Lawson, Robert (1880 - 1949)

Summary

Robert Lawson, OBE MIEAust, was Chief Engineer, Postmaster-General's Department, Commonwealth of Australia, from 1936 until 1945. For more than twenty years before that, he held senior engineering positions within the Department in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia.

He presented from Sydney at the first joint meeting of the Melbourne Division and Sydney Division, Institution of Engineers, Australia on the 26th March 1929 that was linked by telephone, and broadcast by radio in both Melbourne and Sydney.

From 1940 for the duration of the War, Lawson was appointed to the Air Board as Fifth Member in the capacity of Director-General of Production and Supply, and to the Aircraft Production Commission. From 1942 to 1944 he was Staff Business Manager, Royal Australian Air Force, and in 1944 was appointed Technical Assistant to the Chief of Air Staff.

He also took a prominent part in the activities of the Standards Association of Australia, as a member of the Council, as Chairman of the Committee on X-Ray-Equipment, and as Chairman of the Victorian Committee on Quality Control. He was also active within the Institution of Engineers Australia, as a foundation member in 1919, as Chairman of the Melbourne Division 1922, as Chairman of the Sydney Division 1930, and was a member of its Council for many years.

His distinguished service to engineering was recognised when he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (Civil Division) in 1939, and when he was awarded the Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal in 1948.

Details

Chronology

1890s

Education - The Institute, Liverpool

c. 1896

Education - Polytechnic, London

1900s

Education - London University

1904 - 1914

Career position - Engineering Department, British Post Office, Manchester and London, England

1908

Publication - Paper 'Wireless Telephony', Institute of Post Office Electrical Engineers, England

1910

Publication - Paper 'Automatic Telephony', Institute of Post Office Electrical Engineers, England

1914

Life event - Migrated to Victoria, to take up a position with the Postmaster-General's Department

1914 - 1916

Career position - Engineer, Chief Electrical Engineer's Office, G.P.O., Melbourne, Postmaster-General's Department

1916 - 1918

Career position - State Engineer (later Chief Electrical Engineer), South Australia, Postmaster-General's Department

1916 - 1918

Career event - Member, South Australian Institute of Engineers

1918 - 1924

Career position - State Engineer, Victoria, Postmaster-General's Department

1919

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

1920

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

1921 - 1922

Career position - Member of Council, Institution of Engineers Australia

1922

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

1924 - 1933

Career position - State Engineer (later Superintending Engineer), New South Wales, Postmaster-General's Department

1925

Career position - Member of Council, Institution of Engineers Australia

1927 - 1933

Career position - Member of Council, Institution of Engineers Australia

26 Mar 1929

Career event - Presented at the first major telephone meeting organised in Australia

1930s

Career position - Chairman, Committee on X-Ray-Equipment, Standards Association of Australia

1930

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

1930s

Career position - Member of Council, Standards Association of Australia

1933 - 1936

Career position - Deputy-Director of Posts and Telegraphs, Victoria, Postmaster-General's Department

1936 - 1945

Career position - Chief Engineer, Postmaster-General's Department [After retirement of John Murray Crawford]

8 Jun 1939

Award - Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) - Chief Engineer of the PMG Department

1940s

Career position - Chairman, Victorian Committee on Quality Control, Standards Association of Australia

1940 - 1945

Career position - Member representing the Air Board, Aircraft Production Commission

1940 - 1945

Career position - Fifth Member of the Air Board, Director-General of Production and Supply

1942 - 1944

Career position - Staff Business Manager, Royal Australian Air Force

1944 - 1945

Career position - Technical Assistant to the Chief of Air Staff

1945

Life event - Retired

1946 - 1949

Career position - Board of Business Administration, Department of Treasury, Commonwealth of Australia

1948

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

1949

Buried - Cremated, Springvale Crematorium

Related entries

Published resources

Journal Articles

• 'Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal: 1948 Award [Robert Lawson, OBE MIEAust]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 20 (12) (1948), 194. Details
• 'Obituary [Robert Lawson OBE MIEAust]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 21 (7-8) (1949), 139. Details
• Crawford, J. M.; Lawson, R., 'Recent developments in Post Office Engineering. An historical meeting', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 1 (9) (1929), 344-347. Details
• Institution of Engineers Australia, 'Twenty-ninth Annual Report [1948]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 21 (1-2) (1949), 10-23. 'Prizes - Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal (1948 Award), to Mr Robert Lawson, OBE MIEAust, Melbourne Division', p.12. Details
• Lawson, R., 'Erection of a wireless station, and some notes on commercial working', South Australian Institute of Engineers: Biennial proceedings 1916 - 1917 (1917), 167-183, https://images.slsa.sa.gov.au/zper/i14966505/zperi14966505_1916-1917.pdf. Details
• Lawson, R., 'Automatic Telephone Exchange, Collingwood, Victoria', Commonwealth Engineer, 9 (8) (1922), 258-261. Details
• Lawson, R., 'A modern broadcasting station - Chairman's Address [Sydney Division]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 3 (5) (1931), 176-182. Details
• Lawson, Robert, 'Sydney-Newcastle-Maitland Telephone and Telegraph Cable', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 11 (9) (1939), 301-312. Details

See also

• Alexander, John A. ed., Who's who in Australia 1944 (Melbourne, Victoria: The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd, 1944), 906 pp. Details
• Langevad, Bob, 'Chapter 12: Telecommunications' in Sydney: from settlement to city: an engineering history of Sydney, Don Fraser, ed. (Crows Nest, New South Wales: Engineers Australia, 1989), pp. 241-256. Details