Person

Thwaites, William (1853 - 1907)

Born
13 August 1853
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Died
19 November 1907
San Remo, Victoria, Australia
Occupation
Civil engineer and Public servant

Summary

William Thwaites MInstCE, was engineer-in-chief from 1891 to 1907 of the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works, which was established to build the sewerage system for Melbourne.

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Details

Chronology

1873
Education - Certificate of Engineering (CE), University of Melbourne
1874
Education - Bachelor of Arts (BA), University of Melbourne
1874 - 1876
Career position - Pupil-draftsman with the Victorian Department of Railways
1876
Education - Master of Art (MA), University of Melbourne
1876 - 1879
Career position - Assistant Draftsman with the South Australian Department of Railways
1879
Career position - Victorian Department of Public Works
1883 - 1890
Career position - Engineer of roads, bridges and reclamation works with the Victorian Department of Public Works
6 Dec 1887
Career event - Associate Member (AssocMInstCE), Institution of Civil Engineers
5 Nov 1889
Career event - Member (MInstCE), Institution of Civil Engineers
1890 - 1891
Career position - Engineer-in-charge, Water Supply Branch, Victorian Department of Public Works
1891 - 1907
Career position - Engineer-in-Chief at the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works
1901
Education - Master of Civil Engineering (MCE), University of Melbourne
1902
Career event - Gave evidence to the "Interstate Royal Commission on the River Murray"
1907
Career position - President, Section H (Engineering and Architecture), Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science

Related Corporate Bodies

Related People

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.31. Details
  • La Nauze, Robert D., Engineer to Marvellous Melbourne: the Life and Times of William Thwaites (North Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2011), 217 pp. Details

Book Sections

  • Dingle, Tony, 'Thwaites, William (1853-1907), civil engineer and public servant' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 12: 1891 - 1939 Smy-Z, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1990), pp. 227-228. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A120252b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

  • La Nauze, Robert, 'Who Designed Melbourne's Sewerage System?', Victorian Historical Journal, 182 (2011), 175-93. Details

Newspaper Articles

Parliamentary papers

Resources

Resource Sections

  • Rasmussen, Carolyn, 'From the Significant to the Indispensible: The Working Lives of Seventeen Figures in the History of the Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works', in Australian dictionary of biography, Australian National University, 2019, http://adb.anu.edu.au/essay/20. Details

See also

  • Engineers Australia ed., Wonders never cease: 100 Australian engineering achievements (Barton, Australian Capital Territory: Institution of Engineers, Australia, 2019), 236 pp. p.3. Details
  • Engineers Australia ed., Anything is possible: 100 Australian engineering leaders (Barton, A.C.T.: Institution of Engineers Australia, 2019), 136 pp. 'Cleaning up a City - William Thwaites' p.14. 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.28. Spotswood Pumping Station, Museum of Victoria, Spotswood, VIC. Details
  • Smith, James, ed., The Cyclopedia of Victoria: an historical and commercial review: descriptive and biographical, facts, figures and illustrations: an epitome of progress (Melbourne: Cyclopedia Co, 1903-1905), vol.1: 618 pp, vol.2: 563 pp, vol.3: 643 pp. 'William Thwaites' Vol.1 pp.319-320. Details

Rosanne Walker

Created: 30 June 1997, Last modified: 8 February 2023

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