Australian Engineering Bibliography

As the website has developed, an extensive number of publications have been identified.

Where possible, for material which is out of copyright or for which approval has been granted, the Bibliography includes a link to a digital version which is available for download.

Australian People

Encyclopedia of Australian Science, Biographical Entries: occupation engineer, www.eoas.info, <Accessed 20 January 2019>.

Farr, Peter (ed.), ROBOTs. 2016/2019 Collection of Autobiographies. PMG Department/Telecom Australia/Telstra Engineers, 2019.

Ferguson, James Mephan, Mephan Ferguson: a biography, BHP, 1992.

Lerk, James A., Robert Gray Ford: colonial blacksmith, inventor, engineer and one time Bendigonian, Lerk, Victoria, 2005.

Whitmore, Raymond Leslie, Eminent Queensland Engineers, Institution of Engineers Australia, Queensland, 1984, and Cossins, Geoffrey, Eminent Queensland Engineers – Volume II, Institution of Engineers Australia, Queensland, 1999.

Gold Industry

Lindesay Clark, Gordon, Built on Gold: Recollections of Western Mining, Hill of Content, Melbourne, 1983.

Wilson, H. H., Gateways to gold, Rigby Limited, Australia, 1969.

Australian Private Sector

Arneil, Stan, A Firm Foundation – The Story of Gutteridge Haskins & Davey, Gutteridge Haskins & Davey, Sydney, 1988.

Avery, Barry, The Miners – Stories from the industry that drives modern Australia, It’s a Minefield c/o Atlas Iron Limited (Fremantle Press), Perth, 2013.

Avery, David, Not on Queen Victoria's Birthday: the story of the Rio Tinto Mines, Collins, London, 1974.

Blainey, Geoffrey, The rush that never ended: a history of Australian mining, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, 1978.

Blainey, Geoffrey, White Gold: the story of Alcoa of Australia, Allen & Unwin, St Leonards NSW, 1997.

Brodie Hall, L. C., Progress.... Mining and the Environment, Chamber of Mines of W.A. (Inc.), 1971.

Carroll, Brian, Fluor: Meeting the Challenge - Celebrating 50 Years in Australia, Honeywell, Focus Publishing, Edgecliff NSW, 2001.

Haigh, Gideon, Asbestos house: the secret history of James Hardie Industries, Scribe Publications, Carlton North Vic, 2006.

Hatch, The Art of Innovation: Celebrating 50 years of service, Hatch, Canada, 2005

Montagnana-Wallace, Neil, Building a Nation: The Thiess Story, Bounce Books on behalf of Thiess, 2014.

Rodengen, Jeffrey L, AECOM: 20 years and counting, Write Stuff Enterprises, Fort Lauderdale USA, 2010.

The BAM Clough Story – 50 years of success.

Watson, Nigel and Turner, Frank, Maunsell – The Firm and its Founder, AECOM Technology Corporation, 2005.

West, Richard, River of Tears: the rise of the Rio Tinto Zinc Corporation Ltd., Earth Island Limited, London, 1972.

Wilkinson, Rick, A Thirst for Burning, The Story of Australia's Oil Industry, David Ell Press, Chippendale NSW, 1983.

Engineering History

Armytage, W. H. G., A Social History of Engineering, Faber and Faber Limited, London, 1961.

Booker, Peter Jeffrey, A history of engineering drawing, Chatto and Windus, London, 1963.

Broken Hill Proprietary Co. ltd., B.H.P. 75 years: eighteen hundred and eighty five nineteen hundred and sixty, B.H.P., 1960.

Cadbury, Deborah, Seven Wonders of the Industrial World, Harper Press, London, 2004 (BBC TV).

Carroll, Brian, The Engineers: 200 years at work for Australia, Engineers Australia, Canberra, 1988

Cole, Bruce, Australia's 500 large dams: conserving water on a dry continent, ANCOLD, Victoria, 2003.

Coltheart, Lenore and Fraser, Don, Landmarks in Public Works: engineers and their works in New South Wales 1884 1914, Hale & Iremonger, Sydney, 1987.

Cossons, Neil, The BP Book of Industrial Archaeology, Newton Abbot, Devon : David &​ Charles, 1993.

Cumming, D. A. and Moxham, G. C., They Built South Australia – Engineers, Technicians, Manufacturers, Contractors and Their Work, Authors, Adelaide SA, 1986.

Dunn, John, Comeng: a history of Commonwealth Engineering Volume 1: 1921 1955, Rosenberg NSW, 2006.

Engineers Australia, Canberra's Engineering Heritage, Canberra Division, Institution of Engineers, Barton ACT, second edition 1990.

Engineers Australia, Wonders never cease : 100 Australian engineering achievements, Engineers Australia, Canberra, 2019.

Engineers Australia, Anything is possible : 100 Australian engineering leaders, Engineers Australia, Canberra, 20198.

Evans, Richard and West, Alex, Constructing Australia, Miegunyah Press, Carlton Vic, 2007.

