Charles Anthony Corbett Wilson (1827–1923) was an important figure in the history of engineering and bridge building in

Victoria, Australia Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in Au ...

Biography

Wilson was born at

Brompton Square Brompton Square is a garden square in London's Brompton district, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. History The initial development of the square was undertaken by James Bonnin in 1821. Listed buildings Many of the houses that ...

, London, on 13 February 1827. His father was Charles Corbett Wilson, a

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

of Gray's Inn, London. CAC Wilson was educated by private tutors and at the Western Grammar School, Brompton, and was

articled Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

in 1846 to the Westminster area engineering firm of Messrs. Griffin and Downing. He arrived in Victoria, Australia on 10 August 1851 aboard the ''

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'' and did gold diggings at Golden Point until he decided that he could not be successful at it. He left Ballarat and practised as a surveyor in Geelong, and subsequently went on to have one of the longest careers of any engineer in Victoria; he was responsible for a number of important engineering works. In the late 1850s, Wilson carried out the original survey for the Melbourne–Geelong Railway and then joined the Central Road Board as assistant engineer in the Western district, which appointment he held until 1860. He was employed in the construction of the original Iron Barwon Bridge at Geelong, the

Shelford Bridge The Shelford Bridge is an important early wrought iron box girder road bridge built in 1873-4 over the River Leigh and designed by Charles Anthony Corbett Wilson (1827–1923) on the main road from Melbourne to Portland in Victoria, Australia. ...

over the River Leigh and the first bridge on the present site at Cressy. He later expressed a debt to the training he received there under Charles Rowand. Wilson practised his profession for sixty-four years (1846–1910, and was Engineer for the Shires of Leigh (1863–1910) and Bannockburn. He was responsible for many iron, timber and concrete bridges in western Victoria. He was succeeded by his eldest son Charles Corbett Powell Wilson as shire engineer on his retirement. In 1860 he undertook took several large Government survey contracts in the Western district, including Chatsworth, Grassdale and Murndal, Montajup and Dunkeld, and Mount William. In October, 1863, he was appointed secretary, treasurer, and engineer to the Shelford District Road Board which later became the Shire of Leigh, where he stayed until his retirement in October, 1917 - a period of 54 years. He was a member of the

Victorian Institute of Engineers The Victorian Institute of Engineers (VIE) was founded in 1883 in Melbourne, Victoria Australia. In 1885 there were 124 members including 40 civil engineers engaged in hydraulic, gas, electric and roadway engineering, about 10 in mining, six in mar ...

and of the Victorian Institute of Surveyors. In 1857 he married a daughter of Connor Powell, an old settler of the Waurn Ponds; of 15 children, 7 sons and three daughters survived him. It is likely that the advanced truss designs of the

McMillans Bridge McMillans Bridge, is a riveted wrought iron open web truss bridge, located over the Woady Yaloak River on the Rokewood-Skipton Road between Rokewood and Werneth, Victoria, Werneth on a historical route between Geelong and the 1850s goldfields at ...

, and the Pitfield Bridge, indicate the engineering skill of C. A. C. Wilson. These bridges demonstrate Wilson's professional interaction with the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

Engineering Department, headed by Professor

William Charles Kernot William Charles Kernot (16 June 1845 – 14 March 1909), was an Australian engineer, first professor of engineering at the University of Melbourne and president of the Royal Society of Victoria. Early life and family William Charles Kernot, elde ...

.S. Murray-Smith,
Kernot, William Charles (1845 - 1909)
,

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, Volume 5,

Melbourne University Press Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) is the book publishing arm of the University of Melbourne. History MUP was founded in 1922 as Melbourne University Press to sell text books and stationery to students, and soon began publishing books itself. ...

, 1974, pp 20-22. Retrieved 23 August 2009 At the same time that the Sydney University engineering department was more concerned with improving designs of timber bridge, and in particular timber truss bridges using superior Australian eucalypt timbers, Melbourne University's foundation Professor of Engineering took a special interest in the analysis and design of wrought-iron bridges. Wilson paid close attention to these developments and made practical application of the theory. Most of Victoria's municipal engineers in the nineteenth century regarded themselves as 'practical men', and were suspicious of too much theory, so Wilson can be seen as a radical and adventurous municipal engineer who was willing to take advantage of the best engineering theory and testing facilities available. At least two shires in the Western District—Leigh and Bannockburn—were also adventurous enough to give the Shire engineer headway.LEIGH SHIRE COUNCIL : CAC Wilson - Shire Engineer correspondence and photographs 1850 - 1884 1479 archived collections in the Geelong Record Series Wilson died in Geelong on 7 October 1923.

References

* Griffith, Peter, 'Father and Son: Victorian Engineers Charles Anthony Corbett Wilson and Charles Corbett Powell Wilson', Memo, vol. 67, August, 1986, pp. 30–31, 34-35 {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Charles Anthony Corbett Bridge engineers Australian civil engineers 1827 births 1923 deaths