Biographical entry O'Connor, Charles Yelverton (1843 - 1902)

Summary

Charles Yelverton O'Connor was engineer-in-chief for Western Australia 1891-1902. He was responsible for the construction of the harbour at Fremantle, he made striking improvements in the building and operation of the government railways and was the driving force behind the Coolgardie Water Supply Scheme. The latter project resulted in O'Connor being submitted to almost constant uninformed criticism which lead to him taking his own life. Despite this, the scheme was completed in late 1902 and proved to be immensely successful. Before his Western Australian appointment, O'Connor worked in New Zealand on various surveying and engineering projects 1865-1891.

Details

Events

1874 - 1883

Career position - District Engineer for Canterbury province in New Zealand

1883 - 1890

Career position - Under-Secretary for public works in New Zealand (Canterbury province?)

1890 - 1891

Career position - Marine Engineer for the colony of New Zealand

1891 - 1902

Career position - Engineer-in-chief for Western Australia

1897

Award - Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG)

Published resources

Books

• Ayris, Cyril, C. Y. O'Connor: a Brief Biography, Cyril Ayris Freelance, West Perth, 2004, 56 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Tauman, Merab Harris, 'O'Connor, Charles Yelverton (1843-1902), Engineer', in Geoffrey Serle (ed.), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 11, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1988, pp. 51-54. Also available at http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110059b.htm. Details

Online Resources

• National Library of Australia, 'O'Connor, Charles Yelverton', Trove, National Library of Australia and the Australian National Maritime Museum Darling Harbour, 2009, http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-464056. Details

See also

• Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Technology in Australia 1788-1988, Online edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, 3 May 2000, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/scripts/tia-dynindex.php3?EID=P002468. Details