Greaves, W. F. and Carpenter, J. H., A Short History of Mechanical Engineering, Longmans, Green and Co Ltd, London, 1969.

Hallows, Peter J. and Thompson, Donald G., The history of irrigation in Australia, Australian National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (ANCID), Mildura Vic., 1994.

Hitchings, Bill, West Gate, Outback Press, Collingwood Vic, 1979.

Kelly & Lewis, Fifty years of engineering: Melbourne 1899 1949, Rickards Advertising, Melbourne, 1949.

Lay, Maxwell G., History of Australian Roads, Australian Road Research Board, Vermont South, Victoria, 1984.

Lay, Maxwell G., Ways of the World, a history of the world's roads and the vehicles that used them, Primavera Press, Sydney, 1992.

Lay, Max, Metcalf, John and Sharp, Kieran, Paving our ways: a history of the world's roads and pavements, Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2021. A Review by Keith Baker.

Lee, Robert, Transport: an Australian history, University of NSW Press, Sydney, 2010.

McKillop, Bob, Furnace, Fire and Forge: Lithgow's iron and steel industry 1874 1932, Light Railway research Society of Australia, Surrey Hills Vic., 2006.

Moyal, Ann, Clear across Australia: a history of telecommunications, Nelson, Melbourne, 1984.

Odhams Press, Triumphs of engineering: a record of great modern achievements, Odhams Press, London, 1946.

Pannell, John P. M., An illustrated history of civil engineering, Thames and Hudson, London, 1964.

Rolt, L. T. C., George and Robert Stephenson: the railway revolution, Longmans, London, 1960.

Rolt, L. T. C., Victorian Engineering, Allen Lane The Penguin Press, London, 1970.

Rowland, John, Progress in Power: the contribution of Charles Metz and his associates to sixty years of electrical development, Newman Neame Ltd, London, 1960.

Woodside, John and McCue, Kevin, Early History of Seismic Design and Codes in Australia, Australian Earthquake Engineering Society, 2016 Conference.

Wright, Matthew, Big ideas : 100 wonders of NZ engineering, Random House, Auckland, 2009.

Engineering Professional Organisations

Corbett, Arthur Hardie, The History of the Institution of Engineers Australia – 1919 1969, The Institution of Engineers, Australia and Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1973.

Lloyd, Brian Edmund and Vines, Helen, Status and Reward – The history of industrial representation of professional engineers in Australia, Association of Professional Engineers Scientists and Managers, Australia, 1996.

The Association of Consulting Engineers Australia (ACEA), Engineers in Association – The first 50 years of the Association of Consulting Engineers Australia 1951 – 2001.

Engineering Technology

Ariyaratne, Wije et al, The Timber Truss Bridge Book, Roads and Maritime Services New South Wales and the Heritage Council of New South Wales, (accessed 16 January 2021).

Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Technology in Australia 1788-1988 - A condensed history of Australian technological innovation and adaptation during the first two hundred years, Melbourne 1988, Online 2000, Updated 21 November 2001, (accessed 9 March 2022).

Australian Wood Pipe Co. Ltd., Pipe Flow Tables showing the flow of water through "Pioneer" wood pipe, The Australian Wood Pipe Co. Ltd., Sydney & Footscray, 1941.

Birmingham, Judy, Jack, Ian and Jeans, Dennis, Australian Pioneer Technology, Heinemann Educational Australia, Richmond Vic, 1979.

Boughton, Geoff, Improving the resilience of Heritage Buildings to cyclones and storms, 2022 Heritage Conference, Heritage Council Western Australia, 20 May 2022.

Chambers, Don, Wooden wonders: Victoria's timber bridges, Hyland House, Flemington, 2006.

Clydesdale, John, Pioneer of the Road: the story of Australia's first self propelled road vehicle, Author, Yokine, 2002.

Cole, Bruce (ed.), Dam technology in Australia 1850 1999, ANCOLD, NSW, 2000.

Coltheart, Lenore, Nicholas, Amie, The Timber Truss Bridge Book, Roads and Maritime Services, NSW, 2019. (available as an e book at https://roads-waterways.transport.nsw.gov.au/about/environment/protecting-heritage/timber-truss-bridge/index.html).

Cossons, Neil, The BP book of industrial archaeology, A David & Charles Book, Devon, third edition 1993.

Cowan, Henry J., From wattle & daub to concrete & steel: the engineering heritage of Australia’s buildings, Melbourne University Press, Carlton South, Vic., 1998.

Dupre, Judith, Bridges - A history of the world's most famous and important spans, Black Dog & Leventhal, New York, 1997.

Fox, Robert (ed.), Technological change: methods and themes in the history of technology, Harwood Academic, 1996.

Gemmell, Warwick, And so we graft from six to six: the brickmakers of New South Wales, Angus & Robertson, North Ryde NSW, 1986,

Goad, Philip and Willis, Julie, The Encyclopedia of Australian Architecture, Cambridge University Press, Port Melbourne Vic, 2012.

