Brain, Orlando William Cornelius (1866 - 1936)

Summary

Orlando Brain MIEE MIEAust, was an Assistant Commissioner of the New South Wales Government Railways and Tramways 1925-1932. He joined the Railways Department in 1896 as Chief Assistant to the Electrical Engineer, and from 1899 for the next 26 years was Chief Electrical Engineer for Railways and Tramways. During this period the Sydney tramways and suburban railways were converted to electric traction.

In addition to all the electrical work related to the railways and tramways, he was also responsible for bulk electricity supplies to the City Council, Sydney suburban areas, Newcastle, Maitland, and Singleton and district.

His early experience in electrical work was gained in England and Australia, under his father W Blanch Brain, a pioneer in electrical engineering.

Orlando also acted in a consulting capacity for other branches of the public service including: the original electrical installation for the low level sewerage system of Sydney; the electrical equipment for many moveable bridges; the coal crane at Newcastle; and he was a member of the Commission on Electricity in Mines.

Brain was the first lecturer in Electrical Engineering at the University of Sydney. He was also a member of the Munitions Committee at the beginning of the First World War; of the Rain Precipitation Investigation Committee; of the Commonwealth Engineering Standards Association; and of the Trade Advisory Board of the Sydney Technical College.

In 1926 he was awarded the Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal, career achievement award in engineering, by the Institution of Engineers Australia.

Details

Chronology

1885

Life event - Moved to Australia, with his parents and siblings

1885 - 1887

Career position - Assistant to the Superintendent of Telephones, Tasmania

1887 - 1895

Career position - Electrical engineer, Crompton Electrical Company and its Australia agents [Managing many works including: the first Australian town lighting plant at Tamworth, NSW (1888); the first Australian mining power plant at Co-operative Colliery, Plattsburg, Newcastle, NSW (1893); and the hydro-electric plant and quartz stamping battery at Hillgrove, NSW (1894).]

1891 - 1914

Career event - Member, Electrical Association of New South Wales

1891 - 1915

Career event - Foundation Member, Electrical Association of New South Wales

1894

Life event - Married Amy Foxton Robertson, Wollongong, New South Wales

1896 - 1899

Career position - Chief Assistant to Electrical Engineer, Railways Department, New South Wales [under P.B. Elwell MIEE]

1897 - 1899

Career position - Chief Electrical Engineer, Railways Department, New South Wales

1899

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

1899 - 1900

Career position - President, Electrical Association of New South Wales

1899 - 1924

Career position - Chief Electrical Engineer, Railways and Tramways, New South Wales

1900

Career event - Introduced the Electric Train Staff in New South Wales railway operations

c. 1901 - 1903

Career position - Lecturer, Electrical engineering, University of Sydney

1902 - 1903

Career event - Overseas tour of America, Europe and England

1910

Career event - Representative of New South Wales, at the International Railway Conference, Berne, Switzerland. Later recommended the salient features of the railway electrification system for Sydney.

1911 - 1912

Career position - President, Electrical Association of New South Wales

1914 - 1915

Career position - President (first), Federal Council, Electrical Association of Australia

1914 - 1919

Career event - Member, Electrical Association of Australia, New South Wales section

1915 - 1917

Career position - Member of the Rain Precipitation Investigation Committee

1919

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

1920

Career position - Chairman of committee, Report on bulk supply of electricity in NSW

1920

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

1920

Career position - Consultant to Queensland government. [Valuator of Brisbane Tramways, and Report on power supply for the Brisbane Tramways Trust.]

1922 - 1926

Career position - Representative of the Institution of Engineers Australia, on the Commonwealth Engineering Standards Association

1925 - 1932

Career position - Assistant Commissioner, New South Wales Government Railways and Tramways

1926

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

1932

Life event - Retired

Related entries

Published resources

Journal Articles

• 'Memoirs', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 8 (1936), 361-362. 'Orlando William Brain, MIEAust', p361. Details
• Brain, O.W., 'Presidential address. Electrical Association of New South Wales', Proceedings of the Electrical Association of New South Wales (1911-12), 5-30. Details
• Brain, O.W., 'Some notes on the metropolitan electric power supply of the N.S.W. railway commissioners', Proceedings of the Electrical Association of Australia, New South Wales Section, IV (1918-1919) (1918-19), 57-85; 87-91. 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. 'Prizes - The fourth award of the Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal was made by Council to Mr O W Brain, Member, Assistant Railway Commissioner, N.S.W. Govt. Railways, Sydney', p.xxxv. Details

Newspaper Articles

• Anon, 'Mr. O. W. Brain', The Land (Sydney) (1925), 9, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article103031584. Details

Resources

• Institution of Electrical Engineers, London, 'Application: 165-6, 1899', Electrical Engineer Membership Forms, 1871-1901, ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/9058/. Details

See also

• 'P. N. Russell Memorial Medal [List of recipients 1923 - 1931]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 3 (1931), 445. Details
• McCarthy, Ken, 'Chapter 13: The tramways of Sydney' in Sydney: from settlement to city: an engineering history of Sydney, Don Fraser, ed. (Crows Nest, New South Wales: Engineers Australia, 1989), pp. 257-270. Details