William Thwaites (engineer)
| William Thwaites | |
|---|---|
William Thwaites in 1891
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| Born |
13 August 1853 Melbourne, Australia |
| Died | 19 November 1907 (aged 54) San Remo, Victoria |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Occupation | Engineer |
| Spouse(s) |
(1) Elizabeth Ferres |
| Children | No children |
(1) Elizabeth Ferres
William Thwaites (1853–1907) was a civil engineer working in Melbourne, Australia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He was responsible for the design and supervision of construction of Melbourne's sewerage system.
Thwaites was born in Melbourne, Australia on 13 August 1853 to cabinet maker Thomas Henry Thwaites (1826-1912), the second son of George Thwaites Senior (1791-1865) and Eliza Thwaites née Raven (1831-1907), who were married in 1851.
Thwaites was educated at the Model School in Spring Street in the 1860s. His family moved in about 1858 to 64 Little Collins Street East. Thwaites trained under the famous engineer William Charles Kernot, obtaining the certificate of Civil Engineering and Master of Arts (1876 at the University of Melbourne). He was recipient of the Argus Scholarship, which had been advocated by Kernot and Frederick McCoy in 1873 and in 1875 he was awarded the Natural Science Scholarship at the University of Melbourne. This, as part of a total of ₤330 in scholarships and exhibition prizes, helped greatly to fund his education, otherwise unobtainable through his family's limited means. Under an agreement between Melbourne University and the Victorian government, Thwaites undertook 12 months experience under supervision of an engineer, Arthur Wells, as pupil draftsman in the railway department.
Thwaites was given a permanent position with the Victorian Railways when he completed this apprenticeship in 1876, and moved to work on the Portland-Hamilton, Oakleigh-Bunyip then the Ararat-Stawell railway line, but lack of further Victorian railway work saw his shift to the South Australian Railways, where he commenced surveying for the Port Augusta and Government Gums Railway, the first stage in a projected Central Australia Railway line to Darwin. Following this he moved on to the Port Wakefield and Kadina railway, although he was subsequently without work during 1878 and returned to Melbourne, where he joined the Harbour Branch of the Victorian Public Works Department (PWD) in 1879 to survey the Portland Harbour, Gippsland Lakes entrance and Sale navigation canal, as part of preparatory plans for their development under John Coode's designs. Thwaites also undertook a survey of Swan Island for defence purposes in 1879.
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