Colonial engineer : John Whitton 1819-1898 and the building of Australia's railways / Robert Lee.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lee, Robert D., 1952-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Whitton, John, 1819-1898.

Whitton, John.

Railroad engineers--Australia--New South Wales--Biography.

Railroad engineers.

Railroads.

History.

New South Wales.

Australia.

Railroads--Australia--History.

Railroads--Australia--New South Wales--History.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

352 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 29 cm

Place of Publication:

Sydney : UNSW Press, [2000]

Summary:

Raised in the milieu of the great English pioneer railway engineers, John Whitton conquered the Great Dividing Range in the 1860s, building transmontane lines by hand, before the use of dynamite and in some of the most remote and inhospitable terrain. His origins were humble, and his story one of social and material advancement through talent, will, and mastery of production techniques. Alone among engineers in Australia, he acquired an international reputation for his genius and his extraordinary achievements. He was responsible for building 2,131 miles of railway, traversing terrain as challenging as any railway engineer ever encountered. His most arduous tasks were undertaken early in his career, when railway technology involved pioneering techniques. He built his railways on limited budgets and sometimes in the face of powerful opposition, which believed that the colony could not afford railways at all.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 347-349) and index.

ISBN:

0868404683

OCLC:

47052922