Gordon, George (1829 - 1907)

Summary

George Gordon MInstCE FRGS was Chief Engineer of Water Supply in Victoria 1870-1878. His investigations and reports into Irrigation in Victoria in 1880, led to the Water Conservation Act 1881, and later legislation, which enabled the significant and wide ranging irrigation systems to be established in Victoria.

Details

Chronology

3 Dec 1867

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

1872

Life event - Emigrated to Victoria, Australia.

1872 - 1875

Career position - Chief engineer, Board of Lands and Works, Victoria

1875 - 1878

Career position - Chief engineer, Water Supply, Department of Mines, Victoria

8 Jan 1878

Career event - Victorian public servants summarily dismissed on 'Black Wednesday'

1883 -

Career event - Foundation Member, Victorian Engineers Association

1888 -

Career event - Original [founding] member, Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science

1888<

Career event - Fellow, Royal Geographical Society, London (FRGS)

Related entries

Archival resources

State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection

• George Gordon - Records, 1853 - 1906; State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection. Details

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. p.14. Details
• Harper, Brian C. S., Engineering challenges in nineteenth century Victoria (Port Melbourne: the author, 2016), 256 pp. Book section: 'George Gordon and the Design of the Lower Stony Creek Dam, Geelong'. Details

Book Sections

• Garden, Donald S., 'Gordon, George (1829-1907)' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 4: 1851 - 1890 D-J, Douglas Pike, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1972), p. 270. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A040304b.htm. Details

Edited Books

• Bailey, M. R.; Chrimes, M. M.; Cox, R. C.; Cross-Rudkin, P. S. M.; Hurst, B. L.; McWilliam, R. C.; Rennison, R. W.; Ruddock, E. C.; Sutherland, R. J. M.; Swailes, T. ed., Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 2: 1830-1890 (London, United Kingdom: Thomas Telford Publishing, 2008), 907 pp. 'Gordon, George', pp.340-341. Details

Journal Articles

• Gordon, G., 'The contract system of carrying out works (Paper & Discussion)', Various Papers and Discussions of the Victorian Institute of Engineers vol. II 1892-1899 (1900). http://hdl.handle.net/11343/24257. Details
• Gordon, George, 'American and Australian irrigation (Paper & Discussion)', Transactions and Proceedings of the Victorian Engineers Association vol. I 1883-1885 (1885), 107-153. http://hdl.handle.net/11343/24229. Details
• Gordon, Mr, 'Notes on some irrigation trusts (Paper & Discussion)', Various Papers and Discussions of the Victorian Institute of Engineers vol. II 1892-1899 (1900). http://hdl.handle.net/11343/24253. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q16031441. Details
• Institution of Civil Engineers, London, 'Application: 2293, 1867', Civil Engineer Membership Forms, 1818-1930, ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/3585/. Details
• 'Gordon, George', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1467719. Details

See also

• Chrimes, Mike, 'Lost in space?: Biography across the hemispheres', in 16th Engineering Heritage Australia Conference: Conserving Our Heritage - Make a Difference! (Barton, Australian Capital Territory: Engineers Australia, 2011), pp. 389-403., https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.895272297972218. Details
• Ford, R. J., 'Nineteenth Century Engineering for the Ballarat Water Supply', in First Australasian Conference on Engineering Heritage 1994: Old Ways in a New Land; Preprints of Papers (Barton, Australian Capital Territory: Institution of Engineers, Australia, 1994), pp. 145-149., https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.625955443661136. Details