P005841 new 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 human Helen Cohn; Ken McInnes updated 2025-02-04 human https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P005841b.htm person Thompson George Thomas OBE AACR2 15 December 1895 10 October 1987 Place of Birth Ascot Vale, Victoria, Australia Place of Death Camberwell, Victoria, Australia Surveyor Conservationist Civil engineer George Thompson OBE LS MIEAust, played a central role in major conservation issues in Victoria from the 1930s. As surveyor and civil engineer for the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission he observed the degraded water systems and land erosion resulting from land clearance, poor agricultural practices, mining and intervention in rivers. As a consequence, conservation and remedial work became his principal professional focus in life. Lobbying by Thompson and others resulted in Victoria's Soil Conservation Act of 1940. He held executive positions in the new Soil Conservation Board and was Chairman of the Soil Conservation Authority from 1950 to 1961. Thompson was also involved in community conservation groups, including the Natural Resources Conservation League of Victoria and the Save our Bushlands Action Committee, which successfully opposed Government plans to subdivide the Little Desert in western Victoria into farms. He was also involved in the formation of the Conservation Council of Victoria in 1969. 1914 1921 Career position - Pupilage, Saxil Tuxen, Surveyor and Town Planner. [Also part of time in AIF] 1916 1919 Military service - First World War. Gunner, 8th Field Artillery Brigade, Australian Imperial Force, France 1920 1920 Career event - Licensed Land Surveyor 1921 1923 Career position - Surveyor, State Rivers and Water Supply Commission [In charge of all surveys of Red Cliffs Estate, under Resident engineer C.M.B. Neylon, and Supervising engineer A. S. Kenyon] 1923 1930 Career position - Surveyor, State Rivers and Water Supply Commission [Topographical surveys of rivers, design reiver improvement works] 1929 1929 Career event - Granted Certificate of Qualification as Municipal Surveyor (CE), Local Government Act 1903 VIC c. 1930 c. 1930 Career event - Member, Victorian Institute of Surveyors 1930 1930 Career event - Granted Certificate as Engineer of Water Supply, Water Act 1890 VIC 1935 1941 Career position - Councillor, Victorian Institute of Surveyors 1935 1946 Career position - Executive Engineer, Rivers and Streams Branch, State Rivers and Water Supply Commission, Victoria [Development and control of catchments for regulating run-off and control of erosion and siltation of reservoirs. In charge of experimental catchment at Teddington, St.Arnauld] 1940 1945 Military service - Lieutenant, Intelligence Officer, Volunteer Defence Corp (VDC) Battalion 1943 1946 Career position - Member (part-time) and Deputy Chairman, Soil Conservation Board [Working with A.S. Kenyon, L.R. East, H.G. Strom, E.J. Lupson] 1945 1945 Career event - Associate Member (AMIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia 1947 1950 Career position - Executive Officer, Soil Conservation Board, Victoria 1950 1961 Career position - Chairman, Soil Conservation Authority 1953 1954 Career position - President, Natural Resources Conservation League of Victoria 1961 1961 Life event - Retired 1962 1972 Career position - Director, Natural Resources Conservation League of Victoria c. 1964 c. 1964 Life event - Retired 1965 1965 Award - Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) - Director of the Natural Resources League 13 Sep 1968 13 Sep 1968 Career event - Member (MIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia [Former Associate Members were designated Members on this date.] 1972 1973 Career position - President, Natural Resources Conservation League of Victoria East, Lewis Ronald (1899 - 1994)

Ronald East MIEAust endorsed George Thompson's application for AMIEAust 1945

 Soil Conservation Board, State of Victoria (1940 - 1949)

Deputy Chairman 1943 - 1946; Member 1943 - 1946

 Soil Conservation Authority, State of Victoria (1950 - 1987)

Chairman 1950 - 1961

 Natural Resources Conservation League of Victoria (NRCL) (1951 - )

President 1953 - 1954 and 1972 - 1973; Director 1962 - 1972

Wikidata

 Thompson, G T (18951215-19871010)

Trove

 'Thompson, George Thomas', in Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology Thompson, George Thomas Swinburne University of Technology, Centre for Transformative Innovation Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Book Section: Thompson, George Thomas (1895-1987), surveyor and conservationist Garden, Donald S. Thompson, George Thomas (1895-1987), surveyor and conservationist Melbourne Melbourne University Press 2012 Australian dictionary of biography, volume 18: 1981 - 1990 L-Z Melanie Nolan 504 Book: Building a Forest Conscience: an Historical Portrait of the Natural Resources Conservation League of Victoria (NRCL) Robin, Libby Building a Forest Conscience: an Historical Portrait of the Natural Resources Conservation League of Victoria (NRCL) Melbourne Natural Resources Conservation League of Victoria 1991 Resource: B884 Citizen Military Forces Personnel Dossiers, 1939-1947 CA 2002, 2 Echelon, Army Headquarters; CA 46, Department of Defence [III], Central Office B884 Citizen Military Forces Personnel Dossiers, 1939-1947 National Archives of Australia, RecordSearch Resource: B2455 First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920 CA 2001 Australian Imperial Force, Base Records Office B2455 First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920 National Archives of Australia, RecordSearch Parliamentary paper: Soil Conservation Authority : first annual report for year ended 30th June 1950 Soil Conservation Authority Soil Conservation Authority : first annual report for year ended 30th June 1950 Melbourne Government Printer 1950 Book: Defending the Little Desert: the Rise of Ecological Consciousness in Australia Robin, Libby Defending the Little Desert: the Rise of Ecological Consciousness in Australia Melbourne Melbourne University Press 1998 Book: Watering the garden state: water, land and community in Victoria, 1834 - 1988 Powell, J. M. Watering the garden state: water, land and community in Victoria, 1834 - 1988 Sydney Allen and Unwin 1989 Membership application forms and correspondence, ca.1935-1978 [microfiche] Private hands (Engineering Heritage Victoria) Membership application forms and correspondence, ca.1935-1978 [microfiche] c. 1935 - c. 1978 Institution of Engineers Australia membership application forms were submitted in duplicate, with a copy being kept by the relevant local Division office and a master copy being forwarded and kept at Headquarters. From 1919 to 1974, Headquarters were in Sydney, and afterwards in Barton, ACT. If a member moved interstate, the Division copy of a member's file was transferred to the corresponding state Division. If they moved overseas, the copy remained within the Division. The master copy of membership files of past members is held in the archives of the Institution of Engineers Australia in Canberra, and some Division office copies have survived. After implementation of a centralised online computerised membership system in the early 1980s, the need for local duplicate records was considered superfluous. Victoria Division, during the early 1970s, microfiched its copies of current membership records, and disposed of its hardcopy of current membership records. In the 1980s, after the computerised membership system was introduced, the microfiche copy of these local records was considered redundant. This archive resource contains the surviving microfiche records. The archive is not complete as membership records for many known members listed in published membership lists are not within this collection. Note that some earlier Victoria Division copies of membership records are contained in the manuscript collection at the State Library of Victoria YMS 1170. 10000 microfiche Microfiche