Nimmo, William Hogarth Robertson (1885 - 1970)

Summary

William Nimmo, CBE MCE DEng MInstCE FASCE HonFIEAust, was an eminent civil engineer and hydraulic engineer, involved in many major projects in Queensland and Tasmania. From 1939 to 1949, he was the Coordinator-General of Public Works, Queensland, and from 1949 until he retired in 1955, was Commissioner, Irrigation and Water Supply, Queensland. In Tasmania between 1913 and 1923 he was involved in the investigation, design and construction of hydro-electric power, dams and bridges. Through his research into the relation of run-off to rainfall and losses from catchment areas in Australia, he became an authority in the field of hydrology.

Nimmo was also chairman of the Australian National Committee on Large Dams, 1948 - 1961 and participated in the International Commission on Large Dams. He took an active part in the affairs of the Institution of Engineers of Australia from its foundation in 1919, becoming Chairman of the Brisbane division 1937, a national councillor from 1938 - 1958 and President in 1949. He was also active within the Institution of Civil Engineers, London, and the American Society of Civil Engineers, contributing to papers and discussions, and was a member of the American Geophysical Union.

His distinguished achievements in engineering were recognised by being awarded the Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal in 1950; the Kernot Memorial Medal in 1956; an Honorary Membership of the Institution of Engineers Australia in 1960; and by being appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1962 for services to engineering and to Queensland.

Details

Notable papers include:
* 'Side Spillways for regulating Diversion Canals' (American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. 92) 1928;
* Chairman's Address 1938;
* Presidential Address 'The World's Water Supply, and Australia's portion of it' 1949;
* 'Storage of Water', ANZAAS conference, 1951.

Chronology

1905 - 1906

Career position - Designer, Sewerage Branch, Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works [designing house connections, under W Thwaites]

1906

Education - Bachelor of Civil Engineering (BCE), University of Melbourne

1906

Education - Completed half the courses for Electrical and Science degrees, University of Melbourne

1906

Career position - Draftsman, Melbourne City Council [surveying, municipal works, under A C Mountain]

c. 1906

Career event - Granted Certificate of Qualification as Municipal Surveyor (CE), Local Government Act 1903 VIC

1906 - 1907

Career position - Draftsman, Way and Works Branch, Victorian Railways [drawings and quantities for structural works, under C E Norman]

1907 - 1908

Career position - Assistant engineer, Construction Branch, Victorian Railways [computation of earthworks, quantities for new structures, under M E Kernot]

1908

Career event - Student Member (StudInstCE), Institution of Civil Engineers, London [recommended by Prof W C Kernot, T W Fowler]

c. 1908

Career event - Granted Certificate as Engineer of Water Supply, Water Act 1890 VIC

1908 - 1910

Career position - Assistant engineer, State Rivers and Water Supply Commission [making surveys, preparation and criticisms of designs, supervising construction of reservoirs on Macedon and Broken Rivers, under J S Dethridge, E Mead]

c. 1910

Career event - Granted Certificate of Qualification as Engineer (CE), Local Government Act 1906 NSW. [Certificate No.342]

1910 - 1912

Career position - Leveller, Water Supply Department, Queensland [Survey of West Queensland artesian areas to determine hydraulic gradients]

1912 - 1913

Career position - Engineering surveyor, Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission, New South Wales [Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area under L A B Wade]

23 Apr 1912

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

1913

Career event - Visited Canada and USA to inspect engineering works

1913

Career event - Associate Member (AssocMAmSocCE), American Society of Civil Engineers

1913 - 1918

Career position - Design draughtsman, Public Works Department, Hobart [under W. T. Fowler, designed and supervised construction of the first arch dam, and the first reinforced concrete bridge in Tasmania]

1918 - 1919

Career position - Assistant engineer, Hydro-electric Department, Tasmania [under Chief engineer, Sir John Butters. investigations to determine yield of catchment areas, capacity of canals and storages, preliminary design for the Great Lake Dam and power scheme]

1919

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

1919 - 1920

Career position - Resident engineer, Hydro-electric Department, Tasmania [River Ouse diversion, headworks, Reinforced concrete flume]

1920 - 1921

Career position - Resident engineer, Hydro-electric Department, Tasmania [under A. H. Bastow, responsible for location, construction and control of the construction settlement]

1921 - 1923

Career position - Principal assistant, hydraulic design, Hydro-electric Department, Tasmania [under G. C. Halkyard]

1924

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

1924 - 1927

Career position - Civil engineer, Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board, Brisbane, Queensland [in charge of construction of 350 miles of reticulated sewers, including the main under the Brisbane River (1924-1926)]

1927 - 1933

Career position - Designing engineer, Queensland Main Roads Commission [under J R Kemp]

1930

Career event - Member (MAmSocCE), American Society of Civil Engineers

1931

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

1933 - 1934

Career position - Engineer member, Special Committee of the Bureau of Industry [investigating Brisbane's water-supply and flood-mitigation requirements]

1934 - 1939

Career position - Designing engineer, later Chief engineer, Stanley River Works Board [to design and build the large concrete gravity Somerset Dam, on the upper reaches of the Brisbane River.]

