Awards - John Monash Medal
John Monash Medal
This medal was approved by the Council in l976 and perpetuates the memory of Sir John Monash who is recognised as Australia's greatest military commander, and who was an engineer of exceptional and diversified talents. In l921 Sir John Monash was appointed Chairman of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria and was responsible for the Latrobe Valley power scheme. He was awarded the Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal in l929.
The John Monash Medal was originally awarded for the best paper on engineering related to General Engineering interests, with the award being first made in l979. In 2002, the John Monash Medal was re-designated as an award for Engineering Heritage.
The John Monash Medal is awarded by Engineering Heritage Australia (EHA) and recognises outstanding contributions made by an individual towards increasing awareness, and conservation, of Australia’s engineering heritage. Worthy contributions considered for the award include promoting awareness of engineering heritage matters within the profession or the community, recording and documenting, and conserving or adapting engineering heritage. The award is open to members and non members of Engineers Australia.
A list of recipients of the John Monash Medal are:
| Year (Note 1) |
Awardee | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | JORDAN Bill |
Bill currently leads an engineering practice specialising in the conservation of heritage buildings and structures. He had a leadership role with Engineering Heritage Australia between 1991 and 2013, and has authored over 30 papers on building conservation and restoration. His conservation work includes the stabilisation of "Elizabeth Farm", the oldest European building in Australia. He has pioneered methods and materials for historical masonry, induced building vibration monitoring, and earthquake damage assessment and repair. His pioneering work on the Budj Bim aquaculture systems has been pivotal in demonstrated the engineering abilities of Aboriginal Australians, contributing to its World Heritage listing. |
| 2021 | No Award | |
| 2019 | JEHAN David |
David Jehan commenced his active involvement in Engineering Heritage during his traineeship at Sydney’s historic Cockatoo Island Dockyard from 1981 to 1987, which resulted in a Degree in Mechanical Engineering from UTS. This was a very structured ‘hands on’ traineeship which provided both technical and commercial instruction. Although David has spent most of his professional career working with modern technology, for example his current work with Australia’s first ‘driverless’ metro system, he remains keenly interested in the technology of the past. As the sun sets on the Australian heavy engineering and manufacturing industry he is keen to document what has been achieved in the past, so that current and future graduates can appreciate what we as a nation have done. He believes it is important to know where we have been and what we have done in order to truly progress in the future and possibly recapture the pioneering spirit so boldly demonstrated by our forefathers. |
| 2018 | COLE Bruce |
Over a long and distinguished career, Bruce Cole has made an exceptional contribution to the creation, recording, recognition and preservation of our Engineering Heritage, and to raising the awareness of heritage matters within the profession and the general community. Bruce studied Civil Engineering at the University of Tasmania, graduating with 1st Class Honours, and continued studies for several years as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University. In 1957 he joined the Tasmanian Hydro-Electric Commission and spent the next 20 years engaged in the creation of Engineering Heritage through the design and construction of large dams of various types, including service as the Project Director of the last two power developments to be built by the Commission. This background led him to become involved with the Engineers Australia Heritage Dams Project in the 1990's, which reviewed major dams across the country, and then on to more general involvement in Engineering Heritage through participation in National Engineering Heritage conferences, and organizations such as Engineering Heritage Tasmania and Engineering Heritage Australia. He has served in various leadership capacities in these organizations. Bruce is very active in promoting Engineering Heritage within the profession and in the general community through organizing and participating in heritage conferences, the publication of papers on heritage subjects, the regular delivery of talks to community groups, and collection of oral histories and biographies of important engineers. He is currently Convenor of the EHA Centenary Book project, a significant publication which will feature 100 Australian Engineering achievements for a general audience. Bruce has made a sustained and significant contribution to the Engineering profession. His papers, public activities and leadership are of outstanding quality and represent a major contribution to Engineering Heritage. |
| 2017 | SPRATT Peter AM |
Peter Spratt is a multi-disciplinary Civil Engineer who has been practising as a heritage and conservation engineer for much of his career. He had experience initially in local government, then as a partner in a consulting firm and more recently as a sole practitioner. His conservation experience includes about 200 studies and projects over 40 years.
