Hill, Thomas (1867 - 1944)

Summary

Thomas Hill OBE MIEAust MVIE CE LS was the Commonwealth Director-General of Works, when he retired in 1932. He joined the Commonwealth Department of Home Affairs, and its Public Works Branch, when it was formed in 1901 in Victoria, and rose to be its Chief engineer and Director-General. In this role he had the responsibility for the design and construction of the initial development works in the Federal Capital, including roads and water supply and the Cotter Dam. Later he was also the Commonwealth representative and Deputy Chairman on the River Murray Commission from 1917 when it was formed until he retired, providing a stabilising influence on its developments.

He was actively involved with the surveying and engineering profession, serving as President of the Victorian Institute of Engineers; President of the Victorian Institute of Surveyors; Chairman of the Canberra Division and member of Council of the Institution of Engineers Australia. His distinguished service was recognised in 1927 when he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for service as Director-General of Works.

Details

Chronology

1886

Life event - Migrated to Victoria

c. 1887 - c. 1888

Career position - Cadet surveyor, with Thomas Fender, district surveyor at Geelong

c. 1888 - c. 1889

Career position - Surveyor, with City Surveyor, Collingwood

c. 1889 - c. 1896

Career position - Surveys in the Croajingalong district

c. 1890 -

Career position - Engineering work, Department of Water Supply, Victoria [Laanecoorie Weir and Dam]

1894

Career event - Licensed to practise as a Surveyor (LS) under the Transfer of Land Act 1890 VIC

c. 1895

Career event - Granted Certificate as Engineer of Water Supply, under Irrigation Act 1886 VIC

c. 1895

Career event - Granted Certificate of Qualification as Engineer and Surveyor (CE), Local Government Act 1890 VIC

1896 -

Career position - Assistant engineer, Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works [Sewerage of Melbourne]

1896

Career event - Member, Victorian Institute of Surveyors

1897

Life event - Married Annie Mabel Thompson, [daughter of R. O. Thompson MInstCE, Chief Engineer, Metropolitan Gas Company]

1902

Career position - Engineer, Public Works Department, Victoria

1902 - Jun 1932

Career event - Engineer, rising through Chief engineer, to Director General, Commonwealth Department of Works

1917 - 1934

Career position - Deputy Commissioner for the Commonwealth, River Murray Commission

1919 - 1920

Career event - President, Victorian Institute of Surveyors

1925 - 1926

Career position - President, Victorian Institute of Engineers

1926

Career event - Associate Member (AMIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia (Admitted from Institution of Municipal Engineers of Victoria, following amalgamation)

1926

Career position - Representative of the Commonwealth Government, nominated by CSIR, on the Commonwealth Engineering Standards Association

9 May 1927

Award - Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) - For service as Director-General of Works

1930 -

Career position - Member of Council, Institution of Engineers Australia

1930 -

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

1930

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

1932

Life event - Retired

1944

Buried - Cremated, Springvale Botanical Cemetery

Related entries

Published resources

Book Sections

• McNicoll, Ronald, 'Hill, Thomas (1867-1944), engineer' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 9: 1891 - 1939 Gil-Las, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1983), p. 299, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hill-thomas-6672. Details

Edited Books

• Knox, Errol G. ed., Who's Who in Australia 1935 (Melbourne: Herald and Weekly Times Ltd, 1935), 567 pp. "Hill, Thomas, OBE MIEAust MVIE LS(Vic)", p.235. Details

Journal Articles

• 'Chairman, Canberra Division, I.E.Aust. Thomas Hill Director-General of Works (Commonwealth)', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 2 (7) (1930), iv. Details
• 'Mr Thomas Hill MIEAust, retirement from the office of Director-General of Works (Commonwealth)', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 3 (10) (1931), 370. Details
• 'Obituary - Thomas Hill OBE MIE(Aust) MVIE LS', Australian Surveyor (1944), 94-5. Details
• Dethridge, J. S., and Hill, T., 'Conservation Works on the Murray River', Commonwealth Engineer (1924). Details
• Dethridge, John Stuart; and Hill, Thomas, 'Recent works in connection with the Murray river conservation (Abstract of Lecture, Discussion & Paper)', Proceedings of the Victorian Institute of Engineers 1923-1924 (1924), 198-204, 205-212. https://hdl.handle.net/11343/24639. Details
• Hill, Thomas, 'Presidential Address 1926', Proceedings of the Victorian Institute of Engineers 1925-1926 (1927), 87-91. https://hdl.handle.net/11343/24664. Details
• Hill, Thomas, '28 Floods on the Mississippi river (Abstract of Lecture)', Proceedings of the Victorian Institute of Engineers 1927-1928 (1928), 159-162. https://hdl.handle.net/11343/24703. 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 Associate Member following the decision of the Institution of Municipal Engineers of Victoria to amalgamate with the Institution. See pp.xxi-xxii. Details

Reports

• Hill, Thomas, Report on investigations in U.S.A. and Canada (1928). Details

See also

• 'Concrete tests - Demonstration of the effect of the water-cement ratio on the strength of concrete', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 2 (11) (1930), 440-1. Details
• 'River Murray Commission', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 7 (6) (1935), 224. Details
• Dare, Henry Harvey, 'The River Murray Waters Scheme', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 6 (6) (1934), 185-198. Details
• Eaton, J. H. O.; Hill, T.; Chapman, R. W., 'A century of engineering in South Australia (Discussions and communications)', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 9 (10) (1937), 405-406. Details