Person

de Burgh, Ernest Macartney (1863 - 1929)

Born
18 January 1863
Sandymount, Dublin, Ireland
Died
4 April 1929
Vaucluse, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation
Civil engineer

Summary

Ernest de Burgh was chief engineer for harbours and water-supply in New South Wales 1909-1927. During this time he was responsible for the design and construction of the Cordeaux, Avon and Nepean dams (Sydney water-supply); the Chichester scheme for Newcastle; and the Umberumberka scheme for Broken Hill and prepared the original plans for Canberra's water-supply. Before that, he designed and supervised the construction of many large timber and metal truss bridges, including what became know as the 'de Burgh Truss'.

Details

Associated Engineering Works:

1885-1886. Sydney sewerage:
* Cooks River Syphon.

1886-1903. Bridges:
* Taemas road bridge, Murrumbidgee river;
* Snowy river road bridge;
* Wilcannia Bridge, Murray river;
* Wentworth Bridge, Murray river;
* Albury Bridge, Murray river;
* Corowa Bridge, Murray river.
* Mulwala Bridge, Murrumbidgee river;
* Koondrook Bridge, Murray river;
* Swan Hill Bridge, Murray river;
* Wagga Wagga Bridge, Murrumbidgee river;
* Darlington Point Bridge, Murrumbidgee river;
* Singleton Bridge, Hunter river;
* Morpeth Bridge, Hunter river;
* Kempsey Bridge, Macleay river;
* Murwillumbah Bridge, Tweed river;
* de Burgh Bridge, Lane Cove river.

1903-1909. Water Supply Dams (assistant to L.A.B. Wade):
* Cataract Dam construction;
* Burrinjuck Dam;
* Murrumbidgee irrigation scheme, preparatory design.

1909-1927. Harbours, Water Supply and Sewerage:
* Sydney water supply scheme;
* Cordeaux Dam, sydney water supply;
* Avon Dam;
* Nepean Dam;
* Newcastle, Chichester water supply scheme;
* Broken Hill, Umberumberka water supply scheme;
* Port Kembla harbour works.

* 1921-1925. Canberra water supply, design.

Chronology

1881
Education - First Royal Scholarship, Royal College of Science, Ireland
1883
Education - Diploma of Engineering, Science and Arts Department, Royal College of Science, Ireland
1885
Life event - Emigrated to New South Wales, Australia
1885 - 1886
Career position - Engineer, Public Works Department, New South Wales, under W. C. Bennett
1886 - 1903
Career position - Assistant engineer, Public Works Department, New South Wales
15 May 1888
Career event - Associate Member (AssocMInstCE), Institution of Civil Engineers, London
20 Nov 1894
Career event - Member (MInstCE), Institution of Civil Engineers, London
1903 - 1909
Career position - Principal Assistant engineer, Rivers and Water Supply, Public Works Department, New South Wales, under L. A. B. Wade.
1904
Career event - Visited Europe to study dam construction and water supply
1909 - 1927
Career position - Chief Engineer, Harbours, Water Supply and Sewerage, Public Works Department, New South Wales
1919
Career event - Foundation Associate Member (AMIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia
1920
Career event - Member (MIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia
1921 - 1925
Career position - Member, Capital Advisory Committee. Planned Canberra's water supply.
1927
Life event - Retired

Related People

Published resources

Book Sections

  • Antill, J. M., 'De Burgh, Ernest Macartney (1863-1929), civil engineer' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 8: 1891 - 1939 Cl-Gib, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1981), p. 266. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A080285b.htm. Details

Edited Books

  • Chrimes, M. M.; Cox, R. C.; Cross-Rudkin, P. S. M.; Elton, J. M. H.; Hurst, B. L.; McWilliam, R. C.; Rennison, R. W.; Sutherland, R. J. M.; Thomas, R. E. ed., Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 3: 1890-1920 (London, United Kingdom: Thomas Telford Publishing, 2014), 775 pp. 'de Burgh, Ernest Macartney', pp.174-5. Details
  • Coltheart, Lenore; and Nicholas, Amie eds, The timber truss bridge book ( Auburn, N.S.W.: Transport for NSW, 2019), 210 pp, http://heritagensw.intersearch.com.au/heritagenswjspui/handle/1/10518. Details

Journal Articles

  • 'E. M. De Burgh : The man behind the name', Main Roads - Journal of the Department of Main Roads, New South Wales, 41 (4) (1976), 127, http://opengov.nsw.gov.au/publications/16338. Details
  • Anon, 'Tathra Wharf', Newsletter of Engineering Heritage Australia, 21 (December 2008) (2008), 1. Details
  • de Burgh, E. M., 'Belt conveyor coal loading plant at Port Kembla, New South Wales (Illustrated)', Commonwealth Engineer, 4 (5) (1916), 124-131. Details

Resources

See also

  • 'Flashback - 75 years ago : First De Burghs bridge opened', Main Roads - Journal of the Department of Main Roads, New South Wales, 41 (4) (1976), 125-127, http://opengov.nsw.gov.au/publications/16338. 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_d.html. Details
  • Engineers Australia ed., Wonders never cease: 100 Australian engineering achievements (Barton, Australian Capital Territory: Institution of Engineers, Australia, 2019), 236 pp. p.75. Details
  • Engineers Australia ed., Anything is possible: 100 Australian engineering leaders (Barton, A.C.T.: Institution of Engineers Australia, 2019), 136 pp. 'Bridging the Gap - Ernest Macartney de Burgh' p.15. Details
  • Fraser, Don, 'Chapter 5: Bridges' in Sydney: from settlement to city: an engineering history of Sydney, Don Fraser, ed. (Crows Nest, New South Wales: Engineers Australia, 1989), pp. 97-122. Details
  • Serle, Percival, Dictionary of Australian biography (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949). Details
  • Spooner, E. S. (Hon.), 'History and Development of Port Kembla', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 10 (1938), 279-293. [de Burgh designed Port Kembla harbour improvements and coal loading plant structure 1914.]. Details

Rosanne Walker; Ken McInnes

EOAS ID: biogs/P003483b.htm

Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
What do we mean by this?

Published by Swinburne University of Technology.
This Edition: 2024 November (Ballambar - Gariwerd calendar - early summer - season of butterflies)
Reference: http://www.bom.gov.au/iwk/calendars/gariwerd.shtml#ballambar
For earlier editions see the Internet Archive at: https://web.archive.org/web/*/www.eoas.info

The Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation uses the Online Heritage Resource Manager (OHRM), a relational data curation and web publication system developed by the eScholarship Research Centre and its predecessors at the University of Melbourne 1999-2020. The OHRM has been maintained by Gavan McCarthy since 2020.

Cite this page: https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P003483b.htm

"... the rengitj, as a visible mark or imprint on the land, is characterised as a place of origin, the repository of all names, as well as a kind of mapped visual expression of the connection between people and places which is to be carried out in the temporal sequence of the journey." Fanca Tamisari (1998) 'Body, Vision and Movement: In the footprints of the ancestors'. Oceania 68(4) p260