Holt, James Arthur (1899 - 1982)

Summary

Sir James Holt, BE MIEAust, was the Co-ordinator-General, Public Works Department, Queensland from 1954 until he retired in 1968. As Co-ordinator-General, he was also the Chairman of the Stanley River Works Board, the Burdekin River Authority, the Bureau of Investigation and the State Traffic Commission. Some of the major projects completed during this period included the University of Queensland, completion of the Somerset Dam, and the Tully Falls hydro-electric scheme. Earlier in his career he was associated with the design and supervision of the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge 1922-1932, the supervision of the construction of the Story Bridge, Brisbane 1934-1940, the preliminary design of St.Lucia Bridge, Brisbane and the Fitzroy Bridge, Rockhampton 1940-1941.

During the Second World war, from 1941 to 1944, he was in charge of all Bureau of Industry, Queensland activities, under the direction of the Allied Works Council, including hangars for the US Army Air Force, ordinance stores and workshops for the Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, stores for the RAAF, as well as highways and aerodromes in northern Australia.

His distinguished engineering service and career was acknowledged when he was awarded the R. W. Chapman Medal in 1939; the Warren Memorial Medal in 1940; the R. W. Chapman Medal again in 1953; was appointed Knight Bachelor in 1960; and awarded the Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal in 1961.

Details

Associated Major Projects:
* Story Bridge, Brisbane;
* Fitzroy Bridge, Rockhampton;
* Burdekin River Bridge;
* Somerset Dam, Tully Falls Hydro-Electric Project;
* Barron River Hydro-Electric Extension;
* Victoria Bridge, Brisbane;
* Riverside Expressway, Brisbane;
* Gardens Point Bridge, Brisbane;
* Kangaroo Point Shipbuilding Dock.

Chronology

1919

Career event - Foundation Student Member (StudIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia

1921

Education - Bachelor of Engineering (Civil Engineering), (BE(Civil) Hons), University of Sydney [Graduation Prize for Thesis]

1921 - 1922

Career position - Engineer, General building contractors, Sydney

1922 - 1932

Career position - Engineer, Public Works Department, New South Wales [Associated with design and supervision of construction of Sydney Harbour Bridge]

1926

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

1932 - 1933

Career position - Officer-in-Charge, Narooma office, Department of Main Roads, New South Wales

1934 - 1940

Career position - Supervising Engineer, Bridge Board, Bureau of Industry, Queensland [responsible for the design and supervision of construction of the Story Bridge, Brisbane]

1939

Award - R. W. Chapman Medal [for paper entitled "Story Bridge, Brisbane"]

1939 - 1948

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

1940

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

1940

Award - Warren Memorial Prize [for paper entitled "Story Bridge, Brisbane"]

1940 - 1941

Career position - Supervising Engineer, Bridge Board, Bureau of Industry, Queensland [responsible for preliminary designs of the St.Lucia Bridge, Brisbane, and the Fitzroy Bridge, Rockhampton, and other structural projects]

1941 - 1943

Career position - Engineer-in-charge, War-time activities, Bureau of Industry

1943

Career position - Chairman, Brisbane Division Committee, Institution of Engineers Australia

1943 - 1944

Career position - Engineer-in-Charge, Allied Works Council [All projects in the Cairns area, expenditure on which totalled £1,750,000]

1944 - 1949

Career position - Chief Engineer, Bridge Branch, Co-ordinator-General's Department, Queensland

1947

Career position - Chairman, Brisbane Division Committee, Institution of Engineers Australia

1948 - 1954

Career position - Member of Council, Institution of Engineers Australia

1948 - 1955

Career position - Member of the Faculty of Engineering, University of Queensland

1949 - 1954

Career position - Chief Engineer, Co-ordinator-General's Department, Queensland

c. 1950 - 1960s

Career position - Chairman, Queensland State Committee, Standards Association of Australia

c. 1950 - 1960s

Career position - Queensland Government representative, Standards Association of Australia

1953

Award - R. W. Chapman Medal [for paper entitled "Fitzroy Bridge, Rockhampton"]

1954 - c. 1961

Career position - Co-ordinator-General of Public Works, Queensland. [As Co-ordinator-General was also Chairman of the Stanley River Works Board, the Burdekin River Authority, the Bureau of Investigation and the State Traffic Commission]

1955 -

Career position - Member of the Senate, University of Queensland

1960

Award - Knight Bachelor (Kt) - For service as Coordinator-General with the Queensland Public Works

1961

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

1965

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

1968

Career event - Fellow (FIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia [Former Members were designated Fellows on this date.]

1968

Life event - Retired

1971

Award - Honorary Fellow (HonFIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia

Related entries

Published resources

Book Sections

• Cohen, Kay, 'Holt, Sir James Arthur (1899-1982), engineer and public servant' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 17: 1981 - 1990 A-K, Diane Langmore, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2007), https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/holt-sir-james-arthur-12650. Details

Edited Books

• Cossins, Geoffrey ed., Eminent Queensland Engineers - Volume 2 (Brisbane, Queensland: The Institution of Engineers, Australia, Queensland Division, 1999), 113 pp. https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2017-02/eqe_vol_2.compressed_0.pdf. 'Sir James Holt KB BE HonDEng HonFIEAust' pp.56-57. Details

Journal Articles

• 'Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal: 1961 Award [Sir James Holt, BE MIEAust]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 34 (1962), N4. Details
• 'Sir James Holt elected an Honorary Fellow', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia (1971), 22. Details
• Holt, J. A., 'Story Bridge, Brisbane', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 11 (1939), 1. Discussion pp.53-, 97-, 380-.. Details
• Holt, J. A., 'Fitzroy River Bridge, Queensland', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 25 (1953), 63-. Details
• Institution of Engineers Australia, 'Twenty-third Annual Report [1942]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 15 (1943), 35-51. 'Prizes - Warren Memorial Prize: (1940 Award) to Mr J A Holt, BE MIEAust, Brisbane Division, for his paper "Story Bridge, Brisbane"', p.37. Details
• Institution of Engineers Australia, 'Twenty-third Annual Report [1942]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 15 (1943), 35-51. 'Prizes - R. W. Chapman Medal: (1939 Award) to Mr J A Holt, BE AMIEAust, Brisbane Division, for his paper "Story Bridge, Brisbane"', p.37. Details

Reports

• Institution of Engineers Australia, Thirty-fifth Annual Report [1954] (1955), 14 pp. 'Prizes - R. W. Chapman Medal (1953 Award), to Mr J A Holt, BE MIEAust, Brisbane Division, for his paper "Fitzroy River Bridge, Queensland"', p.3. Details

Resources

• 'Awarded honorary DEng, 1965', Honorary awards recipients, University of Queensland, 2023, https://alumni.uq.edu.au/awards/honorary-awards-previous-recipients. Details