One of his major studies concerned the massive disintegration of the historic buildings at Tasmania’s convict settlement at Port Arthur, built around 1845. Given that some Roman buildings still stand after 2,000 years, he wondered why the four-storey penitentiary and eleven other buildings were disintegrating after only one century. Peter turned to science for the answers and discovered why the brickwork was decaying and devised remedial work to preserve the historic structures. He has been involved in work on over 750 buildings including about 30 historic churches and cathedrals. He characteristically applies a combination of scientific research to understand the cause of a problem, followed by imaginative engineering to develop a practical solution. He has developed many innovative techniques for overcoming defects in historic structures. His work to instrument the Richmond Bridge to monitor the vibrations caused by traffic, as an early warning system for damage, earned him the Colin Crisp Award in 2013. This follows an Award of Merit from EHA in 2009. In 2016 he received the prestigious award of Life Fellow of the Australian Institute of Building. Peter has served on the Tasmanian Heritage Council for 9 years, and chaired its Works Assessment Committee. He has led many heritage grant proposals to enable building owners to carry out conservation works. Over many years he has led heritage walks through Hobart's CBD. He recently authored the first engineering heritage practice notes for EHA, and has developed a draft Engineers Heritage Charter which will be widely applicable for assessment & conservation of all types of engineering heritage. Over a long and distinguished career, Peter has made an exceptional contribution to the preservation of historic structures, often developing new and novel techniques. He continues to tirelessly promote engineering heritage through his professional work, in the community and within Engineers Australia. |
| 2016 | BAKER Keith |
Keith has been a member of Engineering Heritage Canberra since the early 1990’s and was Chair of the group for three years. He has also been a member of the National Committee of Engineering Heritage Australia since 1999. Whilst on the National Committee, Keith has served in a variety of executive and functional positions, including two periods as Chairman. Keith chaired the organising committee for the National Engineering Heritage Conference held in Canberra in 2001 and led the review of conference papers in 2013. In addition, through personal representation, articles and papers in various EA magazines and conferences, he has actively sought to ensure that the broader EA membership is aware of heritage issues and the achievements of EHA. Keith is a member of Australia ICOMOS and the National Trust of Australia (ACT). He was also a member of the ACT (Government) Heritage Council's Standing Committee on Built Heritage for two years. His book A Centenary of Canberra Engineering has promoted Engineering Heritage within the ACT and beyond. It was written to appeal to the general public rather than just engineers or historians, thus broadening its interest to the wider community. It was released in May 2013 to coincide with the Centenary of Canberra, deftly weaving the engineering and social aspects of the growth of the Capital. The book won a National Trust(ACT) Award and EA’s Colin Crisp Award. While working in Melbourne and Canberra with Commonwealth and Territory Government organisations concerned with works, construction and housing he developed skills in the engineering and management of heritage structures. He subsequently undertook a Master of Applied Science in Cultural Heritage Management at the University of Canberra, and worked for a time for the Australian Heritage Commission. He formed his own consultancy company and undertook heritage studies on a range of subjects, mainly in Canberra, covering street lighting, the Cotter River dam and pumping station, an interpretation of the Kingston Powerhouse, the Canberra Main Outfall Sewer and the engineering services in Old Parliament House and the Fitters Workshop. The award of the John Monash Medal recognises Keith’s long term work to document, conserve and promote Australia’s engineering and industrial heritage. |
| 2015 | VENUS Richard |
Richard Venus has been a passionate advocate for engineering heritage since the late 1970s, when his interest was sparked by assisting two local authors in researching the history of electricity supply in South Australia. At that time he was working as an electrical engineer with the Electricity Trust of SA. He was employed by ETSA for over 30 years, but also became a part-time TAFE lecturer in computer graphics, printing technology and visual communication. This mix of an engineering background and interest in visual communication provided him with a unique combination of skills that led him to establish a firm in 1994 (Digital Ink) providing services in research, interviewing, writing, design, illustration and publication to a variety of government, residential and business customers. He applied these skills to benefit engineering heritage over many years by researching, writing and producing artwork for a