Robert Macbeth
MACBETH, Robert Alexander, AWASM AMIEAust (1896-1988)
Robert Alexander Macbeth was born in Beaconsfield, Tasmania on May 12, 1896. He was the son of engine driver John Knox Macbeth and his wife Clara Jane Macbeth nee Griffiths. He was educated at Kalgoorlie Central State School and at Scotch College, Claremont.
After graduating from the WA School of Mines at Kalgoorlie with a diploma in mechanical and electrical engineering, Macbeth joined the Australian Army as a sapper in 1915, when he was 19. After the war, he commenced work at the Midland Railway Workshop in January 1921 to complete the practical requirement of his engineering course. He then joined the Public Works Department as a Draughtsman in 1923.
On March 28, 1925 he married Ida Alice Wedin at Fremantle.
He was elected an Associate Member of the Institution of Engineers Australia in 1926. He became an Assistant Engineer for Design under A L Bent in 1927, Designing Engineer in 1946 and Investigating Officer under Russell Dumas in 1947. He had designed the Stirling Dam which at the time of its opening in 1947 was the highest earth dam in Australia.
His published papers include one co authored with Dumas entitled “Design of Samson Brook and Stirling Dams" JIEA 13, 1941, for which they were both awarded the Warren Memorial Prize in 1945. This prize is now known as the Warren Medal.
He was a keen golfer, being Captain (1939) and Club Champion (1950) of Fremantle Golf Club. He died at Mosman Park on November 28, 1988.
References:
RDH 1920, p104;
PSL 1924, 1948, 1955, 1960.
