Edward Cornwell
CORNWELL, Edward Satchwell, AMIEAust (1886-1954)
Edward Cornwell, engineer and administrator, was born in 1886 at Ballinclough, Roscommon in north Ireland. He was educated at Mount Morgan, Queensland, where his father was the mine paymaster for Mount Morgan Mines Ltd, and he served an apprenticeship in engineering with this company. On completion, he gained general experience in mechanical and electrical engineering with C.A. Parsons and Co., the Adelaide Tramways Trust, the Victorian Railways, the Sydney County Council and the New South Wales Railways. He was also employed as a marine engineer with Howard Smith and Co. Ltd, and the Australasian United Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. It was at this time that the late Colonel Daniel Evans (q.v.) and Cornwall formed a lifelong friendship which had an immense influence on the successful development and lasting co-operation between the firm of Evans, Deakin and Co. Ltd, and the electricity supply industry of Queensland.
In 1913, Cornwall was in Brisbane as a representative of the English firm of Willans and Robinson, overseeing the erection of the first alternating-current generating plant for City Electric Light Co. Ltd (CEL). This was at the newly erected William Street power station and he was invited to join CEL as power house superintendent. In about 1919 he was transferred to the head office and appointed Engineer for Construction. In this appointment he showed a remarkable ability to appreciate and master the operation of the whole undertaking which comprised a substantial direct-current network, including part of the tramways system, and a rapidly developing alternating-current system. Progressively, Cornwall was appointed Chief Assistant Engineer, Assistant Manager, and in 1937, Manager of CEL. In 1948 he became a director and the following year Managing Director and Chief Engineer of the company. On the formation of the Southern Electric Authority of Queensland in 1952 he was appointed General Manager and Chief Engineer.
In the period 1930-36 Cornwall envisaged the complete electrification of south-east Queensland and put his idea to the Royal Commission which led to the creation of the State Electricity Commission of Queensland. Under his management an agreement was negotiated with the Commission for a co ordinated electricity-supply development of coastal south-east Queensland. It included interconnection with the Brisbane City Council's system and involved the absorption of the Ipswich Electric Supply Co. and a number of country undertakings.
Cornwall guided CEL successfully through serious engineering, administrative and financial difficulties when it was expanding at a very rapid rate in the post World War II period. He foresaw the problems involved in further development of the region by a private enterprise company and his influence and initiative were most evident in the concept and structuring of the Southern Electric Authority of Queensland as a successor to City Electric Light Co. Ltd which allowed the absorption of the Darling Downs authorities and the Stanthorpe undertaking. Finally, ten years after his death, rationalization of electricity supplies in the City of Brisbane was achieved.
Cornwall was an Associate Member of the Institution of Engineers, Australia and was Chairman of Brisbane Division for 1938-9. Beyond Queensland he was recognized as an authority on electricity supply problems, and authorities in other States consulted him on projects affecting their areas. The Electricity Supply Association of Australia twice honoured him with its presidency.
Cornwall died in Brisbane in 1954, the E.S. Cornwall Memorial Scholarship being established in the University of Queensland in 1956 to honour his memory; the object is to enable graduates in engineering to obtain special experience abroad
References:
Eminent Queensland Engineers Vol 1 is available here.
Southern Electricity Authority News, No. 1 ( 1954), p, 5;
University of Qid Calendar, 1982,
