Kelso, Alexander Edward (1894 - 1943)

Summary

Alexander Kelso, MM MCE AssocMInstCE AMIEAust, was Engineer of Water Supply for the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW) from 1935-1943. He supervised the construction of the O'Shanassy weir, the Silvan dam and designed the Upper Yarra dam. In the siting and foundation design for the Silvan dam, he pioneered geo-technical engineering. When it was designed, the Upper Yarra dam was one of the largest earth filled dams in the world.

Details

During the Second World War he was the chief engineer to the engineering section of the US army in Australia; was technical adviser to the Minister of the Army; and was a member of the Business Advisory Panel.

During the First World War he served in France under Sir John Monash, was wounded and gassed and was awarded the Military Medal for gallantry in the field. He received a commission in 1918.

As engineer for the Country Roads Board, in 1922, he was involved with the construction of the bridge over the Barwon River at Geelong.

In 1934 he presented a paper to the Institution of Civil Engineers "The Construction of Silvan Dam, Melbourne Water Supply". He was also Chairman of Melbourne Division and a Member of Council of the Institution of Engineers, Australia; and a member of the Faculty of Engineering and of the Standing Committee of Convocation of the University of Melbourne.

Chronology

1909 - 1912

Education - Scotch College, Melbourne

1916 - 1918

Military service - First World War. Lieutenant, 10th Field Company of Engineers, AIF, France, under Major W.J.B. McCormack

1918

Award - Military Medal for gallantry in the field

1919

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

c. 1919

Award - The "Argus" Civil engineering Scholarship, University of Melbourne

1919 - c. 1920

Career position - Hydraulic engineer, Hydro-Electric Power Department, Tasmania

1920

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

1920

Award - Stawell Scholarship for Research in Engineering, University of Melbourne

1920 - c. 1921

Career position - Assistant engineer, Ouse Diversion Works, Hydro-electric Power department, Tasmania

14 Dec 1920

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

1921

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

1921 - 1922

Career position - Resident engineer, Hume Reservoir Works

1922 - c. 1924

Career position - Engineer for bridges, Country Roads Board, Victoria

c. 1924 - 1927

Career position - Resident engineer, O'Shannassy dam, MMBW, Victoria

1927 - 1930

Career position - Resident engineer, Silvan dam, MMBW, Victoria

1930 - 1931

Career position - Senior Construction engineer, Sewerage, MMBW

1931 - 1934

Career position - Assistant engineer of Sewerage, MMBW, Victoria

1934 - 1936

Career position - Assistant engineer of Water Supply, MMBW, Victoria

1936 - 1943

Career position - Engineer of Water Supply, MMBW, Victoria.

1937 -

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

1939 - 1940

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

Related entries

Published resources

Journal Articles

• Kelso, A. E., 'Sewage pumping at Sunshine, Victoria', Commonwealth Engineer, 22 (8) (1935), 249-252. Details
• Kelso, A. E., 'Increasing Melbourne's water supply', Commonwealth Engineer, 24 (1) (1936), 5-11. Details

Resources

• CA 2001 Australian Imperial Force, Base Records Office, 'NAA: B2455, Kelso Alexander Edward', 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=7367237. 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
• 'The construction of Silvan Dam, Melbourne Water-Supply', Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Civil Engineers, https://doi.org/10.1680/imotp.1935.15284. Details
• 'Obituary. Alexander Edward Kelso. 1894-1943.', Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Civil Engineers, https://doi.org/10.1680/ijoti.1944.13978. Details
• Institution of Civil Engineers, London, 'Application: 16321, 1920', Civil Engineer Membership Forms, 1818-1930, ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/3585/. 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