Hartley, Richard G., Landmarks in Extractive Metallurgy: innovations in non ferrous primary metallurgy since 1850, Richard G. Hartley, Rossmoyne, 2002.

Henderson, Graeme, Martime archaeology in Australia, UWA Press Nedlands, 1986.

Hills, Richard L., Power from steam: a history of the stationary steam engine, Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Ingpen, Robert and Carruthers, Sally, Australian Inventions and Innovations, Rigby, Adelaide, 1982.

Klose, W., Leaching Processes, Technical Publications Trust, Perth, 1982.

Lerk, James A, Robert Gray Ford - Colonial Blacksmith, Inventor, Engineer and one Time Bendigonian, Lerk, Golden Square, Victoria, 2005.

McCarthy, Mike (Ed.), Iron Ships & Steam Shipwrecks: papers from the first Australian seminar on the management of iron vessels & steam shipwrecks, Western Australian Museum, 1988.

McKillop, Bob, Furnace, fire & forge : Lithgow's iron and steel industry 1874-1932, Surrey Hills, Vic. : Light Railway Research Society of Australia, 2006.

McLelland, T and Tamblyn, N, The development and test of external coatings for wood stave pipe, CSIRO, 1950.

Munter, Scott and Lume, Eric, Guide to Historical Reinforcement, Steel Reinforcement Institute of Australia, 2017.

O’Connor, Colin, How to look at bridges, Institution of Engineers, Barton ACT, 1983.

O'Connor, Colin, Register of Australian historic bridges, Institution of Engineers, Barton ACT, 1983.

O'Connor, Colin, Spanning Two Centuries: historic bridges of Australia, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 1985.

Park, James, The cyanide process of gold extraction: a text book for the use of mining students, metallurgists, and cyanide operators, Griffin, London, 1906.

Quick, Graeme R., Australian Tractors: indigenous tractors and self propelled machines in rural Australia, Rosenberg, NSW, 2006.

Shannon, J. W., Australian Innovation in Cargo Containerisation - Innovation that led the world, JW Shannon Engineers, 2016.

Simpson, Margaret & Phillip, Old farm machinery in Australia, a field guide & sourcebook, Kangaroo Press, Kenthurst NSW, 1988.

Southern, Jack L. N. and Platt, Jeremy E. A., The history of ironmaking in Australia 1848-1914, Port Kembla, [N.S.W.], Australian Pig Iron Club, 1986.

Steel Reinforcement Institute of Australia, Guide to Historical Steel Reinforcement in Australia, 2020.

Todd, Jan, Colonial technology: science and the transfer of innovation to Australia, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1995.

Aboriginal Technology

Griffiths, Billy, Deep Time Dreaming: uncovering ancient Australia, Black Inc., Carlton Vic, 2018.

Railway Engineering

Burke, David, Road through the Wilderness: the story of the transcontinental railway, NSW University Press, Kensington, NSW, 1991.

Butcher, Richard K., The Great Eveleigh Railway Workshops, a personal reminiscence, Richard Butcher, Eastwood NSW, 2004.

Fearnside, Geoffrey H., All stations west: the story of the Sydney Perth standard gauge railway, Haldane Publishing, Sydney, 1970.

Fitch, Ronald J., Making tracks: 46 years in Australian railways, Kangaroo Press, Kenthurst NSW, 1989.

Fraser, Don, Bridges Down Under: the history of railway under bridges in New South Wales, Australian Railway Historical Society, New South Wales Division, Redfern NSW, 1995.

Kerr, John, Triumph of Narrow Gauge: a history of Queensland railways, Boolarong Press, Brisbane, 1998.

Lee, Robert, The Greatest Public Work, the New South Wales railways 1848 to 1888, Hale & Iremonger, Sydney, 1988.

Lee, Robert, Colonial Engineer: John Whitton 1819 1898 and the building ofAustralia's railways, University of NSW Press, Sydney, 2000.

Phippen, Bill, The Hawkesbury River Railway Bridges, Australian Railway Historical Society, New South Wales Division, Redfern NSW, 2018.

Port Dock Station Railway Museum, Locomotives and Railcars of the Commonwealth Railways, Gresley Publishing, Welland, South Australia, 1996.

Rae, Lou, The Emu Bay Railway, Lou Rae, Sandy Bay Tasmania, second edition 1997.

Military Engineering

Federation of Australian Historical Societies, A Thematic Study of the Nineteenth Century Defences,Canberra, 2019.

Engineering Bibliography

Birrell, Ralph W., Glossary of mining terms, Australian Mining History Monographs no. 1., Zlota Press, Strathfieldsaye Vic., 2002.

Cumming, D. A., Moulds, A. and Wrigley, L.J., A Bibliography of Australian Engineering History and Heritage,Prepared from the Database ‘ENGINE’, Institution of Engineers, Australia, 1991.

Davies, Mel, Bibliography of the mining history of Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, Dept. of Economics, UWA, Nedlands, 2002.