Henry Deane (26 March 1847 – 12 March 1924) was an Australian engineer, responsible for electrifying the
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
tramway system and for building the
Wolgan Valley Railway
The Newnes railway line (also called Wolgan Valley Railway) is a closed and dismantled railway line in New South Wales, Australia. The line ran for from the Main Western railway line, New South Wales, Main Western line to the township of Newn ...
and
Trans-Australian Railway
The Trans-Australian Railway, opened in 1917, runs from Port Augusta in South Australia to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, crossing the Nullarbor Plain in the process. As the only rail freight corridor between Western Australia and the easter ...
.
Biography
Deane was born at
Clapham Common
Clapham Common is a large triangular urban park in Clapham, south London, England. Originally common land for the parishes of Battersea and Clapham, it was converted to parkland under the terms of the Metropolitan Commons Act 1878. It is of gr ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, the son of Henry Deane, a chemist and fellow of the
Linnean Society of London
The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...
, and his wife Jemima, née Elliott. Deane was schooled in England, matriculating in 1862, then studied at
Queen's College, Galway
The University of Galway ( ga, Ollscoil na Gaillimhe) is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. A tertiary education and research institution, the university was awarded the full five QS stars for excellence in 201 ...
(now the National University of Ireland, Galway), where he graduated B.A. in 1865 honours in mathematics and natural science. Like many others, he was awarded M.A. in 1882 by the Queen's University of Ireland, upon its dissolution.. Deane also studied engineering for two years and obtained his diploma at
King's College London
King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...
as an occasional student.
After two years in the office of
Sir John Fowler at London, Deane was engaged by
Waring Brothers
Waring Brothers was an English company specialising in railway structures.
History
The company was founded by Charles Waring, William Waring and Henry Waring in 1841 in York as a civil engineering business.
By 1853 the company was working for t ...
from 1869 to 1871 on the
Hungarian railways, and from 1871 to 1873 was chief technical assistant at the shipbuilding works of the
Danube Steam Navigation Company,
Althofen
Althofen ( sl, Stari Dvor) is a town in the district of Sankt Veit an der Glan in the Austrian state of Carinthia.
Geography
The town is located about north of Sankt Veit an der Glan and north of the state capital Klagenfurt in the Krappfel ...
, Hungary. In 1875, Deane returned to England, where he was engaged in roof and bridge designs as well as survey work. In 1879, he moved to the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
where he worked on sugar-works. He returned to England but left for Australia at the end of 1879, arriving in Sydney in January 1880 on the ''Kent''.
In Sydney, Deane joined the
New South Wales Government Railways
The New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR) was the agency of the Government of New South Wales that administered rail transport in New South Wales, Australia, between 1855 and 1932.
Management
The agency was managed by a range of differe ...
as a railway surveyor. He was initially involved in the trial survey of the northern line between the
Hawkesbury River
The Hawkesbury River, or Hawkesbury-Nepean River, is a river located northwest of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Hawkesbury River and its associated main tributary, the Nepean River, almost encircle the metropolitan region of Sydney. ...
and
Ourimbah
Ourimbah () is a small township in the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia, located about north of the Sydney CBD. Ourimbah is located approximately halfway between Sydney and Newcastle. The township today consists of small scat ...
. In 1881, Deane was appointed District Engineer on the
Gunnedah
Gunnedah is a town in north-eastern New South Wales, Australia and is the seat of the Gunnedah Shire local government area. In the the town recorded a population of 9,726. Gunnedah is situated within the Liverpool Plains, a fertile agricultur ...
to
Narrabri
Narrabri ( ) is a locality and seat of Narrabri Shire local government area in the North West Slopes, New South Wales, Australia on the Namoi River, northwest of Sydney. It sits on the junction of the Kamilaroi Highway and the Newell Highway. At ...
line. In 1883, he was District Engineer on the
Homebush
Homebush is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 12 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area of the Municipali ...
to Hawkesbury line. In July 1886, he became Inspecting Engineer. In June 1889, he became Acting Engineer-in-Chief and then Engineer-in-Chief in 1890. In 1894 and again in 1904, he made world trips studying light railways and tramway systems. From July 1899, his role expanded to include tramway construction and he took a leading part in inaugurating the Sydney electric tramway system.
One of his significant advances was the introduction of ''pioneer'' standards that lowered construction costs on low-traffic country lines.
Second career
In 1905, the railway construction branch was abolished and Deane retired from the New South Wales railways.