number of comprehensive guides for 'engineering heritage' tours, including an innovative guide to the City of Adelaide. He has produced many engineering heritage recognition nominations submitted to Engineering Heritage Australia, resulting in the subjects being publically recognised and formally marked as engineering heritage sites. He is also the principal author of a very successful 50-page document 'Engineering a City', detailing the engineering history of Adelaide, which is now in its 4th reprint with 15000 copies produced to date. He regularly contributes research papers to heritage engineering conferences. Richard is an outstanding advocate for engineering heritage, not only within the engineering community but also by raising awareness of heritage in the general community. He has served as Chairman of the South Australian branch of Engineering Heritage Australia several times over the last 18 years, and is its Chairman today. He is currently Vice President of the History Council of South Australia. He proposed and was instrumental in organising a highly successful annual engineering heritage conference in Adelaide, commencing in 2012, attracting a wide range of delegates including engineers, architects and historians. Richard regularly presents to general community to groups such at Probus, Rotary and historical groups, and conducts engineering heritage walks through Adelaide, raising public awareness of the past work of engineers. Richard Venus has committed much of his career and life to the recording, preservation, and celebration of engineering heritage. He provides encouragement and imparts knowledge to others, and works to increase community awareness of engineers and engineering. He has made an outstanding contribution to heritage engineering and serves as an excellent role-model for others to follow. |
| 2014 | BEAUCHAMP David |
David Beauchamp has been a significant advocate for the preservation and restoration of heritage buildings and an engineering consultant in the field for over 40 years. He became the first president of the Carlton Association in 1969 to fight for the preservation of a large group of 19th Century terrace houses at risk of being demolished by the Housing Commission of Victoria. In that same year he established a consulting practice to give advice on the repair and restoration of historic buildings. His consultancy developed and expanded to produce conservation management plans for a large number of bridges for VicRoads and other bodies, and to carry out inspections, heritage assessments and reporting on historic bridges and other buildings. He shows great leadership in the field through a broad range of activities. He initiated research on lime mortars to assess their suitability for the repair of historic buildings and has written many papers and articles on this topic and a diverse range of other topics in engineering heritage and related areas. He regularly gives presentations on historic structures and innovations, assessment of heritage value, restoration techniques and construction materials encountered in heritage buildings. David has served on a variety of committees. He was appointed a member of The Heritage Council of Victoria in 1995, specifically because of his engineering skills, and served on the Council for 6 years. He also served on Heritage Victoria's Technical Advisory Committee until 2013, is a longstanding member and current Deputy Chair of Engineering Heritage Victoria, and actively participates in national and international heritage organisations such as the National Trust, The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), and the Association of Preservation Technology in the USA. David is an outstanding advocate for engineering heritage, not only within the engineering community but also by raising awareness of heritage in the general community. He has contributed to community events, written newspaper articles and has served as an engineering heritage tour guide. Most notably, he worked to raise community awareness of the important, but largely forgotten, 19th Century engineer John Grainger, who designed numerous bridges, water supply systems and buildings in several states. David undertook a fundraising campaign to place a headstone on Grainger's unmarked grave, and generated publicity in major newspapers. David Beauchamp has committed much of his career and life to preservation and reuse of heritage structures, providing encouragement and imparting knowledge to others, and increasing community awareness of engineers and engineering. He has made an outstanding contribution to heritage engineering and serves as an excellent role-model for others to follow. |
| 2013 | PEAKE Owen |
