Uriah Dudley
DUDLEY, Uriah, FRS FGS MAusIME JP (1852-1909)
Uriah Dudley was born in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire in 1852, the eldest son of brickmaker Richard Dudley and his wife Sarah Dudley née Pantling. The family emigrated to Victoria in the mid 1850s after the birth of the second son, Charles, who was born in 1855, also at Leighton Buzzard. Uriah’s early education was in Geelong.
In May 1864 Uriah travelled with his mother and brother Charles on the “Wonga Wonga 1” from Melbourne to Sydney, and on to Gympie. His father Richard had gone on ahead in January 1864 and had established a brickworks, on Columbia Creek, near Gympie.
Around 1867, Uriah was apprenticed to the newly established John Walker and Company, Maryborough, Queensland, as a fitter and turner. John Walker and Company was a sophisticated engineering works fabricating mining equipment, ships and locomotives. Progressing to work as a mechanical engineer, Uriah moved to work in the tin industry at Herberton, Queensland, in 1872.
On May 9, 1879, Uriah married Emma Neale in Brisbane and they had two children, Charles and Eva, who both died young.
In April 1879, Uriah established an engineering company, Dudley and Rutter, in Gympie, working on mining projects such as the South Lady Mary mine. He undertook further mining and geology study at the Sydney Technical College between 1884 and 1885. In March 1888, he was appointed mine manager at the Sydney Rockwell Silver Mine near Broken Hill. In February 1889 he became mine manager for the Umberumberka Silver Mining Company at Silverton.
Geoff Randall, in his article “Brother Uriah Dudley, Mining Engineer and Freemason” (posted on the Outback Family History website) states:
“Shortly after this appointment, he became extremely active in the Silverton community. He was principal instructor in physics, mathematics, mining, geology and chemistry at the Silverton Technical School. He was Secretary of the Barrier Ranges Mine Manager’s Association, Mayor of Silverton in 1890 1892, Justice of the Peace, Chairman of the Licensing Court, A member of the Hospital Board, and President of the Silverton Chess Club. He was an early member of Umberumberka Masonic Lodge holding the position of Treasurer.
He was also called to give evidence at the Royal Commission into the Gold Mining Industry in Victoria in 1890, where his main theme was the need for better education for Mine Managers.
In 1893 he moved to Broken Hill during the decline of Silverton. He was manager of the Chloridising Works of the BHP Company. He was at the time in Broken Hill an instructor in mining and mineralogy at the Broken Hill Mechanics Institute.
Realizing the further need for better education, he instigated a campaign of vigorous letter writing to Mine Managers all over the world to form an Australasian Institute of Mining Engineers. He sent out about 400 letters during this campaign, recommending the adoption and formation of a representative body based on a similar model in the United States. As a result such a body was formed in April 1893 whose early personnel mainly came from the Broken Hill managers. He was the original Secretary of the new association until 1897. The first meeting was held in Adelaide in the Exhibition Building on North Terrace. This organisation has recently celebrated its 125th Anniversary, which despite a change of name, a tribute to the vision of Uriah Dudley, its Founding Father."
In November 1895, Uriah was reported as being the new manager of the Golden Bar Mining Company at Coolgardie. He resigned from this position in late 1896 and then took up the positions of manager of the Golden Vine Company at Menzies and as a representative of the Boulder Exploration Company. He was appointed a Justice of the Peace in Menzies in 1897.
In 1897 he returned to New South Wales as manager of the White Rock Mine at Drake, near Tenterfield. After resigning this position in July 1899 he travelled to San Francisco in September 1899 on the “RMS Moana” with his wife. He worked in Denver City, Colorado, as a mine manager.
Uriah returned to Western Australia in 1901, being appointed as mine manager and attorney for the Emperor Gold Mine near Day Dawn. He also was mine manager for the Fields Find Mine near Yalgoo after it was reconstructed in 1903.
In May 1904, Uriah appeared as a witness before the Commission on Ventilation and Sanitation of Mines. He travelled to London in August 1904 on the “Moldavia” attempting to obtain investment for Western Australian mining. In January 1906, he suffered a paralytic stroke in London. A year later, in January 1907, he returned to Australia on the “Runic” travelling to Sydney and living at Annandale.
Uriah Dudley died on February 8, 1909 aged 56, survived by his wife Emma.
References:
Denis A Cumming and Richard G Harley, Westralian Founders of Twentieth Century Mining, Richard G Hartley, Rossmoyne, 2014.
John M Dew, Mining People – A Century, Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Parkville, Victoria, 1993.
Uriah Dudley, Mining Engineer and Mason ~ Outback Family History (outbackfamilyhistoryblog.com) accessed 19.2.2021.
Gympie Times, 23.4.1871, p. 1.
Gympie Times, 10.5.1879, p. 1.
Sydney Morning Herald, 7.3.1885, p. 11.
Sydney Morning Herald, 8.2.1886, p. 4.
Daily Telegraph, 10.3.1888, p. 7.
Sydney Morning Herald, 12.2.1889, p. 9.
Kalgoorlie Miner, 15.11.1895, p. 2.
Geraldton Advertiser, 29.4.1903, p. 3.
Western Mail, 21.5.1904, p. 21.
Day Dawn Chronicle, 6.1.1906, p. 2.
