Loder, Louis Francis (1896 - 1972)

Summary

Sir Louis Loder, Kt CBE MCE DEng HonFIEAust MInstCE CE, civil engineer, was founding Director-General, Commonwealth Department of Works, from 1945 during the post-war reconstruction period until he retired in 1961. During this period, he also chaired major Joint Commonwealth-State Technical Committees, including the committees that developed the Snowy Mountains Scheme; that investigated the West Australian Comprehensive Water Supply Scheme; that investigated the Burdekin River Scheme and the Mareeba-Dimboola Scheme in North Queensland; and that developed major projects in Papua - New Guinea. He was also Deputy-President / Chairman, and representative of the Commonwealth on the River Murray Commission.

During the war he was Director-General of Allied Works and took a major role in the construction of the Stuart Highway from Alice Springs to Darwin. Before that he was Chairman and Chief engineer, of the Country Roads Board, Victoria.

His eminent achievements were recognized by being awarded an honorary Doctor of Engineering from the University of Western Australia 1949; Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) 1953; Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal 1954; Kernot Memorial Medal 1955; Knight Bachelor 1962; and Honorary Member, Institution of Engineers Australia in 1966.

Details

Associated Major Projects: 1942 - 1961:
* Stuart Highway, Alice Springs to Darwin (1942 - 1945);
* Captain Cook Graving Dock, Sydney Harbour (1945) £10m;
* Mascot Aerodrome £7.5m;
* Snowy Mountains Scheme (Proposals) (1946 - 1949);
* Woomera Rocket Range, South Australia (from 1947) £15m;
* Canberra development £6m/annum;
* Recurrent program of harbour works, in Darwin and Papua-New Guinea, aerodrome construction throughout Australia, water supply, sewerage, electricity generation and structural engineering works, amounting to about £20m/annum;
* Construction of the 'beef' roads program in northern Australia (1961).

Chronology

1916 - 1919

Military service - First World War. Australian Imperial Force 30th Machine Gun Company; Commissioned as a Flying Officer, Australian Flying Corps

1917

Award - Mentioned in Despatches (MID)

1919

Career event - Foundation Junior Member (JrIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia

1922

Education - Bachelor of Civil Engineering (BCE), University of Melbourne

1923

Award - Stawell Research Scholarship, University of Melbourne

1923

Career position - Design engineer, Johns & Waygood Ltd

1923 - 1925

Career position - Engineer, Bridge Design Section, Country Roads Board, Victoria [Design and supervision of large highway bridges, including Echuca and Stratford]

1925 - 1928

Career position - Highway engineer, Country Roads Board, Victoria

1926

Education - Master of Civil Engineering (MCE), University of Melbourne

1928

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

1928 - 1940

Career position - Chief engineer, Country Roads Board, Victoria [Instrumental in developing the use of low-cost methods of road construction for main highways]

1934 - c. 1942

Career position - Member of Committee, Melbourne Division, Institution of Engineers Australia

1935

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

1937 - 1950

Career position - Part-time lecturer. Member of the engineering faculty, University of Melbourne [Lectured in roads and streets, soil mechanics]

1940 - 1944

Career position - Chairman, Country Roads Board, Victoria

1941

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

1941 - c. 1954

Career position - National Councillor, Institution of Engineers Australia

1942 - 1945

Career position - Co-ordinator of State instrumentalities in Victoria, Allied Works Council [The C.R.B. surfaced with bitumen 787 miles (1267 km) of the Stuart Highway in the Northern Territory]

1944 - 1945

Career position - Director-General, Allied Work Council. [succeeded E. G. Theodore. Works costing £34m in first year]

1945 - 1961

Career position - Director-General, Commonwealth Department of Works (Department of Works and Housing, from July 1945 to June 1952) [Responsible for the design, costing, supervision and execution of all architectural and engineering works for the Federal government]

1946 - 1949

Career position - Chairman, joint Commonwealth-States technical committee on the proposed Snowy Mountains project

1947

Career position - President, Institution of Engineers Australia

c. 1948 - 1949

Career position - Chairman of the Committee which investigated the West Australian Comprehensive Water Supply Scheme

1949

Award - Doctor of Engineering (DEng), honoris causa, University of Western Australia

1950 - 1961

Career position - Deputy-President, [Chairman], and Commonwealth Member, River Murray Commission. [President being the Commonwealth Minister]

c. 1953 -

Career position - Member, Business Advisory Group, Australian Atomic Energy Commission

1953

Award - Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) - Director-General of the Department of Works

1953

Award - Coronation Medal

1954

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

c. 1954 - 1960

Career position - Chairman of the Commonwealth Committee investigating the Burdekin River Scheme and the Mareeba-Dimboola Scheme in North Queensland

1955

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

1960 -

Career position - Member, Australian Road Research Board

1961

Life event - Retired

1962

Award - Knight Bachelor (Kt) - Director-General of Commonwealth Works

1963

Career position - Chairman, Sub-committee of Melbourne transportation committee

1963 - 1966

Career position - Chairman, Committee to report to the Commonwealth government on transportation requirements in Northern Australia

1966

Award - Honorary Member (HonMIEAust), Institution of Engineers, Australia

1968

Award - Honorary Fellow (HonFIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia [Former Hon.Members were designated Hon.Fellows on this date.]

Related entries

Published resources

Book Sections

• Lawrence, T. F. C., 'Loder, Sir Louis Francis (1896 - 1972), civil engineer and public servant' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 15: 1940 - 1980 Kem-Pie, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2000), pp. 112-113, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/loder-sir-louis-francis-10849/. Details

Journal Articles

• 'Honorary Members of the Institution : Sir Albert Axon, KBE ME DEng DSc HonMIEAust; Sir Louis Loder, CBE MCE DEng MICE HonMIEAust.', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 38 (1966), N117. 'Sir Louis Loder has rendered conspicuous service in the advancement of highway construction and in the development of projects throughout the Commonwealth'. Details
• Loder, L. F., 'Low cost road construction in Victoria [and Discussion]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 3 (1931), 193 - , Discussion pp.243, 396. Details
• Loder, L. F., 'Notes on highway pavements', Commonwealth Engineer, 20 (3) (1932), 82-85. Details
• Loder, L. F., 'Electric arc welding in bridge construction', Commonwealth Engineer, 23 (8) (1936), 255. Details
• Loder, L. F., 'Presidential address', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 20 (1948), 25-. Details
• Loder, L. F., 'The Snowy River Scheme', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 21 (1949), 40 -. Details

Resources

• CA 2001 Australian Imperial Force, Base Records Office, 'NAA: B2455, Loder Loius Francis', B2455 First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920, National Archives of Australia, RecordSearch, https://RecordSearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/AutoSearch.asp?O=I&Number=8204276. Details

See also

• Engineers Australia ed., Anything is possible: 100 Australian engineering leaders (Barton, A.C.T.: Institution of Engineers Australia, 2019), 136 pp. 'Thinking Big - Sir Louis Loder' p.69. Details
• Lay, M. G., '20th Century Victorian Engineers - Case studies of engineers as leaders in Victoria from 1890 to 1990', in Fourth International Conference on Engineering Management, 1994: Preprints (Barton, ACT: Institution of Engineers Australia, 1994), pp. 7-12., https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.220235441294955. Details
• Sharp, Kieran.; Brindle, Ray; Lay, Max; Metcalf, John; Johnston, Ian; Jones, Dave ed., ARRB: the first fifty years (Vermont South, Vic.: ARRB Group Ltd, 2011). 'Sir Louis Loder" p.8 Includes portrait. Details