Owen Peake has made an outstanding contribution to engineering heritage over very many years. He shows great leadership in the field through a broad range of activities, producing prodigious quantities of output while always maintaining high standards. He is a passionate advocate for engineering heritage as a member of Engineering Heritage Australia (EHA) since 2002, actively participating in both the Northern and Victorian chapters, and serving as the Chair of EHA for over three years. Owen has authored over 30 articles and papers related to engineering heritage during the last ten years, which have been published in the Engineers Australia Magazine, various newsletters and presented at National and Australasian Engineering conferences. He continues to actively encourage others to write articles or papers on engineering heritage. He also led a collaboration with Victoria University’s engineering school to provide mentored work experience to senior students in researching and writing nominations for selected engineering heritage works under the EHA heritage recognition program. Owen is an active advocate of engineering heritage to the general community. He participated in the preparation of a public brochure ‘Discover Engineering Heritage in Central Melbourne’. He takes the lead, and sometimes the sole role, in the researching and preparation of written nominations of notable heritage works under the EHA Engineering Heritage Recognition program in Victoria and other states. He frequently seeks participation of the wider community in formal recognition of these works, particularly by arranging public ceremonies to unveil EHA markers and interpretation panels around Victoria and interstate. He also drafts associated press releases and participates in interviews with local media. Owen leads by example in conserving engineering heritage. Jointly with two colleagues he liaised with 'Major Projects Victoria' to secure the long-term preservation and public interpretation of the steam pumping station at the former Duke & Orr’s dry dock. He works to raise awareness within and beyond the engineering profession of the importance of conserving notable engineering heritage works, by means of published articles, formal presentations, and representations to public sector and private owners of significant sites. Owen's activities and interests reach beyond Australia, serving to connect his Australian colleagues with international partners. He is a Member of the UK based Newcomen Society and is the Australian representative on the International Stationary Steam Engine Society. He is the Australian editor of that organisation's news bulletin, and a regular contributor. Owen Peake continues to make an outstanding contribution to engineering heritage, serves as an excellent role-model for others working in the field, and is a prominent advocate for engineering heritage in the community. |
| 2012 | MAITLAND Ian B G |
For his outstanding contribution to engineering heritage through a long career of building conservation projects undertaken by his structural engineering consultancy and his extensive voluntary heritage advice to community organisations. His work has received the high acclaim of clients and the recognition of government, professional and industry associations which have bestowed many awards. Dated 21 November 2012, Mr John Heathers, Chair Engineering Heritage Australia, Adjunct Professor David Hood, National President Engineers Australia. Ian has over 40 years of experience as a practicing structural engineer and in the last 15 years his firm has specialised in providing structural and general building advice for over 150 heritage assignments. By applying his more general structural engineering expertise to the conservation and reuse of heritage buildings, he highlights to the profession that heritage buildings require special application of an engineer's skills. This includes an understanding of the behaviour of traditional materials with recognition of how their properties change over time, and an ability to use modern materials in a style that is sympathetic to the heritage character of buildings. Ian is member of ICOMOS Australia and one of only four engineers currently registered with Engineers Australia National Engineering Registration Board in the Heritage and Conservation Engineering category, reflecting his strong conviction and dedication to heritage. Ian's commercial work has been recognised in many ways. In 2008 his work on St George's Cathedral (Perth) earned an Engineers Australia WA Engineering Excellence Award and was a finalist at the national level. He has also been awarded by the Master Builders Association, the Heritage Council of WA, Bankwest and the City of Perth. While Ian has made heritage engineering his career, he also contributes his time, resources and advice on a voluntary basis to several heritage causes including the Rottnest Island Cultural Heritage Advisory Committee and Engineering Heritage WA and he has regularly given presentations on the importance of engineering heritage to professional and community groups. |
| 2011 | MARTIN Christopher |
