Walter Weller
WELLER, Walter Kirkwood, MWAIE MIEAust (1879-1961)
Walter was born at Maryborough, Victoria, on November 22, 1879. He was the younger son of James Weller and his wife Maragret Weller (nee Glen). He had siblings Albert Edmeads Weller and Ethel Weller.
Walter travelled to Western Australia on the “Buninyong” arriving on May 9, 1898. His intention was to travel to Kalgoorlie to take part in the gold rush, but he heard about the opportunity to join the Public Works Department (PWD) as a Cadet Engineer. He sat the examination and was one of the six persons selected. He joined the PWD on July 1, 1898 and his first project was on the construction of the Mundaring Weir. On the completion of the Coolgardie pipeline project he was appointed as Assistant Engineer at Kalgoorlie in 1904. He was well regarded and acted as District Engineer Coolgardie in 1907 and as District Engineer Kalgoorlie in 1911 and 1912.
On October 25, 1905, he married nurse Florence Maud Shapcott at St John’s Church, Kalgoorlie. Florence Shapcott had been running her own private hospital in Kalgoorlie. They did not have children.
Walter studied at the University of Western Australia, between 1913 and 1914, passing subjects in Geology, Biology and Chemistry in the Faculty of Arts and Science.
Following the failure of lime dosing to overcome the corrosion problem of the Goldfields Pipeline, Walter successfully developed a laboratory model of a deaeration system and oversaw its full scale construction and commissioning in 1925. In 1927, Walter was appointed Principal Assistant, Goldfields Water Supply and on July 1, 1930, was appointed Engineer Goldfields Water Supply. In 1936, Walter played a key role in the construction of the first continuously welded water pipeline in Australia.
Walter retired from the PWD on November 22, 1939, having spent his entire career working on one project, the Goldfields Water Supply.
Walter was a founding Member of the WA Institution of Engineers. He then joined the Institution of Engineers Australia as a founding Associate Member in 1919 and became a full Member in 1930. He was Vice Chairman of the WA Division in 1928.
Walter was awarded a Coronation Medal in 1937, as a State nominee.
Walter went into partnership with his brother, Albert, on a farming property “Wonnenup” on the Gordon River, near Cranbrook. Wool clip reports show the partnership operating from 1927 to 1949, with Albert having purchased 1,000 acres and the adjoining historic Wonnenup House in 1908.
Walter died on October 7, 1961. He was survived by his wife, his brother and his three nephews. His sister, Ethel, had predeceased him in 1952.
Walter was the cousin of another Goldfields Water Supply engineer, Archibald Glen Kirkwood, who died in 1973.
References:
Daily News, 10.5.1898, p2
Daily News, 20.6.1898, p3
Public Service List 1905
Kalgoorlie Miner, 4.11.1905, p6
West Australian, 17.4.1936, p22
West Australian, 9.5.1939, p12
Daily News, 29.6.1939, p3
West Australian, 1.7.1939, p21
Richard G Hartley, River of Steel, Access Press, Bassendean, 2007
Compiled by Chris Fitzhardinge, January 14, 2025
