O'Connor, Charles Yelverton (1843 - 1902)

Summary

Charles O'Connor was engineer-in-chief for Western Australia 1891-1902. He was responsible for the construction of the harbour at Fremantle, he made striking improvements in the building and operation of the government railways and was the driving force behind the Coolgardie Water Supply Scheme. The latter project resulted in O'Connor being submitted to almost constant uninformed criticism which lead to him taking his own life. Despite this, the scheme was completed in late 1902 and proved to be immensely successful. Before his Western Australian appointment, O'Connor worked in New Zealand on various surveying and engineering projects 1865-1891.

Details

Chronology

1874 - 1883

Career position - District Engineer, Canterbury province, New Zealand

6 Apr 1880

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

1883 - 1890

Career position - Under-Secretary for Public Works, New Zealand (Canterbury province?)

1890 - 1891

Career position - Marine Engineer, Colony of New Zealand

1891 - 1902

Career position - Engineer-in-chief, Western Australia

1897

Award - Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG)

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• Ayris, Cyril, C. Y. O'Connor: a Brief Biography (West Perth: Cyril Ayris Freelance, 2004), 56 pp. Details
• Evans, A. G., C. Y. O'Connor: his life and legacy (Crawley, W.A.: University of Western Australia Press, 2001), 287 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Tauman, Merab Harris, 'O'Connor, Charles Yelverton (1843-1902), Engineer' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 11: 1891 - 1939 Nes-Smi, Geoffrey Serle, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1988), pp. 51-54. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110059b.htm. Details

Conference Papers

• Grant, R. D.; Moulds, A., 'C.Y. O'Connor - Public Works Engineer 1843-1902', 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. 7-23., https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.625023795098226. Details

Edited Books

• Battye, J.S. ed., The Cyclopedia of Western Australia : an historical and commercial review, descriptive and biographical facts figures and illustrations : an epitome of progress [Volume 1], vol. 1 (Perth: Cyclopedia Co, 1912), 776 pp, https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-250451699. 'Charles Yelverton O'Connor, CMG' Vol1,p.495. Details

Journal Articles

• Hartley, Richard G., 'Lessons from Western Australia's goldfields water supply scheme', Proceedings of the ICE: Engineering History and Heritage, 163 (3), 179-187, https://doi.org/10.1680/ehah.2010.163.3.179. Details
• Lowe, Godfrey, 'The Golden Pipeline', Australian Journal of Multi-disciplinary Engineering, 2 (1) (2004), 45-53, https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.479500289571684. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q1065704. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/15696453. Details
• Institution of Civil Engineers, London, 'Application: 4586, 1880', Civil Engineer Membership Forms, 1818-1930, ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/3585/. Details
• 'O'Connor, Charles Yelverton (18430111-19020310)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-464056. Details

See also

• Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Technology in Australia 1788-1988, Online edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, 3 May 2000, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/index_o.html. Details
• Dolan, D, 'The Engineer as Landscaper and Cultural Warrior', Australian Journal of Multi-disciplinary Engineering, 8 (1) (2010), 1-9, https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.573244342372543. Details
• Engineers Australia ed., Anything is possible: 100 Australian engineering leaders (Barton, A.C.T.: Institution of Engineers Australia, 2019), 136 pp. 'Creating a Landline - Charles Yelverton O'Connor' p.13. Details
• Engineers Australia ed., Wonders never cease: 100 Australian engineering achievements (Barton, Australian Capital Territory: Institution of Engineers, Australia, 2019), 236 pp. pp.4,8-9,62,94. Details
• Institution of Engineers Australia. Sydney Division. Engineering Heritage Committee, The Historic Engineering Plaques of Australia (Milsons Point, New South Wales: The Institution of Engineers, Australia, 1994), 38 pp. p.8. Fremantle Harbour, Port of Femantle, W.A. Details
• Institution of Engineers Australia. Sydney Division. Engineering Heritage Committee, The Historic Engineering Plaques of Australia (Milsons Point, New South Wales: The Institution of Engineers, Australia, 1994), 38 pp. p.5. Coolgardie Goldfields Water Supply Scheme, Mundaring Weir; Cunderin; Kalgoorlie, W.A. Details
• Lawson, J. D., 'Watering Australia's Inland', in Conference on Hydraulics in Civil Engineering 1987: Preprints of Papers. (Barton, Australian Capital Territory: Institution of Engineers, Australia, 1987), pp. 7-10., https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.525225601039307. Details
• Lowe, Godfrey, 'The Golden Pipeline', in Eleventh National Conference on Engineering Heritage: Federation Engineering a Nation; Proceedings (Barton, Australian Capital Territory: Institution of Engineers, Australia, 2001), pp. 93-104., https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.520548725253498. Details
• Marks, A. J., 'Can We Afford to Knock Down Our Past', in From Sailing Ships to Microchips: Inaugural Industrial Heritage Conference (West Perth, Western Australia: Institution of Engineers, Western Australian Division, 1994), pp. 65-66., https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.212670454964126. Details
• Serle, Percival, Dictionary of Australian biography (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949). Details