Chris Martin is a self employed consulting engineer who has spent years raising the awareness of engineering heritage within the profession and within the community, promoting engineering achievements through their history and heritage. Since he won Tasmania’s young achiever award in 1994, he has been active in heritage conservation in Tasmania and for a period in North Queensland. His activities have been at the grassroots in Engineers Australia’s heritage groups, in community organisations which he has founded and supported, and through writing articles, letters and direct lobbying to gain support for places and works at risk. Chris made an exceptional contribution to engineering heritage through championing the preservation of the historic Lake Margaret Power Scheme in North West Tasmania. In the face of its planned closure and replacement, he argued for its heritage significance, independently researched its history and cost effective conservation options and organised technical and political support for its outstanding heritage value. In 2009 the 1914 hydroelectric plant was reopened with a reinstated woodstave pipeline and original turbines and generating equipment retained with inconspicuously upgraded protection and controls to meet modern requirements for generation renewable energy. Chris has also shown outstanding leadership in the preservation of steam railways in Tasmania where he is founding President of the Redwater Creek Steam and Heritage Society, founding President of the Tasmanian Association of Tourist Railways, and Tasmanian representative and Vice Chair of the national Association of Tourist and Heritage Railways. He has spent countless hours in the conservation of steam equipment and associated infrastructure through hands on work, organizing others and engaging the community in sharing the preservation of Tasmanian heritage. Chris Martin’s outstanding contribution to engineering heritage meets the criteria for this award and he will be a worthy recipient. |
| 2010 | CLARKE Michael |
Michael Clarke is an Australian civil engineer whose 40-year engineering career in the NSW Department of Public Works included dealing with heritage issues. He became Chief Engineer in 1987 and since his retirement in 1992 Michael has spent the last 18 years raising the awareness of engineering heritage within the profession and within the community, promoting the significance of engineering achievements through its history and heritage. Michael has worked tirelessly on the strategic management of Engineering Heritage at both a state and national level. He has been a member of the Sydney Engineering Heritage Committee since 1990, was its Chairman in 1995-96 and remains an active committee member. He joined the National Committee of Engineering Heritage Australia (EHA) in 1995. In his time as Deputy Chairman 1999-2000, he developed a comprehensive Strategic Plan aligned with Engineers Australia's Plan to give greater recognition to engineering heritage. As Chairman of EHA in 2001-02, he strengthened engagement with National Office, demonstrating that EHA was a dependable contributor to Engineers Australia as a funded special interest group. Michael has been active in the recording of engineering heritage, especially Oral History. He started the Department of Public Works & Services Oral History Program in 1991 and continued on its Management Committee until 1998. He has also been on the Management Committee of the Oral History Association of Australia (NSW) from 1995 to the present. He initiated the EHA National Oral History Program, organised additional funding and personally produced a full range of policy, procedures and associated documentation. He acted in a similar capacity for the Sydney Engineering Heritage Committee until 2008. Under his management, the Sydney Division's Oral History Program has conducted interviews of some 200 eminent engineers with approximately 500 hours of recordings which are available to the public for research. Michael has promoted engineering heritage widely within the community and his reputation has created a high demand for his expertise on a range of committees. He was appointed the first engineering representative on the Sydney Opera House Conservation Council in 1996, continuing until 2002; he sat on the Australian Society for the History of Engineering and Technology (ASHET) Management Committee in 2004 and 2005; and in April 2005 he was appointed as the first engineering representative on the NSW Heritage Council's Register Committee, a position he still holds. He is also a Life Member of the National Trust of Australia, a member of Royal Australian Historical Society and a member of the Friends of the Historic Houses Trust NSW. Michael has written a number of publications, most notable being Sydney's Engineering Heritage Walks in the City which won a National Trust Heritage Award in 1995 and sold 3000 copies, and Sydney's Engineering Heritage and other sites in 1999. Until recently he organised tours of the Sydney Harbour and conducted heritage walks in the City. He has also given presentations of illustrated talks to Service and Probus clubs and history groups over many years. He has presented papers to Engineering Heritage Conferences, contributed to numerous heritage recognition nominations, and played a leading role in the development and refinement of most of EHA's documentation and procedures. Michael Clarke's outstanding contribution to engineering heritage over many years meets all the criteria for this award and he will be a worthy recipient. |
| 2009 | HARTLEY Richard G, Dr |
