Person
Calder, William (1860 - 1928)
- Born
- 31 July 1860
Milton, Otago, New Zealand - Died
- 18 February 1928
Malvern, Victoria, Australia - Occupation
- Civil engineer and Surveyor
Summary
William Calder, MInstCE AMIEAust MVIE, was the first Chairman of the Country Roads Board Victoria, from 1913 until his death in 1928. Under his guidance, the network of main roads of the State were surveyed, a major construction program was commenced, the "Highways and Vehicles Act, 1924" was passed enabling State highways to be declared and funded by the State, and the major highways were established.
In 1929, the North-Western highway linking Melbourne to Bendigo and Mildura, was renamed the "Calder Highway" as a tribute to his memory.
Details
Chronology
- 1888
- Life event - Migrated to Victoria, Australia
- 1891 - 1897
- Career position - Surveyor and Treasurer, Borough of Footscray
- 1898 - 1913
- Career position - City Engineer and Surveyor, City of Prahran
- 2 Dec 1902
- Career event - Associate Member (AssocMInstCE), Institution of Civil Engineers, London
- 1908 - 1912
- Career event - Member (MVIE), Victorian Institute of Engineers
- 1913 - 1928
- Career position - Chairman, Country Roads Board, Victoria
- 21 Jan 1913
- Career event - Member (MInstCE), Institution of Civil Engineers, London
- 1919
- Career event - Foundation Associate Member (AMIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia
- c. 1920 - 1928
- Career position - Member, Municipal Surveyors' Board
- 1926
- Career event - Life Associate Member (AMIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia (Admitted from Institution of Municipal Engineers of Victoria, following amalgamation)
- 1928
- Buried - Cheltenham Cemetery, Victoria
Related entries
Published resources
Book Sections
- Southern, Roger J., 'Calder, William (1860-1928), engineer' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 7: 1891 - 1939 A-Ch, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1979), pp. 526-7. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/calder-william-5466. Details
Conference Papers
- Churchward, Matthew, 'William Calder: "father of the Country Roads Board".', in Engineering Heritage Victoria, Speakers Programme (2015)., https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/Event/ehv-guest-speaker-presentation-william-calder. Details
Edited Books
- Engineers Australia ed., Anything is possible: 100 Australian engineering leaders (Barton, A.C.T.: Institution of Engineers, Australia, 2019), 136 pp, https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/sites/default/files/2025-08/EA2_Anything%20is%20possible_0.pdf. 'Roads well travelled - William Calder' p.18. Details
Journal Articles
- 'Memoirs', Transactions of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 9 (1928), 262-282, https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.265086577514298. Details
- Calder, W., 'Notes of tests of reinforced concrete slabs (with Discussion)', Transactions and Proceedings of the Victorian Institute of Surveyors, 5 (1900-1909), 155-158. Details
- Calder, W., 'Notes on road construction [Illustrated]', The Varsity Engineer, 1 (1910), 9-30, https://hdl.handle.net/11343/91419. Details
- Institution of Engineers Australia, 'Seventh Annual General Meeting [March 1927] and Seventh Annual Report [1926]', Transactions of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 7 (1927), xvi-xli, https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.864993719677643. Admitted as Life Associate Member following the decision of the Institution of Municipal Engineers of Victoria to amalgamate with the Institution. See pp.xxi-xxii. Details
Resources
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q8006451. Details
- VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/94003610. Details
- Institution of Civil Engineers, London, 'Application: 10827, 1902', Civil Engineer Membership Forms, 1818-1930, ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/3585/. Details
- Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-594398. Details
See also
- Alsop, Peter F. B. ed., Nineteenth century engineers in the colony of Victoria (Geelong North, Victoria: Author, 2002), 372 pp. Details
- Anon, 'Prominent people - People from earlier times' in VicRoads centenary : keeping Victorians connected for 100 years. 1913-2013, Darragh O'Keeffe, ed. (Bondi Junction, NSW: Faircount Media Group, 2013), pp. 30-33. Details
- Coane, John Montgomery; Coane, Henry Edward; Coane, John Mongomery, Jun., Australasian roads : a treatise, practical and scientific, on the location, design, construction and maintenance of roads and pavements (Melbourne: George Robertson, 1908), 334 pp. [William Calder wrote the foreward for the 1927 edition]. Details
- Sharp, Kieran.; Brindle, Ray; Lay, Max; Metcalf, John; Johnston, Ian; Jones, Dave ed., ARRB: the first fifty years (Vermont South, Vic.: ARRB Group Ltd, 2011). 'William Calder" p.5 Includes portrait. Details
Ken McInnes
Created: 14 November 2019, Last modified: 13 July 2022