Crawford, John Murray (1871 - 1943)

Summary

John Crawford, MBE MIEAust MIEE, was Chief Engineer, Postmaster-General's Department, Commonwealth of Australia, from c1927 to 1936. For more than fifteen years before that, he held senior engineering positions within the Department in Melbourne and Sydney.

He presented from Melbourne, at the historic first joint meeting of the Melbourne Division and Sydney Division, Institution of Engineers, Australia, held on the 26th March 1929 by telephone link, and broadcast live by public radio in both Melbourne and Sydney.

He was Chairman, Melbourne Division, Institution of Engineers, Australia in 1933-34; was its President in 1937; and was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1935 in recognition of his service to the Postmaster-General's Department.

Details

Chronology

1911

Career event - Associate Member (AMIEE), Institution of Electrical Engineers, London

c. 1911

Life event - Arrived in Australia

1912 - c. 1917

Career position - Assistant Electrical Engineer, Postmaster-General's Department

c. 1917 - 1924

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

1919

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

1925 - c. 1927

Career position - Chief Electrical Engineer, Postmaster-General's Department

1926

Career event - Member (MIEE), Institution of Electrical Engineers, London

c. 1927 - 1936

Career position - Chief Engineer, Postmaster-General's Department

26 Mar 1929

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

1930

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

1932

Career event - Representative of the Commonwealth of Australia, International Telecommunications Conference, Madrid

1932

Career event - Representative of the Commonwealth of Australia, International Electrical Congress, Paris

1933

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

3 Jun 1935

Award - Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) - Chief Engineer in the PMG's Department

1936

Life event - Retired

1937

Career position - President, Institution of Engineers, Australia

1937

Career event - Representative of the Commonwealth of Australia, International Congress of the International Association for Testing Materials, London

Related entries

Published resources

Edited Books

• Gibbney, H. J.; and Smith, Ann G. eds, A Biographical register 1788-1939 : notes from the name index of the Australian Dictionary of biography. Volume 1: A-K (Canberra: Australian Dictionary of Biography, 1987), 403 pp, https://history.cass.anu.edu.au/files/ncb/documents/A%20Biographical%20Register%201788-1939%20Vol%201%20A-K.pdf. vol.1, p.150. Details

Journal Articles

• Anon, 'Retirement of Chief Engineer. Postmaster-General's Department [J. M. Crawford MBE MIEAust]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 8 (6) (1936), 220. Details
• Chapman, W. D.; Jenkinson, H. G.; Crawford, J. M.; Carter, H. G.; Just, J. S.; Mackerras, A. P.; Gibson, W. H. H.; Leith, A. C.; Pringle, T. P.; Costello, E. C.; Finch, L. H.; Simpson, J. A.; McLean, D., 'The future of the engineering profession (Discussions and communications)', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 7 (6) (1935), 202-206. Details
• Crawford, J. M., 'The development of communication in Victoria', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 6 (10) (1934), 401-406, https://drive.google.com/file/d/13H2vNRdZ8t1PoBwGeU7hRsNDh5uFnDK0/view. 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
• Crawford, J. M.; Vine Hall, R.; Baker, Richard T.; Welch, M. B.; Grant, R.; Froggatt, W. W.; Lofts, G. H.; Burton, W. L.; Brookman, J. R.; Morse, R. V.; Humble, W., 'Preservation of wooden poles - I and II (Appendices, and discussions and communications)', Transactions of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 5 (1924), 342-354, https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.862590066385336. Details
• Crawford, John Murray, 'Automatic telephony, with special reference to the Sydney Exchanges [in Abstracts of papers read before divisions, 1922.]', Transactions of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 3 (1922), 190-196, https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.633361568242486. Details
• Crawford, John Murray, 'Preservation of wooden poles - I', Transactions of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 5 (1924), 49-59, https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.862124242103881. Details
• Crawford, John Murray, 'Communication engineering in Australia', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 3 (2) (1931), 41-53. Details
• Crawford, John Murray, 'Chairman's Address [Melbourne Division] - Service: Institutional and National; Developments in communications engineering', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 6 (6) (1934), 212-216. Details
• Crawford, John Murray, 'Notes on Victorian-Tasmanian Telephone Cable', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 8 (6) (1936), 236-239. Details
• Crawford, John Murray, 'Presidential address [1938]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 10 (6) (1938), 217-225. Details
• Crawford, John Murray; Partington, R. N.; Crook, R. A.; Archer, R. F.; Witt, S. H., 'Communication engineering in Australia (Discussions and communications)', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 3 (6) (1931), 221-223. Details
• Hayes, Norman William Victor; Attkins, Roy James; Nimmo, W.; Page, R. E.; Crawford, J. M.; Partington, R. N., 'Long line telephone and telegraph systems in Australia (Discussions and communications)', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 2 (12) (1930), 466-467. Details
• Hayes, Norman William Victor; Attkins, Roy James; Nimmo, W.; Page, R. E.; Crawford, J. M.; Partington, R. N., 'Long line telephone and telegraph systems in Australia (Discussions and communications)', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 3 (5) (1931), 173. Details