For his outstanding contribution to engineering heritage through his years of excellent historical research, his archiving of drawings, his successful nominations of important engineering works, his many oral history interviews and his epic account of the Western Australian Goldfields Water Supply River of Steel. Dated 9 October 2009, Owen Peake, Chair Engineering Heritage Australia, Peter Godfrey, National President. Dr Hartley is a British civil engineer who, after early retirement due to ill health, obtained degrees in history at Murdoch University. His BA degree included a biographical study of Norman Fernie ME FIEAust (1898-1977) and his honours thesis was on The influence of Herbert Hoover and Bewick Moreing & Co on the WA goldfields to 1904. The subject of his PhD thesis was A history of technological change in Kalgoorlie gold metallurgy between 1895 and 1915. He has been an active member of the WA Engineering Heritage Panel since 1992, including three years as its secretary. For the Panel he prepared National Engineering Landmark nominations for the East-West Telegraph (with Richard Venus) and the Trans-Australia Railway (both with South Australia), and Kalgoorlie-Boulder Mining, all as contributions to EHA’s Centenary of Federation project in 2001. He has also produced Historic Engineering Marker nominations for the Ord River Dam (with Moulds & Hunt), and Register of the National Estate nominations for Mundaring Weir, Ord River Dam and Eucumbene Dam (with the Snowy Mountains Authority). In 1995 Dr Hartley received an award from the State Library of WA (the Battye Library) for “excellent historical research on” the publication Industry and Infrastructure in Western Australia 1829 to 1940. His historical interests in Kalgoorlie, the centenary of the Goldfields Water Supply (GWS) and the inadequacies in the historical writing on the GWS all persuaded him to embark on his book: River of Steel - A History of the Western Australian Goldfields and Agricultural Water Supply 1903-2003. Published in 2007, it took almost ten years of research, the last five funded by the Water Corporation of Western Australia. Dr Hartley has been active as a professional oral historian, having interviewed 32 people in during his research for River of Steel, several eminent Western Australian engineers for EHA’s oral history program and others connected with his current research projects. In 2009 the Goldfields Water Supply is to be awarded an ASCE International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark award. Dr Hartley jointly prepared the successful nomination for this award. For the Heritage Council of WA he has prepared documentation for the registration of Baddera Lead Mines, Northampton (with G MacGill). He has also completed referral forms for 12 large timber structures (jetties, mining headframes and railway bridges). Dr Hartley’s outstanding contribution to engineering heritage over many years meets all the criteria for this award and will be a worthy recipient. |
| 2008 | DORING Carl & Margret |
Around 1980 Margret, a civil/structural engineer, set out on a successful campaign to change the construction industry's attitude to heritage conservation and to restore the neglected Queen Victoria Building in Sydney. Her efforts won her a scholarship to study heritage conservation at the ICCROM in Rome in 1983. Mechanical engineer Carl's first industrial archaeology commission was the recording of Toohey's Brewery Malthouse in 1985. Although the original equipment had gone, he succeeded in reconstructing the process and machines on paper. Recording the former Tramway Workshops in Randwick, due for demolition and redevelopment, followed. At the Ironbridge Institute UK, his Master's degree thesis on the history and operation of the workshops is a model of the recording of an industry. Working in the Heritage Branch of the NSW Government, Margret and Meredith Hutton battled long and hard to prevent damage to the heritage values of the GreatNorth Road in NSW, caused by upgrading works and 4wd vehicles, eventually getting the road closed to all motor vehicles. Another struggle saved the 1875 Echuca Road/Rail Bridge from demolition, where Margret was heavily involved in writing the original report, ministerial briefing notes, press releases, reports to the Heritage Council, assessment of an EIS, with both the NSW and Victorian governments involved. Altogether Carl and Margret have been involved in 47 industrial archaeological projects, including the following. A detailed record of the huge 1908 Dowling Street Tram Depot in Sydney, since demolished. A Heritage Study of the vast Newport Railway Workshops in Melbourne, including recommendations for the conservation and/or future use of over 50 buildings. A Conservaton and Management Plan for the Honeysuckle Point Railway Workshops and Lee Wharves, probably responsible for the survival of most of the important structures. A Heritage Assesment and inventory of more than 600 significant items at the Midland Railway Workshops in Perth. Other studies involved the Eldorado Dredge, the Albury Woolstores, the Bushell's Tea Factory and Woronora Dam. On the conservation front, the Queen Victoria Building has been mentioned. For the Walsh Bay finger wharves which were being redeveloped, Margret wrote stronger conservation guidelines when the existing ones were ignored or inadequate. When the Wooloomooloo Finger Wharf faced demolition, Margret prepared a new heritage