Kemp, John Robert (1883 - 1955)

Summary

Sir John Kemp, ME MInstCE MIEAust, was the foundation Chairman of the Queensland Main Roads Board, 1920-1925, and Commissioner for Main Roads, Queensland 1925-1949. Earlier he had developed his skills through his education and pupillage in the Public Works Department Victoria, his early career as a country municipal engineer, and his role as a civil engineer with the then newly formed Country Roads Board under chairman William Calder 1913-1920.

During the Second World War he was Deputy-Director-General, Allied Works Council and after the war was appointed Co-ordinator General of Public Works, Queensland and was responsible for a large number of major strategic projects across Queensland during this period.

In recognition of his engineering achievements, he was awarded the Kernot Memorial Medal in 1932, the Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal in 1942, an Honorary Master of Engineering degree from the University of Queensland in 1949, and was appointed a Knight Bachelor in 1951. John Kemp was active within the Institution of Engineers Australia, and was its President in 1931.

Details

Associated notable engineering achievements:
* Story Bridge 1940;
* Brisbane Graving Dock, Cairncross 1942;
* Burdekin River, high level bridge, at Ayr;
* Rocklea Munitions Works;
* Inland Defence Road (Ipswich to Charters Towers);
* Road from Mount Isa to Tennant Creek, Northern Territory;
* University of Queensland, St Lucia;
* Stanley River Works Board, Somerset Dam;

Chronology

1901

Education - Matriculation

1902

Education - Engineering and Architecture Victorian Public Service Examination

1902 - 1906

Career position - Pupilage, Public Works Department, Victoria [Under W.Davidson, C. Catani, H.E.Morton]

1903 - 1906

Education - University of Melbourne

1906 - 1907

Career position - Engineering Assistant, Public Works Department, Victoria [Under W.Davidson, C. Catani]

1909

Career event - Granted Certificate of Qualification as Municipal Surveyor (CE), Local Government Act 1903 VIC

c. 1909

Career event - Granted Certificate as Engineer of Water Supply, Water Act 1890 VIC

c. 1909

Career position - Assistant patent examiner, Commonwealth Patent Office, Melbourne

1910 - 1913

Career position - Engineer, Shire of Karkarooc, Victoria

1913 - 1920

Career position - Assistant Engineer, rising to Engineer, Country Roads Board, Victoria [Under W.Calder, succeeded by T Haynes Upton]

1919

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

1920

Career event - Member (MIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia

1920 - 1925

Career position - Foundation Chairman, Queensland Main Roads Board

1924 - 1927

Career position - Member of Council, Institution of Engineers Australia

1925 - 1926

Career position - Vice-Chairman, Queensland Division, Institution of Engineers Australia

1925 - 1949

Career position - Commissioner for Main Roads, Queensland

1927

Career position - Chairman, Queensland Division, Institution of Engineers Australia

1929 - 1930

Career position - Vice-President, Institution of Engineers Australia

5 Feb 1929

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

1931

Career position - President, Institution of Engineers Australia

1932

Award - Kernot Memorial Medal, for distinguished engineering achievement in Australia. Faculty of Engineering, University of Melbourne [Presented in 1935]

1936

Career position - Chairman, Royal Commission on Electrical Development in Queensland

1937

Career event - Member (Engineering), Australian National Research Council

1937

Career position - Member, Royal Commission on Transport, Queensland

1937

Award - Fellow, Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science

1938

Career event - Australian Commonwealth representative, International Roads Congress, The Hague, Holland

1939 - 1945

Career position - Deputy-Director-General, Allied Works Council

1939 - 1954

Career position - Co-ordinator General of Public Works, Queensland

1942

Award - Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal - Career Achievement Award in Engineering. Institution of Engineers Australia

1944 - 1954

Career position - Chairman, Bureau of Investigation of Land and Water Reserves of Queensland

1944 - 1955

Career position - Member of Senate, University of Queensland

1947 - 1953

Career event - Deputy Chairman, Queensland-British Food Corporation

1949

Award - Master of Engineering (ME), honoris causa, University of Queensland

1949

Life event - Retired

1950 -

Career position - Member, Australian National Security Resources Board

1951

Award - Knight Bachelor (Kt) - in recognition for public service

1953

Award - Honorary Fellow, Australian Institute of Management

Related entries

Published resources

Book Sections

• Cohen, Kay, 'Kemp, Sir John Robert (1883-1955), engineer and public servant' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 15: 1940 - 1980 Kem-Pie, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2000), pp. 1-2, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/kemp-sir-john-robert-10717. 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.42-43 'Sir John Kemp HonMEQld MInstCE MIEAust'. Details

Journal Articles

• 'Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal: 1942 Award to Mr. J. R. Kemp', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 15 (1943), 20. Details
• 'Obituary [Sir John Kemp (1883-1955); Tom Percival Strickland (1875-1955)]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 27 (3) (1955), 70. Details
• Institution of Engineers Australia, '93rd Council Meeting [30th November 1942, Sydney]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 15 (1943), 17-18. 1942 Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal, to be made to Mr J R Kemp, MIEAust, Brisbane Division. Details
• Institution of Engineers Australia, 'Twenty-third Annual Report [1942]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 15 (1943), 35-51. 'Prizes - Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal (1942) Award, to Mr J R Kemp, MIEAust, Brisbane Division', p.37. Details
• Kemp, J. R., 'Presidential tour', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 3 (1931), 186, 435. Details
• Kemp, J. R., 'The Darwin Overland Road. III. The Queensland Section', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 13 (1941), 160-. Details
• Kemp, J. R.; Crawford, D. A., 'The Relative Damage Caused to Roads by Wheels of Varying Diameter [Abstract]', Transactions of the Institution of Engineers Australia, 2 (1921), 259-260, https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.633529264983810. Details
• Kemp. J. R., 'Presidential address', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 4 (1932), 95-. Details

Newspaper Articles

• 'Personal [J R Kemp awarded Kernot Memorial Medal]', The Argus (1935), 6, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12225132. Details
• 'Citizen of the Week - J. R. Kemp [includes portrait]', Brisbane Telegraph (1950), 5, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article212209027. Details

Resources

• 'Obituary. Sir John Robert Kemp ME 1883-1955.', Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Civil Engineers, https://doi.org/10.1680/iicep.1956.11527. Details
• Institution of Civil Engineers, London, 'Application: 18560, 1929', Civil Engineer Membership Forms, 1818-1930, ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/3585/. Details

See also

• Engineers Australia ed., Anything is possible: 100 Australian engineering leaders (Barton, A.C.T.: Institution of Engineers Australia, 2019), 136 pp. 'An Eye to the North - Sir John Kemp' p.68. Details