Walter Reginald Hume (29 November 1873 – 21 July 1943) was an Australian inventor and industrialist known for inventing modern techniques of producing concrete and steel pipes.
Early life
Hume travelled around Victoria in his early years with his father who gave lectures as a professional phrenologist. Walter Hume was 12 years old when his father died and in the altered family circumstances, Hume had to leave school to find work. He tried his hand at several trades, including plasterering.
Invention and industry
During the
depression of the 1890s, Hume and his elder brother, Ernest James Hume (ca.1869 – 18 January 1929), joined forces and worked in country Victoria in construction, repair and farming, from which they developed a workshop business at
Malmsbury, Victoria
Malmsbury is a town in central Victoria, Australia on the Old Calder Highway (C794), 95 km north-west of the state capital, Melbourne and 11 km north-west of Kyneton. Situated close by the Coliban River, Malmsbury has a population ...
making fencing droppers from hoop iron.
The brothers received their first patent for this work.
The brothers moved to South Australia to establish a second factory, but soon after closed down the original Malmsbury business, diversifying towards ornamental steel fencing. In 1910, they established Humes' Patent Cement Iron Syndicate Ltd.as a means of commercialising and developing the centrifugal process for the manufacture of concrete pipes invented by Hume. This technology had a profound impact internationally in developing modern drainage and sewerage systems. On 7 November 1940, a significant contract was signed with the South Australian Government, for construction of the
Morgan Whyalla pipeline
The Morgan – Whyalla pipeline was an engineering project undertaken by the South Australian Government in 1940 to bring water from Morgan on the River Murray to the industrial city of Whyalla. A second pipeline, by a divergent route, was la ...
, to the value of £505,627.
[ Between 1921 and 1926 they ran of reinforced concrete pipe for the Loveday Irrigation Project. The locomotive used to transport all materials has been restored and operates as an attraction at the ]Cobdogla
Cobdogla is a town in the Riverland region of South Australia, The town is on the Murray River, north-east of the state capital, Adelaide. At the 2006 census, Cobdogla had a population of 232.
Cobdogla is the home of the Irrigation and Steam M ...
Irrigation Museum.
William Dargie
Captain (armed forces), Captain Sir William Alexander Dargie (4 June 1912 – 26 July 2003) was a renowned Australian painter, known especially for his portrait paintings. He won the Archibald Prize, Australia's premier award for portrait ...
painted two portraits of Hume.
Gallery
Image:Humes locomotive.jpg, Humes steam loco at Cobdogla
Image:Humes plaque.jpg, Plaque at Cobdogla
Death
Walter Hume died of cancer in 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 ...
on 21 July 1943,[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hume, Walter Reginald
1873 births
1943 deaths
20th-century Australian inventors