Chapman, Wilfrid Dinsey (1891 - 1955)

Summary

Wilfrid Chapman made his name as a pioneer in the use of electric arc welding for structural purposes. In 1931 Chapman joined E.M.F. Electric Co. Pty. Ltd. as engineer in charge of research and development. He made significant advances in the theory and practice of electric welding, and did much to spread knowledge of the new technology among practising engineers. He moved to Australian Paper Manufacturers Ltd. in 1936, as engineer for development and research into the use of eucalypts for making pulp, at the Maryvale pulp-mill. He travelled extensively in Gippsland, which deepened his interest in the region's forests.

Details

In 1947, Eucalyptus chapmania, also known as Bogong Snow Gum, was named for him. Wilfrid Chapman was the first to discover the tree while being part-time commissioner of the Victorian State Electricity Commission and involved in the Hydro Scheme planning. One tree was marked with a commemorative plaque and was a landmark beside the road between Mount Beauty and Falls Creek. Despite being severely burnt in the 2003 fires, it resprouted but died a few years later. A sample of the Bogong Snow Gum was planted in the Maranoa Gardens in Balwyn, Victoria and is identified by a plaque. His father Frederick Chapman had contributed in setting up the Maranoa Gardens.

He was actively associated with the University of Melbourne, Australian National Research Council and ANZAAS.

From 1959 the annual oration of the Victorian division, Institution of Engineers Australia, was named in his honour as the "W.D. Chapman Oration".

He is also recognised and memorialised by the silver "Dr. Wilfred Chapman Medal" awarded by the Australian Welding Institute.

Some Associated Engineering Works:

* 1925 Strengthening Echuca Bridge, Victoria /NSW;
* 1925 Strengthening Princes Bridge, Melbourne;
* 1929 Railway viaducts at Glenroy and Albion, Victoria;
* 1929 Spencer Street Bridge, Melbourne;
* 1930 Reconstruction Hawthorn Bridge, Victoria;

Chronology

1902

Life event - Migrated with his parents to Melbourne

1908 - 1915

Career position - Junior engineer, later assistant engineer, Railway Construction Branch, Board of Land and Works

1915 - 1919

Military service - First World War. Australian Imperial Forces, Army Medical Corps, and later Lieutenant, Australian Machine Gun Corps

1919

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

1919 - 1931

Career position - Assistant engineer / Engineer, Railways Construction Branch, Board of Land and Works

1923

Education - Bachelor of Civil Engineering (BCE), University of Melbourne [Completion delayed by Military service]

1925

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

1925 - 1926

Career position - Part time lecturer, Civil engineering, University of Melbourne

1930

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

1931

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

1931 - 1936

Career position - Engineer in charge of research and development, E.M.F. Electric Co. Pty. Ltd.

1932

Career event - Chairman, Melbourne division, Institution of Engineers Australia

1932

Career event - Elected Member (Engineering), Australian National Research Council

1933

Lecture - "Welding Codes" presented to Newcastle division, Institution of Engineers Australia

1935

Career event - Scientific Research Grant, Welding of Joints [With David Victor Isaacs]

1935 - 1939

Career position - Member of the Faculty of Engineering, University of Melbourne

1936 - 1938

Career position - Engineer, Australian Paper Manufacturers Ltd.

1936 - 1940

Career position - Honorary Secretary, Victorian Committee of Management, Institution of Civil Engineers, London

1937

Career event - Fellow, Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS)

1939

Career position - Engineer, Malcolm Moore Ltd.

1939 - 1945

Military service - Second World War. Lieutenant Colonel, Army Field Workshop, Middle East. Later Colonel / temporary Brigadier, Chief Ordnance Mechanical Engineer, H.Q., A.I.F. (M.E.) and Chief Superintendent of Design, M.G.O. Branch

1941

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

1943 - 1944

Career position - Chairman, Victorian Committee of Management, Institution of Civil Engineers, London

1944 - 1945

Career event - President, Institution of Engineers Australia

1944 - 1955

Career position - Part-time Commissioner, State Electricity Commission of Victoria

1945

Military service - Honorary Brigadier, Reserve of Officers

1945 - c. 1947

Career position - Director of Civil Engineering, Railway Standardization Division, Commonwealth Department of Transport

1946

Career position - Vice-chairman, Standards Association of Australia

1947

Career event - Representative of Institution of Engineers Australia, on the Standards Association of Australia

1947

Taxonomy event - Eucalyptus chapmaniana Cameron was named in honour of Chapman, who identified the type

1949

Award - Doctor of Engineering (honoris causa) (HonDEng), University of Western Australia

1950

Career event - Representative of Institution of Engineers Australia, Conference of Engineering Institutions of the British Commonwealth in South Africa

Related entries

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

• McCarthy, Gavan; Smith, Ailie; Moje, Christine; Rigby, Rebecca, The Study of Australian Eucalypts, eScholarship Research Centre, 2013, http://www.eoas.info/eucalypts/index.html. Details

Book Sections

• McNicoll, Ronald, 'Chapman, Wilfrid Dinsey (1891-1955), engineer' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 13: 1940 - 1980 A-De, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1993), pp. 404-405. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A130451b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

• 'Obituary [Wilfred Dinsey Chapman]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 27 (1955), 98. Details
• Chapman, W. D., 'Strengthening of Echuca Bridge by Electric Welding', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 1 (1929), 9- Discussion p.57. Details
• Chapman, W. D., 'Spencer Street Bridge, I - Subaqueous Foundation Work', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 1 (1929), 211- Discussion p.409. Details
• Chapman, W. D., 'Railway Viaducts on the Albion-Broadmeadows Line', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 2 (1930), 189-197. Details
• Chapman, W. D., 'Economical Overhead Bridges', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 2 (1930), 442-. Details
• Chapman, W. D., 'Reconstruction of Hawthorn Bridge', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 3 (1931), 81-. Details
• Chapman, W. D., 'The Future of the Engineering Profession', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 6 (1934), 457-. Details
• Chapman, W. D., 'Presidential address', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 17 (1945), 37-. Details
• Chapman, W. D., 'Transport in Australia', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 21 (1949), 41-. Details
• Chapman, W. D., 'Prevention of Deterioration of Stores and Equipment in Tropical Areas', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 22 (1950), 269-. Details
• Chapman, W. D., 'The Standardisation of Railway Gauges in Australia', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 24 (1952), 151-. Details
• Chapman, W. D., 'Economic Considerations relating to Priority of Public Works', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 26 (1954), 293-. Details
• Institution of Engineers Australia, 'Twenty-third Annual Report [1942]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 15 (1943), 35-51. 'Engineering Standardisation - The Institution [of Engineers Australia] has been represented on the Council of the Standards Association during 1942 by: Sir Henry Barraclough, Mr R J Boyd, Mr H G Carter, Colonel W D Chapman, Mr A J Gibson and Mr T H Upton', p.38. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q8001933. Details
• 'Obituary. Brigadier Wilfrid Dinsey Chapman, D.Eng., M.C.E. 1892-1955.', Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Civil Engineers, https://doi.org/10.1680/iicep.1956.11464. Details
• 'Chapman, Wilfrid Dinsey (1891-1955)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1462939. Details

See also

• 'Eucalyptus chapmaniana', in Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation Inc., 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus_chapmaniana#Taxonomy. Details
• 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_c.html. Details
• Hall, Norman, Botanists of the Eucalypts: short biographies of people who have named eucalypts, whose names have been given to species or who have collected type material (Melbourne: CSIRO, 1978), 101 pp. Details