the City of Melbourne
- 1877 - 1881
- Career position - Member for East Melbourne in the Legislative Assembly
Related entries
Published resources
Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions
- Collins, David, Chemistry in 19th Australia - Select Bibliography, An exhibition of the Encyclopedia circa 2005 with assistance from Ailie Smith and Gavan McCarthy., eScholarship Research Centre (original publisher), Melbourne, 2009, https://eoas.info/exhibitions/ciab/ciab_ALL.html. Details
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. p.29. Details
Book Sections
- Eastwood, Jill, 'Smith, Alexander Kennedy (1824-1881), engineer' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 6: 1851 - 1890 R - Z, Bede Nairn, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1976), p. 139. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A060159b.htm. Details
Conference Papers
- Beauchamp, David, 'The Victorian Engineers of University Square', in Second Australasian Conference on Engineering Heritage, Auckland, 14-16 February, 2000: Proceedings (Auckland, New Zealand: Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand, 2000), pp. 43-49., https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.909830334715007. Details
Journal Articles
- Beauchamp, David, 'The Victorian Engineers of University Square', Transactions of Multi-disciplinary Engineering, Australia, GE26 (2002), 25-33, https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.509163979814738. Details
- Smith, A.K., 'The Manufacture of Sulphuric Acid and Stearine Candles', Transactions and Proceedings of the Victorian Institute for the Advancement of Science, 1 (1854-1855), 162-167, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/148456#page/176/mode/1up. Details
- Smith, A.K., 'On Gas and Gas Works', Transactions and Proceedings of the Victorian Institute for the Advancement of Science, 1 (1854-1855), 74-92; 143-148, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/148456#page/88/mode/1up. Details
- Smith, A.K., 'Notes on the Quality of Hartley and Greta Shale for the Manufacture of Gas, together with a Description of the New Coal Seam at Greta', Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 10 (1874), 5-11, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/33862814#page/75/mode/1up. Details
Resources
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q4719297. Details
- 'Smith, Alexander Kennedy (1824-1881)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1466083. Details
See also
- Science and the making of Victoria, with Royal Society of Victoria, 2001, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/smv/index_s.html. Details
- Engineers Australia ed., Wonders never cease: 100 Australian engineering achievements (Barton, Australian Capital Territory: Institution of Engineers, Australia, 2019), 236 pp. p.176. Details
McCarthy, G.J.
Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 5 February 2018
- Foundation Supporter - Committee to Review Australian Studies in Tertiary Education