William Whitney Dartnall

DARTNALL, William Whitney, MICE (1847-1929)

William Whitney Dartnall was born in Nelson, New Zealand on November 11, 1847 the son of William Dartnall and his wife Lucy Dartnall nee Richardson. On December 16, 1867, he married Eliza Graffin in Christchurch, New Zealand. They had eight children, all born in New Zealand.

After 18 years with the New Zealand Railways and four years as a Consulting Engineer, Dartnall moved to Western Australia and joined the Public Works Department as a District Engineer in January 1892.

After working on the design and construction of Fremantle Harbour and the Harvey Irrigation Scheme, he became Engineer for Existing Lines in the Government Railways in 1895 when the lines terminated at Northam and at York. He supervised the maintenance and strengthening of the early lightly built tracks to carry increased axle loads and the greatly increased traffic to the Eastern Goldfields, remodelled the railway yards at Perth and Fremantle, was responsible for new bridges across William and Beaufort Streets, and designed the second railway station at Fremantle, opened in 1908.

He retired as Engineer of Existing Lines on April 1, 1908 when track under his responsibility extended eastward to Kalgoorlie and Leonora, also southward to Albany. He was succeeded by E E Light.

His son, William Leonard Dartnall, also became a rail engineer in the Public Works Department.

W W Dartnall died at his home in Perth on January 1, 1929.

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References:
“Eastern Railway … improvement of grades Guildford to Spencer’s Brook”, V&P WA 1893, 26;
“Report of the Civil Service Commission” V&P WA 1896, 15;
“Report ... Government Railways” V&P WA 1897, 9;
“RSC Midland Rai1way Company”, V&P WA 1901~2, A29;
“RRC Forestry” V&P WA 1903~4, 24;
WAPD 1905, p942;
LPG p190;
HAIEA;
Daily News 9.4.1908, p7;
West Australian 11.11.1908, p3.