assessment and comprehensive conservation guidelines; redevelopment has been successful and the wharf is still there. When the Sydney Water Board was concerned that the roof of the Crown Street Reservoir might collapse, Carl's research for his heritage assessment showed that the strength of the cast iron beams was more than adequate and he devised a method of repairing the ironbark columns without detracting from their heritage significance. For the large locomotive roundhouse built in 1923 at the Railway Workshops in Rockhampton, Carl was able to demonstrate that one sector of the donut-shaped building could be converted to the required floorspace of modern offices at half the cost of demolition and rebuilding, with the bonus that the rest of the building and turntable could continue in use as a working roundhouse. Special mention is warranted for the internationally rare Craven Bros Rope-drive Crane in the Honeysuckle Boiler Shop. Carl's CMP and Schedule of Works has enabled its restoration to working (demonstration only) condition. Carl & Margret have made many voluntary contributions through their often long term memberships of Australia ICOMOS, National Trust committees, the Society for Industrial Archaeology and EA's Sydney Engineering Heritage Committee. They have written several conference papers and four book chapters. Aware of the great mass of engineering heritage research that they have accumulated, the Dorings have embarked on a program of republishing and cataloguing their reports for lodgement, usually in digital form, with libraries and institutions around Australia. In summary then, the sheer breadth and depth of the Doring's studies and reports have amply demonstrated their outstanding contribution to engineering heritage under all of the Medal criteria. |
| 2007 | No Award | |
| 2006 | TRUEMAN E G (Harry) (Note 2) |
Harry Trueman has had an outstanding professional career specialising in the conservation of engineering heritage, and has applied his skills and experience in this field to the great benefit of Engineers Australia and the wider community. During more than 20 years of active service on Sydney Division's Engineering Heritage Committee, Harry Trueman was Secretary of the organising committee for the 1988 Engineering Heritage Conference and went on the chair the Heritage Committee in 1989 and 1990. Joining the National Committee on Engineering Heritage (now Engineering Heritage Australia) in 1989, Harry wrote the Engineering Heritage & Conservation Guidelines published in 1992. He edited the EHA Newsletter for six years, chaired EHA in 1999 and 2000, convened the group that revised the Guide to the Historic Engineering Plaquing Program in 2003-04 and established the EHA website. He is currently involved in revising the Engineering Heritage & Conservation Guidelines and continues to manage the EHA Email Forum. He has been successful in promoting engineering heritage in the public arena through a range of important organisations including the NSW Heritage Office, the Australian Heritage Commission, the National Trust, Sydney Water, the Roads & Traffic Authority (NSW), and the Sydney Opera House Conservation Council. He has been instrumental in conserving many historic structures, notably some very significant timber bridges in NSW, and especially the highly visible (and National Engineering Landmark) Pyrmont Bridge in Darling Harbour. He was Chairman of the Lord Mayor's Committee which saved the Pyrmont Bridge from demolition and great celebrations marked its centenary in 2002. Harry has published a number of papers dealing with timber bridges and a prize-winning one on the restoration of the earthquake-damaged Christ Church Cathedral in Newcastle. He has given lectures in engineering heritage at the Sydney University Departments of Architecture and Archaeology in a voluntary capacity. In 2004 he was presented with the inaugural Lifetime Achievement award as part of the NSW Government Heritage Volunteer Awards. It recognised his outstanding contribution to the field of engineering heritage in NSW in both a professional and voluntary capacity. |
| 2005 | WHITMORE Raymond (Ray) L, AM Professor (Note 2) |
In 1976 Ray Whitmore persuaded his fellow Queensland engineers that the recognition and recording of engineering history and heritage was an important activity, and he succeeded in forming an engineering heritage panel within the Queensland Division of the Institution of Engineers, Australia (now Engineers Australia). He was chairman of that panel from 1976 to 1991. Ray carried his energy and enthusiasm to the national level when the Institution agreed to have a National Panel on Engineering Heritage (now Engineering Heritage Australia) with representatives from each Division. He was the founding chair of that national panel. His guiding hand helped to lay sound foundations for the identification, recording, assessment and conservation programs developed and used by Engineers Australia. The first of his 39 heritage-related papers was published in 1977. Since then he has authored six books and edited four more on topics in engineering heritage. His research and assessment skills have been widely sought by a range of organisations. He