Watson, Robert (1822 - 1891)

Summary

Robert Watson, MInstCE MVIE CE, was the Engineer-in-Chief of the Victorian Railways (1882-1891). He arrived in Victoria in 1854, and joined the Victorian Railways as Resident Engineer in charge of Surveys. Prior to that he had worked in England on the extension of the Great Western Railway, and on the South Devon Line. In Victoria, he gave evidence to the Select Committee on the Railway Terminus at Spencer Street in 1861. He was the Resident Engineer on the Sandhurst to Echuca Railway in 1864, and, as Resident Engineer on the North-Eastern Line, gave evidence on the Coliban Water Supply Scheme in 1869, on the Silting of Hobson's Bay in 1871, and on the Petition by Mrs Laggett in 1882. He was the First President of the Victorian Institution of Engineers in 1883.

Details

Chronology

1 Dec 1868

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

1883

Career event - Foundation Member, Victorian Engineers Association

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• Cumming, D. A., Some Public Works Engineers in Victoria in the Nineteenth Century (Melbourne: University of Melbourne, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, 1985), 59 pp. p.32. Details

Journal Articles

• Watson, Robert, 'President's address 1884 (vol. I)', Transactions and Proceedings of the Victorian Engineers Association vol. I 1883-1885 (1885), 28-30. https://hdl.handle.net/11343/24222. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q7350892. Details
• 'Obituary. Robert Watson, 1822-1891.', Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Civil Engineers, https://doi.org/10.1680/imotp.1891.20531. Details
• Institution of Civil Engineers, London, 'Application: 2449, 1868', Civil Engineer Membership Forms, 1818-1930, ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/3585/. Details