Blackbourn, John (1842 - 1911)

Summary

John Blackbourn CE AssocMInstCE, was the Defence Engineer, Public Works Department, Colony of Victoria, and after Federation, the Defence Engineer for the Commonwealth of Australia. He was responsible for the construction of all the colonial Port Phillip Heads Fortifications (Fort Queenscliffe, Fort Swan Island, Fort Nepean) as well as the design and construction of Princess Royal Fort, King George Sound, Albany, Western Australia, including the installation of the hydro-pneumatic "Disappearing" guns.

Details

Chronology

- 1863

Career position - Apprenticed to engineers Rowland Mason Ordish and William Henry Le Feurve, Westminster ENG

1863 - 1865

Career position - Assistant engineer, Ordish and Le Feuvre

1865 - 1866

Career position - Design engineer, Millwall Docks, London, under William Wilson MInstCE

1866 - 1869

Career position - Resident engineer, Limehouse Basin improvements, London, England, under Edwin Thomas MInstCE

1870 - 1871

Career position - Assistant contractor's manager, Devon and Somerset Railway, England

Sep 1871 - May 1872

Career position - Contractor's engineer, Cairo and St. Louis Railway, USA

May 1872 - Jun 1874

Career position - Engineer-in-charge fortifications, Fort Point, San Francisco, United States Army Corp of Engineers

Jun 1874 - Nov 1875

Career position - Assistant engineer, Roads and Bridges Department, Victoria, Australia

5 Nov 1874

Career event - Granted Certificate of Competency as Engineer and Surveyor (CE), (1st Class Cert A02), Shires Statute and Boroughs Statute 1869 VIC

1875 - 1878

Career position - Resident engineer, Port Wakefield and Blyth Railway, Port Wakefield and Kadina Railway, South Australia, under Henry Coathupe Mais MInstCE

1879

Career position - County engineer, Waipawa, New Zealand

Sep 1879 - Mar 1882

Career position - Private practice, Melbourne

Mar 1882 - 1884

Career position - Military Surveyor, Public Works Department Victoria, assistant to Major Peter Scratchley RE

1884 - 1901

Career position - Engineer-in-charge, Defence Works Branch, Public Works Department, Victoria

15 Jun 1891

Career event - Applied (unsuccessfully) Engineer-in-chief, Metropolitan Board of Works, Melbourne

1 Dec 1891

Career event - Associate Member (AssocMInstCE), Institution of Civil Engineers [very briefly]

1896 - 1898

Career position - Engineer, Princess Royal Fort, King George Sound, Western Australia

1 Oct 1901 - 25 May 1907

Career position - Superintendent of Works, Public Works Branch, Department of Home Affairs, Commonwealth of Australia

1911

Life event - Buried, Boroondara Cemetery, Victoria

Related entries

Published resources

Edited Books

• Gibbney, H. J.; and Smith, Ann G. eds, A Biographical register 1788-1939 : notes from the name index of the Australian Dictionary of biography. (2 volumes) (Canberra: Australian Dictionary of Biography, 1987), 429 pp. Details

Resources

• Institution of Civil Engineers, London, 'Application: 7899, 1891 [very briefly]', Civil Engineer Membership Forms, 1818-1930, ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/3585/. Details
• 'Blackbourn, John (18420526-19110107)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1715790. Details

See also

• Directory for cities, towns, boroughs, shires and districts in the colony of Victoria for 1875 (Melbourne: Evans Brothers, 1875), 184 pp, http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-393176554. Granted Certicate of Competency as Engineer and Surveyor under the Shires and Boroughs Statutes: p.v. Details
• Alsop, Peter F. B. ed., Nineteenth century engineers in the colony of Victoria (Geelong North, Victoria: Author, 2002), 372 pp. Details
• Engineers Australia ed., Wonders never cease: 100 Australian engineering achievements (Barton, Australian Capital Territory: Institution of Engineers, Australia, 2019), 236 pp. p.6. Details
• Ferguson, J. M., 'Australian Defence Forces: The Defence of Port Phillip Heads 1859-1945', in Eleventh National Conference on Engineering Heritage: Federation Engineering a Nation; Proceedings (Barton, Australian Capital Territory: Institution of Engineers, Australia, 2001), pp. 149-151., https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.520772320908597. Details
• Institution of Engineers Australia. Sydney Division. Engineering Heritage Committee, The Historic Engineering Plaques of Australia (Milsons Point, New South Wales: The Institution of Engineers, Australia, 1994), 38 pp. p.22 Princess Royal Battery and Magazine, Albany, W.A. Details
• Smith, James, ed., The Cyclopedia of Victoria: an historical and commercial review: descriptive and biographical, facts, figures and illustrations: an epitome of progress (Melbourne: Cyclopedia Co, 1903-1905), vol.1: 618 pp, vol.2: 563 pp, vol.3: 643 pp. 'John Blackbourn' Vol.1 p.263-4. Details