Person
Davis, Joseph (1854 - 1932)
- Born
- 3 November 1854
Oldbury, Worcestershire, England - Died
- 20 January 1932
Dulwich, Middlesex, England - Occupation
- Civil engineer
Summary
Joseph Davis was Director-general of the Department of Public Works, New South Wales 1912 until 1917. From 1883 when he arrived in Australia, he was a leading engineer in the design and construction of the sewerage systems for Sydney.
Davis served on many key State and Commonwealth enquiries and boards, including the Sydney Harbour Bridge Advisory Board; the royal commission on Sydney water-supply; the interstate royal commission on the River Murray, the royal commissions on the Working of the Government Dockyard and Workshops; and the royal commission on the Boundaries of Local Government Areas.
He also served on the River Murray commission 1916 to 1917; reported to the Commonwealth government on a sewerage system for Canberra, and on the small arms factory at Lithgow, and to the Western Australian government on a sewerage system for Perth.
After he retired to London in 1917, as a consulting engineer for New South Wales, he was responsible for approving all the steel manufactured in Great Britain for the Sydney Harbour Bridge, as well as electrical equipment and rolling stock for Sydney's suburban railways.
Details
Chronology
- 1872 - 1873
- Career position - Engineering pupillage [Under Colliery owner Elijah Davis - his father]
- 1874 - 1875
- Career position - Engineering pupillage, Dudley [Under William North and Sons, consulting engineers]
- 1876 - 1879
- Career position - Resident engineer, Park Lane Ironworks, Oldbury [mining works including railways, bridges, buildings, mining machinery, hydraulic works. Under Jacob Forrest MInstCE]
- 1880 - 1883
- Career position - Resident engineer, Dudley sewerage works, Worcestershire [Under H. J. Marten, MInstCE, and G. J. C. Broom, MInstCE, FRS]
- 1883
- Life event - Migrated to Australia
- 1885 - 1888
- Career position - Resident engineer, Bondi main sewer, Department of Public Works, New South Wales [Under D. C. McMordie, MInstCE, Divisional Engineer]
- 1889
- Career event - Associate Member (AssocMInstCE), Institution of Civil Engineers, London
- 1889 - 1895
- Career position - Supervising engineer, Sewerage Construction, Department of Public Works, New South Wales [Under
- 1891
- Career event - Member (MInstCE), Institution of Civil Engineers, London
- 1895 - 1896
- Career position - Principal Assistant Engineer, Water Supply and Sewerage, Department of Public Works, New South Wales
- 1896 - 1901
- Career position - Principal Assistant Engineer, Metropolitan Sewerage Construction, Department of Public Works, New South Wales
- 1897 - 1899
- Career position - Acting Government Architect, Department of Public Works, New South Wales
- 1900
- Career event - Member (MIMechE), Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London
- 1901
- Career position - Chairman, Sydney Harbour Bridge Advisory Board
- 1901 - 1907
- Career position - Under-secretary, Department of Public Works, New South Wales
- 1902
- Career position - President of the "Interstate Royal Commission on the River Murray"
- 1902
- Award - Telford Premium, Institution of Civil Engineers, London - for 'The Sewerage Systems of Sydney, N.S.W., and its Suburbs'
- 1902 - 1903
- Career position - President, Inter-State Royal Commission on the River Murray
- 1902 - 1904
- Career position - Chairman, Royal Commission on Sydney Water Supply
- 1905
- Career position - Prepared a report on the sewerage system for Perth
- 1906 - 1908
- Career position - Member of Council in Australia, Institution of Civil Engineers, London
- 1907 - 1912
- Career position - Consulting and inspecting engineer, Agent-General's Office, London
- 1908
- Career position - Arranged the New South Wales court, Franco-British Exhibition, London
- 1912 - 1917
- Career position - Director-general, Department of Public Works Department, New South Wales
- 1914 - 1916
- Career position - Member of Council in Australia, Institution of Civil Engineers, London
- 1916
- Career position - Prepared a report on the sewerage system for Canberra
- 1916 - 1917
- Career position - Representative of New South Wales, Murray River Commission
- 1917
- Life event - Retired
- 1917
- Career position - Consulting engineer to the New South Wales government, in London.
Related entries
Published resources
Book Sections
- Corbett, Arthur, 'Davis, Joseph (1854-1932), civil engineer' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 8: 1891 - 1939 Cl-Gib, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1981), pp. 239-240, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/davis-joseph-5915/. Details
Parliamentary papers
- Interstate Royal Commission on the River Murray, Interstate Royal Commission on the River Murray, representing the states of New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia : Report of the Commissioners, with minutes of evidence, appendices and plans (Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide: 1902), 60, 359 pp. https://pov.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_GB/parl_paper/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ILS$002f0$002fSD_ILS:34095/one. President of the Commission, State of New South Wales. Details
Resources
- 'Obituary. Joseph Davis, 1854-1932.', Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Civil Engineers, https://doi.org/10.1680/imotp.1932.13323. Details
- 'The Sewerage Systems of Sydney, N.S.W., and its Suburbs', Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Civil Engineers, https://doi.org/10.1680/imotp.1902.18345. Details
Ken McInnes
Created: 10 August 2022