Person
Frazer, Leonard Thomas (Len) (1908 - 1968)
- Born
- 2 April 1908
Glenferrie, Victoria, Australia - Died
- 26 April 1968
Royal Melbourne Hospital, late of Camberwell, Victoria, Australia - Occupation
- Civil engineer, Consulting engineer and Municipal engineer
Summary
Len T Frazer, MIEAust, was the City Engineer, City of Melbourne and helped to plan the facilities for the 1956 Olympic Games. He was a pioneer in highway and traffic engineering in Australia, and later as a consulting engineer, led the development of the major suburban shopping centres at Chadstone, Northland, Southland and Eastland; the Melbourne Transportation Study in conjunction with Wilbur Smith; as well as other major projects including the layout of Latrobe University, and Woden district in Canberra.
A few weeks before his sudden death, his firm, Len T. Frazer & Associates was merged with the firm of Scott & Furphy in which he became a partner and associate director.
Details
Associated major projects included:
* Macaulay Stormwater pumping station;
* Degraves Street Subway, Melbourne;
* Olympic Games facilities, Melbourne;
* Planning provisions to grade separate pedestrians from traffic in the CBD;
* Traffic analysis, sitework design and supervision for Chadstone, Northland, Southland, and Eastland shopping centres, initially liaising with the American planner Victor Gruen;
* Ring road, Ballarat;
* Playford Bridge, Prairie Bridge and Gorge Road, Adelaide Hills (1962);
* Sitework design and supervision, GMH Test tracks at Lang Lang;
* Traffic analysis, sitework design and supervision of Master plan for La Trobe University;
* Transportation Study for Melbourne, with Wilbur Smith and Associates;
* Traffic analysis and sitework design for Woden District Centre, Canberra for NCDC;
* Traffic analysis and planning of the Freeway network for Canberra;
* Highway and freeway design for Country Roads Board;
* Sitework design for many neighbourhoods in Canberra, for NCDC;
* Master plan for Box Hill Shopping Centre, including proposals for undergrounding the railway station;
* Carpark and road design for Tullamarine Airport.
Chronology
- 1924 - 1926
- Education - Studied Diploma Course, Melbourne Working Men's College
- 1926 - 1927
- Career position - Pupillage, Messrs Woodcock and McCormack
- 1927 - 1928
- Career position - Survey Assistant, State Electricity Commission [under Ralph Alec Hunt, DSO, BCE, Foundation.AMIEAust AssocMInstCE]
- 1928 - 1932
- Career position - Pupillage, Melbourne City Council [under Ronald Melville Scott BE AssocMInstCE, MIEAust; Percy Stanley Robinson CE AMIEAust]
- 1928 - 1934
- Career position - Junior Engineering Assistant, City engineer's Department, Melbourne City Council
- 1932
- Career event - Certificate of Competency (no.580) Municipal Surveyors Board [Feb 1932]
- 1934 - 1936
- Career position - Engineering Assistant, City engineer's Department, Melbourne City Council
- 1936 - 1937
- Career position - Senior Engineering Assistant, City engineer's Department, Melbourne City Council [wood block, concrete, asphalt, penetration macadam roadways. Macaulay Stormwater pumping station, South Kensington swamp reclamation, works at City abattoirs]
- 1937
- Career event - Associate Member (AMIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia
- 1940 - 1945
- Military service - Second World War. Major, Royal Australian Engineers [Served n the Middle East and the Pacific]
- 1948 - 1953
- Career position - Deputy City Engineer, Melbourne City Council [under P.S. Robinson, City Engineer. Projects: Degraves Street Subway, mechanisation of laying and construction of asphalt roads.]
- 1953 - 1956
- Career position - City Engineer, Melbourne City Council [Responsible for establishing and directing a Traffic Engineering section; for all roads, bridges, street cleansing, garbage collection and disposal, abattoirs works, and workshops. over £1,000,000 per annum. Engineer adviser to and member of the construction committee for Olympic Games. Directly responsible for design and supervision of Velodrome, athletic stadium, and football oval at Olympic Park, and consultant for all other projects.]
- 1956 - 1958
- Career position - Consulting engineer, own practice Len T Frazer and Associates. [Civil engineering works, carried out include: For municipalities: Survey, design and supervision of Private streets, roads and drainage works; drive-in theatres. For contractors: assistance in preparation of tenders and advice on construction methods (King Street bridge tender £2,750,000); For private clients: private street design and supervision, traffic and planning schemes; Also consultant Town Planner.
- 1958
- Career event - Member (MIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia
- 1958 - 1968
- Career position - Director, Len T Frazer and Associates, Consulting engineers
- 1968
- Career event - Associate Director, Scott and Furphy Consulting Group, when Len T Frazer and Associates, became part of the Group
Related entries
Archival resources
State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection
Published resources
Conference Papers
- Arnold, Bernard; Noicos, Leo; and Venus, Richard, 'The bridges of the Torrens Valley: Castambul to Blumberg', in 2015 South Australian Engineering Heritage Conference - Transactions [Fourth South Australian Engineering Heritage Conference - Adelaide 15 May 2015] (Adelaide: Engineers Australia, South Australia Division, 2015), pp. 47-84.. "Playford Bridge, Prairie Bridge and Gorge Road". Details
Journal Articles
- 'Personal', Commonwealth Engineer, 23 (10) (1936), 297. Appointed senior engineering assistant, Melbourne City Engineer's Department. Details
- 'Obituary [ Leonard Thomas Frazer]', The Chartered Engineer Victoria, 13 (1) (1968), 15. Details
- Frazer, L. T., 'Nomograph for determining flow of water in circular pipes', Commonwealth Engineer, 22 (4) (1934), 124. Details
- Frazer, L. T., 'Regional planning authority needed', The Chartered Engineer Victoria, 7 (6) (1963), 1,6. Details
Resources
- CA 2002, 2 Echelon, Army Headquarters; CA 46, Department of Defence [III], Central Office, 'NAA: B883, VX15205', B883 Second Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1939-1947, National Archives of Australia, RecordSearch, https://RecordSearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/AutoSearch.asp?O=I&Number=6214932. Details
Ken McInnes
Created: 13 April 2023, Last modified: 17 December 2025