presented papers on engineering heritage topics at several Annual Engineering conferences before organising and chairing the first National Conference on Engineering Heritage held in Brisbane in 1982. Biennial conferences have been held ever since, and he contributed papers on at least five occasions. Between 1982 and 2000, Ray was a key member of the Historic Plaquing Subcommittee of EHA which determines whether nominated engineering works are worthy of recognition as National Engineering Landmarks or Historic Engineering Markers. Over 100 works have been recognised in this way. In 1988 he was elected to Honorary Fellowship of the Institution of Engineers, Australia for "conspicuous service to the profession" and for his "unequalled knowledge of engineering heritage in Australia". He served on the Queensland Heritage Council from 1992 to 1995, and contributed to many other history and heritage organisations in Australia and overseas. |
| 2004 | ROSS John F (Jack), AM (Note 2) |
John Francis Ross, AM, FIEAust, CPEng has made an outstanding contribution to the collection of artefacts and the recording of the history of radio broadcasting technology from its early days through to the present era. “Jack”, as he is widely known, began his career in the Brisbane Office of the Post Master General’s Department in 1938. He retired 50 years later as the State Broadcasting Manager for South Australia. During his career, he participated in the tremendous national and international advances in broadcast engineering. Recognising that much of the material with which he has worked will be a mystery to future generations of electronics engineers, he set about preserving this unique and volatile history. Most significantly for heritage engineering, he has recorded much of his knowledge and experience in the pages of seven books. In 1976-78 he authored A History of Telecommunications on Stamps in 5 volumes, presenting and explaining 1,000 postage stamps issued in Australia and overseas on various themes encompassing inventions, achievements, events, institutions and significant players. These volumes were followed by A History of Radio in South Australia 1897-1977. His major effort was the 1998 self-publication of a 600 page volume Radio Broadcasting Technology: 75 Years of Development in Australia 1923-1998 which carefully documents developments, manufacturers, education, research and biographies with 500 historical photographs. He points out that, until the 1960s, Australian manufacturing companies met the entire needs of the nation in this field, whereas our later requirements are substantially imported. Through lectures, articles and on-air interviews, Jack Ross has taken radio technology to the community. He was editor of The Broadcaster for 10 years. He was instrumental in setting up a large display in the Adelaide Post Office in 1973. He has been guest speaker at several major broadcasting anniversaries. For the Telecommunications Museum of South Australia he acquired, restored, recorded and displayed hundreds of vintage artefacts. In 1989 he was awarded an AM for services to the media as a Radio Broadcasting Engineer. It is through the unselfish efforts of visionaries like Jack Ross that future generations of engineers and researchers will be able to reconstruct the conditions of times now passed. He has brought great credit on the profession and is a most worthy recipient of the 2004 John Monash Medal for Engineering Heritage. |
| 2003 | O'CONNOR Colin, Professor (Note 2) |
Emeritus Professor Colin O'Connor has made an outstanding contribution to the raising of awareness of Australia's engineering heritage both within the profession and within the wider community. Colin began his professional career in the design and analysis of bridges but, unlike so many of his contemporaries, he saw the extra parameters of history and aesthetics which can turn bridge engineering from competent to great. His first book, Design of Bridge Superstructures was quickly followed by Design of Bridges: an Historical Study and the paper Bridge Appearance. In 1979 he was commissioned by the Australian Heritage Commission and the Institution of Engineers Australia to undertake what is recognized as the definitive survey of Australia’s historic bridges. This study not only resulted in the required report but led Colin to make the work available to a wider audience in the How to Look at Bridges booklet and, later, the book Spanning Two Centuries: Historic Bridges of Australia. Colin has continued to contribute significantly to the conservation of heritage bridge structures, through his investigations into the maintenance and conservation of structures and his publications. His book Roman Bridges was published in 1993 by Cambridge University Press and he is currently working on a related work on The History and Development of Stone Bridges. Colin O’Connor is a worthy recipient of the inaugural award of the John Monash Medal for Engineering Heritage. |
Note 1: After the 2019 award, the John Monash Medal was changed to biennial, so no call for nominations in 2020 and 2022. In 2024 the award returned to annual.
Note 2: Above version of the Citation found in EHA records. Final version to be confirmed