1937 -

Career position - Foundation member, Australian National Committee on Large Dams

1937

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

1937

Career position - Chairman, Brisbane division, Institution of Engineers Australia

1938 - 1958

Career position - National councillor, Institution of Engineers Australia

1939 - 1949

Career position - Coordinator-General of Public Works, Queensland [responsible during this period for the design and construction of Cairncross Dock 1942 - 1944] Brisbane Graving Dock at Colmslie

1944 - 1948

Career position - Investigated the hydrology of the Channel Country in the south-west of Queensland; the possibility of scour at the site of the new Burdekin River road and rail bridge; the feasibility study of the Burdekin irrigation, hydro-electric and flood-mitigation scheme; and the construction of the Tully Falls hydro-electric project

1948

Career position - President, Institution of Engineers Australia

1948 - 1961

Career position - Chairman, Australian National Committee on Large Dams

1949 - 1955

Career position - Commissioner, Irrigation and Water Supply, Queensland [completion of Somerset Dam; construction of the Tinaroo Falls Dam; and works associated with the Mareeba-Dimbulah irrigation scheme]

1950

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

1955 -

Career position - Chairman, Dumaresq-Barwon Border Rivers Commission

1955 -

Career position - Engineer-Consultant, to Queensland government

1955

Life event - Retired

1956

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

1960

Award - Honorary Member (HonMIEAust), Institution of Engineers, Australia

1961

Career event - led the Australian delegation, Congress of the International Commission on Large Dams, Rome

1962

Award - Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) - for engineering in Queensland

1964

Education - Doctor of Engineering (DEng), University of Queensland [First such doctorate awarded by the University. Contains 56 published papers, reports and discussions from 1916-1962]

1968

Award - Honorary Fellow (HonFIEAust), Institution of Engineers, Australia [Former Hon.Members were designated Hon.Fellows on this date.]

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• Nimmo, W. H. R., Historical review of dams in Australia (Australian National Committee on Large Dams, 1966). Details

Book Sections

• Whitmore, Raymond L.; Richard, E., 'Nimmo, William Hogarth Robertson (1885-1970), Hydraulic Engineer' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 15: 1940 - 1980 Kem-Pie, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2000), pp. 482-483. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A150560b.htm. Details

Edited Books

• Whitmore, R. L. ed., Eminent Queensland Engineers [volume 1] (Brisbane, Queensland: The Institution of Engineers, Australia, Queensland Division, 1984), 75 pp. https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2017-01/eqe_vol_i.compressed.pdf. pp.56-57 'W.H.R. Nimmo CBE DEng(Qld) MCE(Melb) HonFIEAust FInstCE FASCE'. Details

Journal Articles

• 'Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal: 1950 Award [W. H. R. Nimmo, MCE MIEAust]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 23 (1951), 61. Details
• 'Dr. W. H. R. Nimmo HonFIEAust [Obituary]', Tasmania Division Bulletin (1970), 20. Details
• 'Obituary: William Hogarth Robertson Nimmo', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 42 (1970), N56. Details
• Nimmo, W., 'Concrete arched dam, Sorell, Tasmania (Illustrated)', Commonwealth Engineer, 3 (10) (1916), 302. Details
• Nimmo, W., 'Testing computing instruments of the slide rule type (Illustrated)', Commonwealth Engineer, 5 (4) (1917), 103. Details
• Nimmo, W., 'A Tasmanian reinforced concrete bridge', Commonwealth Engineer, 5 (6) (1918), 169. Details
• Nimmo, W. H. R., 'Side Spillways for regulating Diversion Canals', Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, 92 (1) (1928), 1561-1584, https://doi.org/10.1061/TACEAT.0003948. Details
• Nimmo, W. H. R., 'Chairman's Address', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 10 (1938), 301-. Details
• Nimmo, W. H. R., 'Presidential address to the Institution of Engineers, Australia: 'The World's water supply, and Australia's portion of it'', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 21 (3) (1949), 29-. Details
• Nimmo, W. H. R.; Shepherd, E. M., 'The Hydro-Electric Resources of Queensland', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 28 (1956), 67-. Discussion p.294. Details

Reports

• Institution of Engineers Australia, Thirty-first Annual Report [1950] (1951), 16 pp. 'Prizes - Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal (1950 Award), to Mr William Hogarth Robertson Nimmo, MCE MIEAust, Brisbane Division', p.3. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q21595713. Details
• 'Obituary. William Hogarth Robertson Nimmo, CBE, (1885-1970)', Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Civil Engineers, https://doi.org/10.1680/iicep.1971.6470. Details
• Institution of Civil Engineers, London, 'Application: 13824, 1912', Civil Engineer Membership Forms, 1818-1930, ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/3585/. Details
• 'Nimmo, W H R (1885-19701231)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-620050. Details

Theses

• Nimmo, W. H. R., 'Papers on civil and hydraulic engineering', DEng thesis, University of Queensland, School of Engineering, 1964, https://doi.org/10.14264/uql.2019.469. Details

See also

• Engineers Australia ed., Anything is possible: 100 Australian engineering leaders (Barton, A.C.T.: Institution of Engineers Australia, 2019), 136 pp. 'Ahead of His Time - William Nimmo' p.23. Details