Person

Duncan, George Smith (1852 - 1930)

Born
11 July 1852
Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand
Died
4 September 1930
Black Rock, Victoria, Australia
Occupation
Engineer

Summary

George Duncan was an engineer who was responsible for the construction of Melbourne's cable tram network. He studied engineering at the Universities of Edinburgh and Otago, and was for a short time Engineer for the District of Otago, New Zealand. In 1875 he co-founded the partnership Reid and Duncan, which operated as surveyors, civil engineers, land agents, and share and money brokers. Between 1879 and 1883 the firm was responsible for building the Dunedin cable tramway system. As Engineer successively to the Melbourne Tramway and Omnibus Company and the Melbourne Tramway Trust, he was responsible for the design and construction of 73 km of double tracks along 16 routes between the passing of the enabling Act in 1883 and 1891. This was the foundation of Melbourne's tram network and, at the time, the largest cable tram system in the world operated by a single company. His innovations included improved ways of laying tracks around corners and the invention of the emergency slot-brake. From 1894 Duncan was in private practice as a mining engineer, founding the firm of Duncan, Noyes and Co. He was involved in gold mining, introducing the cyanide process for extracting gold from ore and tailings. He attempted, with some success, extracting gold from seawater.

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Details

Chronology

1868 - 1873
Career position - Pupilage under J.T.Thomson and D.L. Simpson, Provincial Engineers, Otago, N.Z.
1871 - 1873
Career position - Assistant Engineer, Dunedin and Port Chalmers Railway, Otago, N.Z.
1873 - 1876
Career position - District Provincial Engineer, Otago, N.Z.
1876 - 1883
Career position - Consulting Civil Engineer, Otago, N.Z.
1884
Life event - Moved to Melbourne, Victoria
1884 - 1892
Career position - Consulting Engineer, Melbourne Tramway and Omnibus Company
1884 - 1892
Career position - Engineer, Melbourne Tramways Trust
6 Dec 1887
Career event - Member (MInstCE), Institution of Civil Engineers, London
1894 -
Career event - In private practice as mining engineer, Melbourne

Superior

Related Corporate Bodies

Related People

Published resources

Books

  • Keating, J. D., Mind the Curve! A History of the Cable Trams (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1970), 155 pp. Details

Book Sections

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. 'Duncan, George Smith', p.192. Details

Journal Articles

  • Pierce, Miles, 'Melbourne's cable trams - a major nineteenth century engineering achievement', International journal of the history of engineering and technology, 89 (1/2) (2020), 188-215. https://doi.org/10.1080/17581206.2019.16. Details

Resources

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_d.html. Details
  • Cranston, Jack, The Melbourne cable trams 1885-1940 (Melbourne, Vic.: Craftsman Publishing, 1988), 132 pp. Details
  • Engineers Australia ed., Wonders never cease: 100 Australian engineering achievements (Barton, Australian Capital Territory: Institution of Engineers, Australia, 2019), 236 pp. p.50. Details
  • McCann, Joy; Churchward, Matthew, Victorian steampower : an illustrated social history (Melbourne, Vic.: Victoria Press, 1994), 179 pp. pp.59-61. Details

Rosanne Walker; Ken McInnes

Created: 25 May 2001, Last modified: 31 August 2023

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