Fowler, Thomas Walker (1859 - 1928)

Summary

Thomas Fowler initially worked as an engineer for the surveyor's branch of the Victorian and New South Wales railways. In 1882 he was appointed engineer to the Shire of Huntley (Victoria) and oversaw the water-supply schemes and their associated conservation schemes for the areas of Broken River, Shepparton, Yarrawonga and Gisborne. Fowler spent the next twenty-seven years combining a private consulting practice with lecturing and demonstrating for the Engineering Department of the University of Melbourne. In 1913 he moved to Tasmania to head the Public Works Department. Thomas Fowler was a member of many professional bodies and committees including the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia (Secretary then President) and the Victorian Institute of Surveyors and was widely published.

Details

Chronology

1876

Life event - Migrated to Australia (Melbourne), with mother and three brothers

1879

Education - Certificate in Civil Engineering (CE), University of Melbourne

1880 - 1881

Career position - Engineer at the Victorian Railways

1881

Career position - Engineer at the New South Wales Government Railways

1882 - 1885

Career position - Engineer, Huntley Shire, Victoria

1885

Education - Master of Civil Engineering (MCE), University of Melbourne

1885 - 1891

Career position - Private practice as a Consulting Engineer in Melbourne

6 Dec 1887

Career event - Associate Member (AssocMInstCE), Institution of Civil Engineers, London

1888

Career event - Granted Certificate as Engineer of Water Supply, under Irrigation Act 1886 VIC

1891 - 1903

Career position - Lecturer in Surveying, University of Melbourne

1892

Career position - President, Victorian Institute of Surveyors

1896 - 1904

Career position - Demonstrator in Engineering, University of Melbourne

1902

Career event - Gave evidence to the "Interstate Royal Commission on the River Murray"

2 Dec 1902

Career event - Member (MInstCE), Institution of Civil Engineers, London

1904

Career event - Member (MIEE), Institution of Electrical Engineers, London

1905 - 1909

Career position - Lecturer in Civil Engineering, University of Melbourne

Mar 1906 - 1920

Career event - Member (MIMechE), Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London

1908 - 1913

Career position - Chairman, Municipal Surveyor's Board of Victoria

1909

Career position - Member of the Perth and Fremantle sewerage report for the Western Australian Government

1909

Career position - Member of the special board of inquiry into Melbourne water supply

1909 - 1912

Career position - Private practice as a Consulting Engineer in Melbourne

1912 - 1913

Career position - Engineer at the firm Fowler & Tuxen

1913 - 1918

Career position - Engineer-in-Chief and Head of the Public Works Department in Tasmania

Related entries

Published resources

Book Sections

• O'Neill, Sally, 'Fowler, Thomas Walker (1859-1928), civil engineer' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 8: 1891 - 1939 Cl-Gib, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1981), p. 565. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A080581b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

• 'Memoirs', Transactions of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 9 (1928), 262-282, https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.265086577514298. Details
• Cresswell, George R., 'T. W. Fowler's measurements of sea temperature and density from merchant ships off southern Australia in 1896', Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 104 (2021), 33-40. Details
• Fowler, T. W., 'A contribution to Australian oceanography', Report of the seventh meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 7 (1898), 687-701, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15378687. Details
• Fowler, Thomas Walker, 'Determination of Latitude by observations in the Prime Vertical', Transactions and Proceedings of the Victorian Institute of Surveyors, 4 (1891-1899), 47-56. Details
• Fowler, Thomas Walker, 'Notes on the Dookie and Katamatite Tramway', Transactions and Proceedings of the Victorian Institute of Surveyors, 3 (1885-1891), 148-161. Details
• Fowler, Thomas Walker, 'Observed variations in the dip of the horizon (Abstract)', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, New Series, 8 (1896), 180-182, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8660155#page/202/. Details
• Fowler, Thomas Walker, 'Observations with aneroid and mercurial barometers and boiling point thermometers', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, New Series, 8 (1896), 169-179, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8660142#page/189/. Details
• Fowler, Thomas Walker, 'The navigation problem at the Murray mouth (Paper & Discussion)', Proceedings of the Victorian Institute of Engineers, VIII (1908), 34-46, 48-52, 54-59, 81-85. http://hdl.handle.net/11343/24389. Details
• Fowler, Thomas Walker, 'Some notes on water mains (Paper & Discussion)', Proceedings of the Victorian Institute of Engineers, X (1910), 52-57, 65-72. http://hdl.handle.net/11343/24443. Details

Parliamentary papers

• Interstate Royal Commission on the River Murray, Interstate Royal Commission on the River Murray, representing the states of New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia : Report of the Commissioners, with minutes of evidence, appendices and plans (Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide: 1902), 60, 359 pp. https://pov.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_GB/parl_paper/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ILS$002f0$002fSD_ILS:34095/one. Gave evidence. Minutes of Evidence pp.188. Details
• Langtree, C. W., Victorian Water Supply - Second annual general report (Melbourne: Government Printer, 1888), 42 pp, https://pov.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_GB/parl_paper/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ILS$002f0$002fSD_ILS:39920/one. p.14 Appendix 14 - Qualified Engineers of Water Supply, under Irrigation Act 1886. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q21538898. Details
• Institution of Civil Engineers, London, 'Application: 6647, 1887', Civil Engineer Membership Forms, 1818-1930, ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/3585/. Details
• 'Fowler, Thomas Walker (1859-1928)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1467738. Details

Resource Sections

• 'Fowler, Thomas Walker', in Physics in Australia to 1945, R.W. Home, with the assistance of Paula J. Needham, Australian Science Archives Project, June 1995, http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/physics/P001053p.htm. Details