P000670 revised AU-VU:EOAS Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation

All key entry types: Awards; Concepts; Corporate Bodies (Organisations); Cultural Artefacts; People; etc

These key entries are listed separately below with other indexes and lists.

 English AACR2 Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules Person created 1993-10-20 human Gavan McCarthy; Ken McInnes updated 2026-02-02 human https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P000670b.htm person Newbigin William Johnstone AACR2 12 June 1874 20 April 1927 Place of Birth Alnwick, Northumberland, England Place of Death Wahroonga, New South Wales, Australia Mechanical engineer Company director William Newbigin, MIEAust, was Chief of the engineering staff of William Adams & Co. Ltd 1906-1920 and Managing Director from 1922. He was on the CSIR Executive from 1926 and played a leading role in the formation of the Institution of Engineers, Australia. He died in office and was replaced on the CSIR Executive Committee by Dr A.E.V. Richardson.

Quote from his ADB entry (1988):

"Recognizing the weakness of a fragmented profession, further subdivided by State boundaries, he played an important part with R. W. H. Hawken and D. F. J. Harricks in the conferences which led to the foundation of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, and was a foundation council-member until his death. He served as vice-president in 1919-20 and as second president in 1921. In his presidential address he stressed the value of individual effort based on reason rather than on emotion. Moving to Sydney in 1922 as managing director of William Adams & Co., Newbigin was a council-member of the Sydney Chamber of Commerce and represented the Associated Chambers of Commerce of Australia on the main committee of the Australian Commonwealth Standards Association and supported standardization at an early stage. In 1926 he was appointed to the executive of the Commonwealth Council for Scientific and Industrial Research under (Sir) George Julius."

1895 1897 Career position - Foreman in charge of the test bed, C. A. Parsons & Co. Ltd., Newcastle-on-Tyne 1897 1897 Career position - Guarantee Engineer in charge of Power Plant supplied to the Funchal Electric Light Co., Madeira, C. A. Parsons & Co. Ltd 1898 1898 Career position - Breakdown Engineer, Leeds Office, C. A. Parsons & Co. Ltd c. 1899 c. 1899 Career position - Guarantee Engineer in charge of plant supplied to the Victorian Government Railways for installation at the Spencer Street Power Station, C. A. Parsons & Co. Ltd. 1901 1905 Career position - Resident Engineer in Australia, C. A. Parsons & Co. Ltd. 1904 1905 Career position - Member of Council, Victorian Institute of Engineers 1905 1922 Career position - Chief of Engineering Staff, Wm. Adams & Co. Ltd., Melbourne 1910 1912 Career position - Member of Council, Victorian Institute of Electrical Engineers 1913 1913 Career position - President, Victorian Institute of Electrical Engineers 1914 1919 Career position - Member, Federal Council, Electrical Association of Australia 1919 1919 Career event - Foundation Associate Member (AMIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia 1919 1927 Career position - Member of Council, Institution of Engineers, Australia 1920 1920 Career event - Member (MIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia 1920 1921 Career position - Vice President, Institution of Engineers, Australia 1921 1921 Career position - President, Institution of Engineers, Australia 1922 1927 Career position - Managing Director, Wm. Adams & Co. Ltd., Sydney Harricks, Dudley Francis John (1880 - 1960)

Helped establish the Institution of Engineers, Australia

 Hawken, Roger William Hercules (1878 - 1947)

Helped establish the Institution of Engineers, Australia

 Kenyon, Alfred Stephen (1867 - 1943)

Newbigin MIEAust proposed Kenyon's application for MIEAust 1922

 CSIR Council, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (1926 - 1949)

Member of Executive (part time) April 1926 - April 1927

 Institution of Engineers, Australia (1919 - )

Foundation council member 1919 - 1927; Vice-president 1919-1920; President 1921

 Electrical Association of Australia (1915 - 1919)

Federal Council member 1914 - 1919

 Victorian Institute of Engineers (1883 - 1949)

Council member 1904 - 1905

 Victorian Institute of Electrical Engineers ( - 1915)

Council member from 1910; President 1913

 Victorian Railways, Colony and State of Victoria (1883 - 1983)

Guarantee engineer for C. A. Parsons plant installed at Spencer Street Power Station 1899

 Richardson, Arnold Edwin Victor (1883 - 1949)

Richardson replaced Newbigin on the CSIR Executive Committee in 1927

 CSIR Executive Committee, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (1926 - 1949)

Member part-time April 1926 - April 1927

Wikidata

VIAF - Virtual International Authority File

 Newbigin, William Johnstone (1874-1927)

Trove

 'Newbigin, William Johnstone', in Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology Newbigin, William Johnstone Swinburne University of Technology, Centre for Transformative Innovation Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Book: The Origins of CSIRO: Science and the Commonwealth Government, 1901-1926 Currie, George; Graham, John The Origins of CSIRO: Science and the Commonwealth Government, 1901-1926 Melbourne CSIRO 1966 Journal Article: First members of institution [Diamond Jubilee feature article] First members of institution [Diamond Jubilee feature article] 1979 Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia 51 20 69 Journal Article: Some notes on the Parsons steam turbine (Paper & Discussion) Newbigin, William Johnstone Some notes on the Parsons steam turbine (Paper & Discussion) 1905 Proceedings of the Victorian Institute of Engineers vol. IV 163-191 Journal Article: Presidential address [1922] Newbigin, William Johnstone Presidential address [1922] Sydney, NSW Institution of Engineers Australia 1923 Transactions of the Institution of Engineers, Australia 2 lxvii-lxxx Journal Article: Presidential address Woolnough, W. G. Presidential address 1927 Journal and proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 61 1-53 Journal Article: CSIR and Australian industry, 1926-49 Upstill, Garrett; Spurling, Thomas H.; and Healy, Terence J. CSIR and Australian industry, 1926-49 2021 Historical Records of Australian Science 32 1 52-66 Journal Article: Memoirs Memoirs 1927 Transactions of the Institution of Engineers, Australia 8 483-495 Book: Engineering a Legacy: Memories of the journey of CSIRO Chemical Engineering Beale, Bob Engineering a Legacy: Memories of the journey of CSIRO Chemical Engineering Clayton, Victoria CSIRO Minerals 2005 William Johnstone Newbigin - Records Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science William Johnstone Newbigin - Records MS 041 1922 - 1927 Photocopy of a Presidential address to the Institution of Engineers, Australia 1922; photocopy of an obituary notice, "Sydney Morning Herald" 22 April 1927 [5 mm, MS 41]. 0.005 m