Goodman, William George Toop (1872 - 1961)

Summary

Sir William Goodman MInstCE MIEAust, was chief engineer (1907-1950) and manager (1908-1950) of the Municipal Tramways Trust (MTT) of South Australia where he oversaw the construction of South Australia's tramways network as well as an increase in the number of MTT buses in service. In 1929, Goodman saw the MTT take over and revamp the Adelaide-Glenelg steam railways. Earlier Goodman helped establish the electric tramways system in Dunedin, New Zealand. He sat on many Australian and New Zealand boards and royal commissions. He was knighted in 1932 for his services to Adelaide.

Details

After leaving school in the 1890s, William George Toop Goodman joined the London engineering firm of Poole & White. In 1884 he moved to Australia, and in 1895 he installed the first electrical plant at the Mount Lyell mines in Tasmania. Next Goodman went to New Zealand to work for Noyes Brothers on the construction, in Dunedin, of New Zealand's first electric tramway. He remained in Dunedin for some time and in 1903 became its chief electrical engineer.

In 1907 Adelaide established its Municipal Tramways Trust (MTT) and appointed Goodman as chief engineer, then general manager a year later. He remained in both posts until he retired in 1950. During this time, William Goodman established an electric tramways system in Adelaide (1907) and Port Adelaide (1917), a new power station, increased the number of MTT buses in operation, took over the management of the Adelaide-Glenelg railways (1929), and later replaced Port Adelaide's trams with double-deck trolley buses (1938).

During his forty-two years of service with the MTT, Goodman also held many external posts including: Federal government agent to research advances in munitions production and visited factories in Britain, Europe and the United States of America; member of the royal commissions into transport (Auckland) and South Australian railways; member of the joint Commonwealth-States inquiry into the Hume Reservoir; councilor of the University of Adelaide for over forty years; chair of the South Australian Housing Trust (1937-1944) which provided locals with low-rental accommodation and member of the Metropolitan Omnibus Board.

William Goodman's efforts were rewarded in 1932 when he was knighted, and in 1945 when he received the Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal, the career achievement award from the Institution of Engineers Australia.

Chronology

1881 - 1885

Education - St.George's College, Kent

1885 - 1888

Career position - Pupilage, Squire and Newton, Engineers, London

1887 - 1891

Education - Finsbury Technical College, City and Guilds of London Institute

1890

Career Position - Designer, Ward Electric Car Company

1890 - 1893

Career Position - Assistant engineer and designer, and later Head designer, Poole and White, Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, London

1894

Life event - Migrated to Australia

1894 - 1897

Career Position - Assistant engineer, Brush Electrical Engineering Co, Australia

1895

Career position - Installation of first electrical plant at Mount Lyell mine, Tasmania

1896

Career event - Member, Electrical Association of New South Wales

1897 - 1900

Career position - Assistant Electrical Engineer, Tramways Construction Branch, Department of Public Works in New South Wales

1900 - c. 1902

Career position - Supervising engineer, Noyes Brothers [Roslyn Electric Tramway, Dunedin, New Zealand]

1903 - 1907

Career position - Electrical engineer, Dunedin City council, New Zealand

1907

Life event - Moved to Adelaide, South Australia

1907 - 1950

Career position - Chief engineer, Municipal Tramways Trust in South Australia

5 Mar 1907

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

1908 - 1950

Career position - General Manager, Municipal Tramways Trust of South Australia

1913 - 1919

Career position - Foundation member, South Australian Institute of Engineers

1913 - 1954

Career position - Council member, University of Adelaide

1914

Career Position - President, South Australian Institute of Engineers

1917

Career position - Munitions factories inspections in Britain, Europe, and USA

1919

Career event - Foundation Associate Member (AMIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia

1927 -

Career position - Member of the Metropolitan Omnibus Board of South Australia

1927 - 1940

Career Position - Councillor, Institution of Engineers Australia

1928

Career position - Member of the Royal commission into transport in Auckland, New Zealand

1929

Career event - Member (MIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia

1929

Career position - Member of the Commonwealth-States Hume Reservoir enquiry

1932

Award - Knight Bachelor (Kt) - In recognition of public service in South Australia

1937 - 1944

Career position - Chair of the South Australian Housing Trust

1938

Career position - Chair of the Royal commission into South Australian railways

1945

Award - Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal - Career Achievement Award in Engineering. Institution of Engineers Australia

1950

Life event - Retired

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• 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. pp.72-3. Details

Book Sections

• Radcliffe, John C., 'Goodman, Sir William George Toop (1872-1961), engineer' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 9: 1891 - 1939 Gil-Las, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1983), pp. 48-49. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A090047b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

• 'The 105th Meeting of the Council. Held at Melbourne, November, 1945', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 17 (Oct-Dec) (1945), 231. 'Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal 1945' Award to William Goodman. Details
• 'Obituary : William George Toop Goodman', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 33 (1961), N16. Details
• Institution of Engineers Australia, 'Twenty-sixth Annual Report [1945]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 18 (1946), 2-16. 'Prizes - The Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal (1945 Award), to Sir William Goodman, MIEAust, Adelaide Division', p.5. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q23612961. Details
• 'Obituary. Sir William George Toop Goodman, 1869-1961.', Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Civil Engineers, https://doi.org/10.1680/iicep.1962.11070. Details
• Institution of Civil Engineers, London, 'Application: 12088, 1907', Civil Engineer Membership Forms, 1818-1930, ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/3585/. Details
• Institution of Electrical Engineers, London, 'Application: 164, 1899', Electrical Engineer Membership Forms, 1871-1901, ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/9058/. Details
• 'Goodman, William George Toop (1872-1961)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1475625. Details