Person
Henderson, John Baillie (1836 - 1921)
- Born
- 25 July 1836
London, United Kingdom - Died
- 15 February 1921
Queensland, Australia - Occupation
- Hydraulic engineer
Summary
John Henderson was a hydraulic engineer who had a varied experience with the Victorian colonial and shire governments between 1862 and 1878, working on roads and water supply in regional areas such as Geelong, Bendigo and Gippsland. Having been retrenched on 'Black Wednesday' 8 January 1878, he moved to Townsville and found employment with the water supply for the town. Between 1893 and 1914 he was employed as a hydraulic engineer for the Government of Queensland. Henderson recognised the need to understand local hydrological, rainfall, evaporation and flood conditions. He advocated fieldwork experiments, meticulous record-keeping, flood warning systems, the use of water meters, and the prevention of building on flood plains, and was involved in the widening and deepening of the Brisbane River.
Details
Chronology
- 1852
- Life event - Migrated to Australia with his family
- 1862 - 1863
- Career position - Road overseer, Victorian Department of Roads and Bridges
- 1863 - 1866
- Career position - Shire engineer, Gippsland, Victoria
- 1866 - 1878
- Career position - Engineer and surveyor, Water Supply Branch, Department of Mines
- 1878 -
- Career position - Resident engineer, northern waterworks, Townsville, Queensland
- 8 Jan 1878
- Career event - Victorian public servants summarily dismissed on 'Black Wednesday'
- 7 Dec 1880
- Career event - Associate Member (AssocMInstCE), Institution of Civil Engineers, London
- 1883 - 1895
- Career event - Member (MIMechE), Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London
- 1883 - 1914
- Career position - Hydraulic Engineer, Queensland Government
- 4 Nov 1884
- Career event - Member (MInstCE), Institution of Civil Engineers, London
- 1914
- Life event - Retired
Related entries
Superior
Published resources
Books
- Whitmore, Raymond, Hydraulic Henderson: water resources pioneer (Brisbane: Engineers Australia, 2009), 188 pp. Details
Book Sections
- Gibbney, H. J., 'Henderson, John Baillie (1836-1921)' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 4: 1851 - 1890 D-J, Douglas Pike, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1972), p. 377. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/henderson-john-baillie-3751. 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.36-37 'J.B. Henderson MInstCE MASCE'. Details
Journal Articles
- Cook, Margaret, 'John Baillie Henderson: a hydrologist in colonial Brisbane', International Review of Environmental History, 4 (1) (2018), 69-92. Details
Reports
- Advisory Council of Science and Industry, Report of the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Advisory Council of Science and Industry: for the year ended 30th June 1918 (Melbourne: Government of the Commonwealth of Australia, 1918), 64 pp. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2004795988. Details
Resources
- Institution of Civil Engineers, London, 'Application: 4686, 1880', Civil Engineer Membership Forms, 1818-1930, ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/3585/. Details
Helen Cohn
Created: 4 December 2018, Last modified: 6 April 2022