Person
Shea, Frederick James (1891 - 1970)
- Born
- 6 July 1891
Moonee Ponds, Victoria, Australia - Died
- 6 September 1970
Mona Vale, New South Wales, Australia - Occupation
- Public servant and Railway engineer
Summary
Frederick Shea was a railway engineer who made significant contributions to Australia's railway systems. During 17 years with the Victorian Railways he was involved in the modernisation of the workshops and the electrification of the network. While at the South Australian Railways as Chief Mechanical Engineer he designed three types of locomotive to cope with local conditions. Shea's railways career was interrupted during WWII when he joined the Aircraft Production Commission in 1940 and was responsible for aircraft maintenance and putting much of Australia's industry on a war footing. His return to rail came towards the end of the war when he became director of mechanical engineering under the Commonwealth Government's program to standardise railway gauges across Australia. He later joined locomotive manufacturer Clyde Engineering which named one of their diesel hydraulic locomotives in his honour.
Details
Chronology
- 1907
- Career event - Apprentice Fitter and Turner, Victorian Railways' workshops, Newport, Victoria
- 1914
- Education - Diploma in mechanical engineering, Working Men's College, Melbourne
- 1923 - 1939
- Career position - Chief Mechanical Engineer, South Australian Railways
- 1940 - 1941
- Career position - Manager, Beaufort Division, Aircraft Production Commission, Fishermens Bend, Melbourne
- 1942 - 1946
- Career position - Director of Aircraft Maintenance, Department of Aircraft Production
- 1946 - 1958
- Career position - Director of Engineering, Clyde Engineering Co. Pty Ltd
- 1958
- Life event - Retired
Related entries
Published resources
Book Sections
- Fort, Carol, 'Shea, Frederick James (1891-1970), railway engineer and public servant' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 16: 1940 - 1980 Pik-Z, John Ritchie and Diane Langmore, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2002), pp. 221-222. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/shea-frederick-james-11668. Details
Resources
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q24218534. Details
- VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/65431942. Details
- 'Shea, Frederick James (1891-19701231)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1469574. Details
Ailie Smith and Helen Cohn
Created: 6 April 2016, Last modified: 16 November 2021