Bill Benson
BENSON, William David (Bill), MBE BA BE DIC MIEAust (1920-l983)
Born in Nedlands and educated at Perth Modern School, Benson graduated from the University of Western Australia with degrees in Engineering (BSc, 1942) and in Economics, joined the Public Works Department as a Cadet in 1939, and served in the Royal Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers between 1942 and 1945.
After demobilisation, he joined the Metropolitan Water Supply Sewerage and Drainage Board as a Water Supply Engineer in 1946 and was elected an associate member of the Institution of Engineers Australia in 1948. While a member of the Citizen Military Force between 1954 and 1963, he planned Light Aid Detachments for the Army and received the MBE (Military Division) in 1957.
After winning a Gledden Travelling Fellowship in 1957-8, he studied Public Health Engineering at Imperial College in London and visited the United States to examine the Tennessee Valley Authority and fluoridation plants. Appointed Principal Assistant for Water Supply in 1959 and Deputy Chief Engineer for the Board in 1964, he played a major role in the construction of Wungong Dam and the installation of Sirofloc water treatment plant. He became Deputy Director of Engineering for the Board in 1981.
The Secretary of the Western Australian Division of the Institution of Engineers Australia for many years, and the Chairman of this division in 1960, his chairman's address was entitled 'The present state of the profession'. He was the Chairman of the Darling Range Study Group between 1979 and 1983, and he wrote 'Land use in the Darling Range' Perth, 1982. Among his other activities, he was President of the Kindergarten Association of Western Australia between 1966 and 1970, and Chairman of the Presbyterian Ladies College Council between 1967 and 1983.
References:
PSL 1940, 1945, 1965, 1982;
W79 p 28;
HAIEA.
