Person
Malcomson, Thomas James (1909 - 1994)
- Born
- 10 May 1909
Collingwood, Victoria, Australia - Died
- 7 November 1994
Preston, Victoria, Australia - Occupation
- Engineer
Summary
Thomas Malcomson was a member of the Ministry of Munitions for over thirty years. In 1940 he joined the Engineering Division and was Project Manager in the Ordnance Production Directorate for four years during the war. In this role Malcomson helped establish an Optical Munitions Industry which produced previously unavailable precision optical components and assemblies for weapons for use by the British and Australian troops. In 1946 he left the Ministry for the private industry but returned eighteen months later as an Engineer (Grade 1) at the Ordnance Factory in Maribyrnong. In 1953 Malcomson was promoted to Senior Engineer and at some time during the next eight years spent three-and-a-half months as Acting Engineer-in-Charge at the Sydney office of the Ordnance Section. However, in 1961 due to a major restructure at both the Bendigo and Maribyrnong Ordnance Factories Maclomson was demoted to Technical Officer because of a technicality and his lack of formal qualifications. Despite this, he continued with the Ministry and even spent the first few months training his replacement. In 1967 the Director of the Ordnance Supply Branch made a formal request to have Malcomson re-instated as an Engineer, but the outcome of this request is unknown. Malcomson retired in 1972.
Details
Chronology
- 1933 - 1937
- Career position - Fitter at Johns & Waygood Ltd., South Melbourne
- 1937 - 1938
- Career position - Fitter(?) at Holeproof Ltd., Brunswick
- 1938 - 1939
- Career position - Moved to New Zealand for eight months and worked as a Fitter at Reid New Zealand Rubber Mills Ltd (three months)
- April 1938 - August 1938
- Career position - Fitter at Filtration and Water Softening Pty. Ltd. (five months)
- 1940 - 1941
- Career position - Engineer in the Tool and Jig Section of the Engineering Division at the Government Ordnance Factories
- 1941 - 1942
- Career position - Assistant Project Supervisor of Optical Munitions at the Production Division of the Government Ordnance Factories
- c. 1942
- Career position - Attended the Optical Munitions Panel Meeting, University of Sydney
- 1942 - 1943
- Career position - Project Supervisor (Grade 1) of Optical Munitions at the Government Ordnance Factories
- 1943
- Career position - Project Supervisor (Grade 2) of Optical Munitions at the Government Ordnance Factories (five months)
- 1943 - 1946
- Career position - Senior Project Supervisor of Optical Munitions at the Government Ordnance Factories
- August 1943 - 14 September 1946
- Career position - Member of the Scientific Instruments and Optical Panel
- 1 September 1944 - 14 September 1946
- Career position - Secretary, Optical Industry Advisory Panel (Secondary Industries Commission)
- 28 February 1945
- Notes on the Australian Optical and Fine Instrument Industry report written
- 1946 - 1947
- Career position - Works Manager at the F. & R. Tough works in Perth (18 months)
- 1948 - 1951
- Career position - Engineer (Grade 1) at the Ordinance Factory in Maribyrnong, Victoria
- 1951 - 1952
- Career position - Engineer (Grade 3) at the Ordnance Section Central Office (five months)
- 1952 - 1961
- Career position - Senior Engineer with the Ordnance Section Central Office
- 1961 - c. 1967
- Career position - Technical Officer then Senior Technical Officer at the Mechanical sub-section
- 1972
- Career position - Retired from the Ministry on the Commonwealth Medical Officer's recommendation
Archival resources
National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection
Published resources
Books
- Mellor, D. P., The Role of Science and Industry, Australia in the War of 1939-1945, Vol. 5 of Series 4 (Civil) (Canberra: Australian War Memorial, 1958). Details
Resources
- 'Malcomson, Thomas James (1909-1994)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1475663. Details
Annette Alafaci
Created: 5 October 2005, Last modified: 30 April 2012