In April 1906, he became a consultant to the
Commonwealth Oil Corporation Commonwealth Oil Corporation Limited was an English-owned Australian company associated with the production and refining of petroleum products derived from oil shale, during the early years of the 20th century. It is associated with Newnes, Hartley ...
and oversaw the survey and construction of the
Wolgan Valley Railway
The Newnes railway line (also called Wolgan Valley Railway) is a closed and dismantled railway line in New South Wales, Australia. The line ran for from the Main Western railway line, New South Wales, Main Western line to the township of Newn ...
. One of his significant innovations was the use of 1 in 25 (4%) grades and 5 chain (100m) curves on a
standard gauge
A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...
railway and with the use of
Shay locomotive
The Shay locomotive is a geared steam locomotive that originated and was primarily used in North America. The locomotives were built to the patents of Ephraim Shay, who has been credited with the popularization of the concept of a ''geared st ...
s.
On 25 March 1908, he was appointed consulting engineer to the
Commonwealth Government
The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...
in connection with the survey of the
transcontinental railway
A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous railroad trackage, that crosses a continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single ...
between
Port Augusta
Port Augusta is a small city in South Australia. Formerly a port, seaport, it is now a road traffic and Junction (rail), railway junction city mainly located on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf immediately south of the gulf's head and about ...
and
Kalgoorlie
Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...
.
[ He had been closely associated with the transcontinental railway since 1903 when he represented New South Wales as chairman of a conference of Engineers-in-Chief on that matter. In 1910 he became engineer-in-chief and supervised the construction of a large portion of this railway.
Deane was also consulted on the issue of solving the national ]break of gauge
With railways, a break of gauge occurs where a line of one track gauge (the distance between the rails, or between the wheels of trains designed to run on those rails) meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and rolling stock generally cannot ...
problem. For example, he was put in charge of the third rail experiments at Tocumwal
Tocumwal ( ) is a town in the southern Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia, in the Berrigan Shire local government area, near the Victorian border. The town is situated on the banks of the Murray River, north of the city of Melbourne. ...
in 1915, and especially the Brennan switch
In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type of ...
es.
He retired from Commonwealth Railways
The Commonwealth Railways were established in 1917 by the Government of Australia with the Commonwealth Railways Act to administer the Trans-Australia and Port Augusta to Darwin railways. It was absorbed into Australian National in 1975.
Op ...
in April 1914 and then practised as a consulting engineer at Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
.
Family
Deane died in Melbourne on 12 March 1924, and was buried with Anglican rites in Brighton Cemetery
Brighton General Cemetery is located in the Melbourne suburb of Caulfield South, Victoria, but takes its name from Brighton, Victoria.
History
The Cemetery pre-dates the Caulfield Roads Board - the first official recognition of the suburb of Ca ...
.[ He was twice married (in 1873 and 1890) and left a widow, three sons and three daughters. He was a member of the ]Institution of Civil Engineers
The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, whi ...
and of several learned societies. He was twice president of the Royal Society of New South Wales
The Royal Society of New South Wales is a learned society based in Sydney, Australia. The Governor of New South Wales is the vice-regal patron of the Society.
The Society was established as the Philosophical Society of Australasia on 27 June ...
and for two years was president of the Linnean Society of New South Wales
The Linnean Society of New South Wales promotes ''the Cultivation and Study of the Science of Natural History in all its Branches'' and was founded in Sydney, New South Wales (Australia) in 1874 and incorporated in 1884.
History
The Society succe ...
.
In conjunction with Joseph Maiden
Joseph Henry Maiden (25 April 1859 – 16 November 1925) was a botanist who made a major contribution to knowledge of the Australian flora, especially the genus ''Eucalyptus''. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation when citing ...
, Deane published a series of papers on native timber
Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...
s, and wrote frequently on forestry
Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. Th ...
and botanical
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...
subjects. ''Eucalyptus deanei
''Eucalyptus deanei'', commonly known as mountain blue gum, round-leaved gum, or Deane's gum, is a species of large tree endemic to New South Wales. It has smooth bark, lance-shaped leaves that are paler on the lower surface, flower buds in group ...
'' and '' Leptospermum deanei'' were named after him.[ His work on tertiary fossil botany was particularly valuable, and gave him a high reputation among the ]geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...
s of his time.
Commemoration
Th
Henry Deane Plaza
near Sydney's Central Railway station is named in commemoration of Henry Deane., a fitting tribute since Henry Deane put together plans for the station in his capacity as Engineer-in-Chief of Railway Construction, work began on the Central Railway Station in 1901.
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Deane, Henry
1847 births
1924 deaths
Alumni of King's College London
Australian engineers
20th-century Australian botanists
Botanists active in Australia
English engineers
English emigrants to colonial Australia
19th-century Australian botanists
British expatriates in Hungary
British expatriates in the Philippines
Alumni of the National University of Ireland
English railway mechanical engineers