Hebblewhite, William Rayner (1885 - 1966)

Summary

Bill Hebblewhite, OBE BE MIEAust, was the Director and executive head of the Australian Commonwealth Engineering Standards Association / Standards Association of Australia, from 1924 until he retired in 1953. Under his leadership the organisation played crucial roles in the development of standardisation to promote industrialisation, and in particular, production related to military and civil defence during the Second World War.

As Director, he was ex officio the Secretary of the Australian National Committees of the World Power Conference, the International Electro-technical Commission and the International Commission on Large Dams (ANCOLD). He was appointed by the Commonwealth Government to represent Australia at the inaugural meetings of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) in New York (1945) and London (1946). At the 1946 ISO Conference, he was appointed Chairman of the Statutes Committee which drafted the ISO Constitution, and elected Australia a member of the ISO Council for the first three-year period. Hebblewhite attended the ISO Council Meeting and the first triennial Assembly in Paris in 1949.

Before and during the Second World War, he was seconded for short periods to the CSIRO. Firstly, in 1937 as the Executive Member of the Secondary Industries Testing and Research Committee, he was responsible for the drafting of the Committee's Report, that recommended the establishment of the National Standards Laboratory, and the Aeronautical, Building, and other Research Laboratories. Secondly, in the war period he was seconded to make a survey of all the testing facilities in the Commonwealth as a basis for the co-ordination of these facilities for defence purposes. During the war, under his direction the Standards Association prepared and issued several hundred specifications to meet defence requirements.

For twenty years he was a member of the New South Wales State Committee of CSIRO; he was a member of Council and Executive Committee of the National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) from its inception until 1953; was a member, appointed by the Commonwealth Government, of the Building Research and Development Advisory Committee from its establishment; and was a National Councillor of the Institution of Engineers Australia from 1935 to 1951, and its President in 1949.

His distinguished engineering service and career was recognised when he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1956; and he was awarded the Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal in 1959.

In 1978, Hebblewhite Street, Monash, Canberra was named in his honour.

Details

Chronology

1907 - 1911

Award - Peter Nicol Russell Scholarship, Mechanical and electrical engineering, University of Sydney

1911

Education - Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical), (BE(Hons)), University of Sydney

1912

Career position - Assistant Engineer, Commonwealth Portland Cement Co. Ltd.

1913 - 1922

Career position - Lecturer, Royal Military College, Duntroon

1919

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

1922 - 1923

Career position - Lecturer-Demonstrator, Peter Nicol Russell School of Engineering, University of Sydney

1923

Career position - Seconded as Executive Member, Institution of engineers Australia's Committee, to prepare "Report on the Power Resources of Australia" to the First World Power Conference

1924 - 1953

Career position - First full-time officer, Australian Commonwealth Engineering Standards Association (later, Director, Standards Association of Australia)

c. 1929 - c. 1959

Career position - Member, New South Wales State Committee of CSIRO

1930s - 1952

Career position - Secretary, Australian National Committee of the World Power Conference

1930s - 1953

Career position - Secretary, Australian National Committee of the International Electro-technical Commission

1935

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

1935

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

1935 - 1951

Career position - National Councillor, Institution of Engineers Australia

1937 - 1952

Career position - Secretary, Australian National Committee of the International Committee on Large Dams (ANCOLD)

c. 1944 - c. 1959

Career position - Member, appointed by the Commonwealth Government, Building Research and Development Advisory Committee

1945 - 1949

Career position - Australian representative on International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) [Chairman of council that drafted the ISO Constitution, attended 1945 New York Congress, 1946 London Congress, and 1949 Paris Congress]

1946

Career event - Australian delegate, representing the Institution of Engineers Australia, at the First British Commonwealth Engineering Conference, London [with T H Upton]

1947 - 1953

Career position - Member of Council and Executive Committee, National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA)

1949

Career position - President, Institution of Engineers Australia

1953

Life event - Retired

1954 -

Career position - Retained as a consultant, Standards Association of Australia

1956

Award - Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) - Secretary of the Standards Association

1959

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

Related entries

Published resources

Journal Articles

• 'Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal: 1959 Award [W. R. Hebblewhite, OBE BE MIEAust]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 32 (January-February 1960) (1960), N5. Details
• 'Obituary: William Rayner Hebblewhite', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 38 (1966), N53. Details
• Hebblewhite, W. R., 'Standardisation in Australia', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 1 (1929), 31-. Details
• Hebblewhite, W. R., 'Coercion or Co-operation?', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 1 (1929), 285-. Details
• Hebblewhite, W. R., 'Some Contributions by Science to National and Industrial Development - Chairman's Address', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 9 (1937), 188-. Details
• Hebblewhite, W. R., 'Presidential address', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 22 (1950), 39-. Details