Person
Thompson, George Thomas (1895 - 1987)
OBE
- Born
- 15 December 1895
Ascot Vale, Victoria, Australia - Died
- 10 October 1987
Camberwell, Victoria, Australia - Occupation
- Civil engineer, Conservationist and Surveyor
Summary
George Thompson OBE LS MIEAust, played a central role in major conservation issues in Victoria from the 1930s. As surveyor and civil engineer for the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission he observed the degraded water systems and land erosion resulting from land clearance, poor agricultural practices, mining and intervention in rivers. As a consequence, conservation and remedial work became his principal professional focus in life. Lobbying by Thompson and others resulted in Victoria's Soil Conservation Act of 1940. He held executive positions in the new Soil Conservation Board and was Chairman of the Soil Conservation Authority from 1950 to 1961.
Thompson was also involved in community conservation groups, including the Natural Resources Conservation League of Victoria and the Save our Bushlands Action Committee, which successfully opposed Government plans to subdivide the Little Desert in western Victoria into farms. He was also involved in the formation of the Conservation Council of Victoria in 1969.
Details
Chronology
- 1914 - 1921
- Career position - Pupilage, Saxil Tuxen, Surveyor and Town Planner. [Also part of time in AIF]
- 1916 - 1919
- Military service - First World War. Gunner, 8th Field Artillery Brigade, Australian Imperial Forces, France
- 1920
- Career event - Licensed Land Surveyor
- 1921 - 1923
- Career position - Surveyor, State Rivers and Water Supply Commission [In charge of all surveys of Red Cliffs Estate, under Resident engineer C.M.B. Neylon, and Supervising engineer A. S. Kenyon]
- 1923 - 1930
- Career position - Surveyor, State Rivers and Water Supply Commission [Topographical surveys of rivers, design reiver improvement works]
- 1929
- Career event - Granted Certificate of Qualification as Municipal Surveyor (CE), Local Government Act 1903 VIC
- 1930
- Career event - Granted Certificate as Engineer of Water Supply, Water Act 1890 VIC
- c. 1930
- Career event - Member, Victorian Institute of Surveyors
- 1935 - 1941
- Career position - Councillor, Victorian Institute of Surveyors
- 1935 - 1946
- Career position - Executive Engineer, Rivers and Streams Branch, State Rivers and Water Supply Commission, Victoria [Development and control of catchments for regulating run-off and control of erosion and siltation of reservoirs. In charge of experimental catchment at Teddington, St.Arnauld]
- 1940 - 1945
- Military service - Lieutenant, Intelligence Officer, Volunteer Defence Corp (VDC) Battalion
- 1943 - 1946
- Career position - Member (part-time) and Deputy Chairman, Soil Conservation Board [Working with A.S. Kenyon, L.R. East, H.G. Strom, E.J. Lupson]
- 1945
- Career event - Associate Member (AMIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia
- 1947 - 1950
- Career position - Executive Officer, Soil Conservation Board, Victoria
- 1950 - 1961
- Career position - Chairman, Soil Conservation Authority
- 1953 - 1954
- Career position - President, Natural Resources Conservation League of Victoria
- 1961
- Life event - Retired
- 1962 - 1972
- Career position - Director, Natural Resources Conservation League of Victoria
- c. 1964
- Life event - Retired
- 1965
- Award - Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) - Director of the Natural Resources League
- 1968
- Career event - Member (MIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia [Former Associate Members were designated Members on this date.]
- 1972 - 1973
- Career position - President, Natural Resources Conservation League of Victoria
Related entries
Archival resources
Private hands (Engineering Heritage Victoria)
- Membership application forms and correspondence, ca.1935-1978 [microfiche], c. 1935 - c. 1978; Institution of Engineers, Australia. Victoria Division; Private hands (Engineering Heritage Victoria). Details
Published resources
Books
- Robin, Libby, Building a Forest Conscience: an Historical Portrait of the Natural Resources Conservation League of Victoria (NRCL) (Melbourne: Natural Resources Conservation League of Victoria, 1991), 155 pp. Details
Book Sections
- Garden, Donald S., 'Thompson, George Thomas (1895-1987), Surveyor and Conservationist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 18: 1981 - 1990 L-Z, Melanie Nolan, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2012), p. 504. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/thompson-george-thomas-14865. Details
Resources
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q21538293. Details
- CA 2001 Australian Imperial Force, Base Records Office, 'NAA: B2455, Thompson G T', B2455 First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920, National Archives of Australia, RecordSearch, https://RecordSearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/AutoSearch.asp?O=I&Number=1833417. Details
- CA 2002, 2 Echelon, Army Headquarters; CA 46, Department of Defence [III], Central Office, 'NAA: B884, V363752', B884 Citizen Military Forces Personnel Dossiers, 1939-1947, National Archives of Australia, RecordSearch, https://RecordSearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/AutoSearch.asp?O=I&Number=6651956. Details
- 'Thompson, G T (18951215-19871010)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-621901. Details
See also
- Powell, J. M., Watering the garden state: water, land and community in Victoria, 1834 - 1988 (Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1989), 319 pp. Details
- Robin, Libby, Defending the Little Desert: the Rise of Ecological Consciousness in Australia (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1998), 215 pp. Details
- Soil Conservation Authority, Soil Conservation Authority : first annual report for year ended 30th June 1950 (Melbourne: Government Printer, 1950), 15 pp, https://pov.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_GB/parl_paper/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ILS$002f0$002fSD_ILS:27398/one. Details
Helen Cohn; Ken McInnes
Last modified: 31 October 2023