Ritchie, Edgar Gowar (1871 - 1956)

Summary

Edgar Ritchie, Engineer of Water Supply, Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works for 29 years, was responsible for major engineering works associated with the construction and maintenance of the Melbourne metropolitan water supply. This included the construction of the Maroondah, O'Shannassy and Silvan dams and their associated aqueducts, as well as twelve service reservoirs in the metropolitan area, together with their distribution mains. He also planned for future reservoirs, including the Upper Yarra dam.

Details

Chronology

1891 - 1896

Career position - Engineering Draughtsman, Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works

1896 - 1907

Career position - Assistant to the Assistant Engineer of Water Supply, Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works

5 Dec 1899

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

1908 - 1936

Career position - Engineer of Water Supply, Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works

9 Dec 1913

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

1919

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

1927 - 1928

Career position - Vice-chairman, Melbourne Division, Institution of Engineers, Australia

1929

Career position - Chairman, Melbourne Division, Institution of Engineers, Australia

1929 - 1931

Career position - Councillor, Institution of Engineers, Australia

1935

Award - Kernot Memorial Medal, for distinguished engineering achievement in Australia. Faculty of Engineering, University of Melbourne

1943

Award - Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal - Career Achievement Award in Engineering, Institution of Engineers Australia

Related entries

Published resources

Book Sections

• Morgan, Marjorie, 'Ritchie, Edgar Gowar (1871-1956), Public Servant and Engineer' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 11: 1891 - 1939 Nes-Smi, Geoffrey Serle, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1988), p. 396. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110405b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

• East, L. R. (editor), 'One hundred years of engineering in Victoria.', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 6 (10) (1934), 353-420. 'Melbourne's Water Supply Undertakings' pp.379-382. Details
• Institution of Engineers Australia, '97th Council Meeting [ 22nd November 1943, Melbourne]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 15 (1943), 238. 1943 Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal to be made to Mr. E. G. Ritchie. Details
• Institution of Engineers Australia, 'Twenty-fourth Annual Report [1943]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 15 (1944), 1-23. 'Prizes - Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal (1943 Award), to Mr E G Ritchie, MIEAust, Melbourne Division', p.3. Details
• Ritchie, E. G., 'The Water Supply of Melbourne', Commonwealth Engineer, 1 (5) (1913), 168-174. Details
• Ritchie, Edgar Gowar, 'Some notes descriptive of the O'Shannassy Scheme to supplement the Melbourne Water Supply (Paper & Discussion)', Proceedings of the Victorian Institute of Engineers vol. XIV (1914), 105-124, 155-160. http://hdl.handle.net/11343/24570. Details
• Ritchie, Edgar Gower, 'High Earthen Dams with Particular Relationship to Silvan Dam for Melbourne Water Supply', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 2 (1930), 455. Details
• Ritchie, Edgar Gower, 'Developments of recent years in connection with the supply of water to large cities. Chairman's Address', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 2 (1930), 216. Details
• Ritchie, Edgar Gower, 'High Earthen Dams with Particular Relationship to Silvan Dam for Melbourne Water Supply [Discussion]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 3 (1931), 68,133, 245, 324. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q5337441. Details
• 'Service-reservoirs of the Melbourne Water-Supply System', Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Civil Engineers, https://doi.org/10.1680/imotp.1922.14835. Details
• 'Obituary. Edgar Gower Ritchie, 1871-1956.', Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Civil Engineers, https://doi.org/10.1680/iicep.1957.2529. Details
• 'Correspondence. The influence of electric welding in the design and fabrication of plant and structures.', Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Civil Engineers, https://doi.org/10.1680/imotp.1926.14171. Details
• 'Correspondence. The subsidence of a rockfill dam and the remedial measures employed at Eildon reservoir, Australia', Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Civil Engineers, https://doi.org/10.1680/ijoti.1938.14599. Details
• 'Correspondence on Melbourne, Murree and Belfast water-supplies.', Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Civil Engineers, https://doi.org/10.1680/imotp.1935.15287. Details
• Institution of Civil Engineers, London, 'Application: 10252, 1899', Civil Engineer Membership Forms, 1818-1930, ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/3585/. Details
• 'Ritchie, Edgar Gowar (1871-19561231)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1466763. Details

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