Denis Cumming
CUMMING, Denis Arthur, MA(Oxon.) MICE MIEAust (1923-1995)
Denis was born in Weymouth England on 17 September 1923, the second son of Commander Alastair Shand Cumming RN and Sylvia Nellie nee Paul. Denis was educated at Ampleforth College North Yorkshire. He studied engineering and mathematics at Balliol College, Oxford graduating with first class honours in Engineering Science with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1944. He was awarded a Master of Arts from Oxford in 1949.
He saw war service 1944-1945 with Special Operations Executive (SOE). He was stationed for at least part of this time at Station IX at Welwyn. Station IX was responsible for the development and production of weapons and special equipment for the SOE, which supported agents and cells of resistance throughout occupied Europe.
Denis worked at Leeds University before being employed as a Site Engineer with Soil Mechanics Ltd and John Mowlem and Co working on sites for hydro electric dams in Scotland 1947-1948. He then worked on the Walton Filter beds in London 1948-1949 followed by work on foundations for oil tanks at the Shellhaven Oil Refinery 1949-1950.
He migrated to Australia in 1950 and joined the Victorian State Rivers and Water Supply Commission monitoring construction of the Eildon Weir 1950-1952. He then moved to the Commonwealth Department of Works at Woomera 1952-1953 followed by work in the Soils Laboratory in the South Australian Highways Department in Adelaide 1953-1957.
He moved to Sydney in 1958 to become a Lecturer, later Senior Lecturer, in Highway Engineering at the University of New South Wales. He returned to Adelaide in 1967 as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Adelaide with expertise in Geomechanics and Transport Engineering.
He became interested in engineering history and was the founding Chairman of the Heritage Committee of the South Australian Division of the Institution of Engineers Australia in 1975. Later he became a member, also Chairman for two years, of the National Panel for Engineering Heritage of the Institution of Engineers Australia. He was joint author of four books and published many papers on the subject.
He retired in 1986 as an Honorary Research Fellow of the University of Adelaide and moved to Western Australia in 1991. He joined the local Engineering Heritage Panel and was involved with many engineering heritage projects. He died on 28 January 1995. Denis is recognised as the pioneer in recognising and publicising Australia’s engineering and industrial heritage.
Published books and reports include:
Cumming, D.A. and Moxham, G.C., They built South Australia - Engineers, Technicians, Manufacturers, Contractors and their Work, Adelaide, 1986, 241p.
Cumming, D.A., Chapter 6 - Mining and mineral processing, South Australia's Heritage, Department of Environment and Planning, Adelaide, 1986, pp. 57 72.
Cumming, D.A. and Drew, G., Copper smelting in South Australia, the first fifty years, South Australia's mining heritage, SP7 Dept of Mines and Energy, Adelaide, 1987, pp. 115-138.
Cumming, D.A. and Jones, L.J., Chapter 35 Engineering, Australians - a guide to sources, 1988, pp. 290-299.
Cumming & Moulds, A. & Wrigley, L.J., A bibliography of Australian Engineering History and Heritage prepared from the Datbase ENGINE, The Institution of Engineers Australia, Canberra, October 1991, 74p.
Cumming, D.A., Garratt, D., McCarthy, M. and Wolfe, A., Port Related Structures on the Coast of Western Australia, Report No. 98, Department of Maritime Archaeology, Western Australian Maritime Museum, October 1995, 90p.
Cumming, D.A., Glasson, M. and McCarthy, M., Lighthouses on the Western Australian coast and off shore islands, Report No. 100, Department of Maritime Archaeology, Western Australian Maritime Museum, November 1995, 84p.
Published papers include:
Cumming, 'Australia's Engineering Heritage', Environmental Engineering Conference 1979, Institution of Engineers Australia, NCP 79/6, pp. 39-43.
Cumming, 'Some industrial sites and complexes in Gawler, South Australia', Industrial and Historical Archeology - Seminar '79, National Trust of Australia (NSW), 1979.
Cumming, 'Recording of Engineering and Industrial Heritage Sites, adapted from field instructions of HAER', ASHA News Letter, Vol 10, No 3, November 1980.
Cumming, 'Engineering Heritage', Report G7, Department of Civil Enqineering, The University of Adelaide, 1981.
Cumming, 'Processing of copper ores in South Australia in the nineteenth century', Protection of the Engineering Heritage, Conference Brisbane 1982, Institution of Engineers Australia, NCP 82/2, pp. 66-73.
Cumming, 'The Kapunda Mine 1842 to 1906', Report 811, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Adelaide, 1982.
Cumming, 'Engineering Heritage', Transactions of the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand: Electrical/Mechanical/Chemical Engineering Section, Vol. 9, No. 1, Mar 1982, pp. 25-32.
Cumming,'The Burra Mine and Smelter', The Engineering Conference, Brisbane, Institution of Engineers Australia, 1984, pp. 7-12.
Cumming, 'Resources for the study of New Zealand's Engineering Heritage', Research Report 85-34, Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Canterbury, New Zealand, 1985.
Cumming, 'Some Public Works Engineers in Victoria in the Nineteenth Century', Technology Report TR 85/10, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Melbourne, 1985.
Cumming, 'Professor Sir Robert Chapman, Engineering and the University of Adelaide', Lumen, Vol 17, No 6, June 1988, pp. 18-19.
Cumming & Leyerett, Kay, 'A preliminary survey of the literature on industrial and mechanical engineering in Australia', Fifth National Conference on Engineering Heritage Perth 1990, Institution of Engineers Australia, pp. 123-131.
Cumming & Leverett, Kay, 'Australian databases and engineering heritage', National Conference on Engineering Heritage Hobart 1992, Institution of Engineers Australia, 92/17, pp. 15-22.
Cumming, 'Items of Industrial Heritage in the Databases of the Australian Heritage Commission and the Heritage Council of Western Australia', Inaugural Industrial Heritage Conference, From Sailing Ships to Microchips, Fremantle W.A., Institution of Engineers, Australia, Western Australian Division, 1994, pp. 87-93.
Source:
EHWA thanks Frances Cumming who provided the above biographical information in an Email dated 12 June 2019.
Reference:
Minutes of Engineering Heritage Panel meeting held on 1 February 1995.
