Laurie Fromholtz
Laurie Fromholtz (1929 - 2019)
Laurie Fromholtz was born 4th March, 1929 in Leeton, New South Wales. His father was an electrician, and he was the eldest of six children, with three brothers and two sisters. He was married to Pat and had five children, Lorraine, Marie-Therese, Gillian, Michele and Kieran, and twelve grandchildren.
He attended primary schools in Yanco, Leeton, Burrinjuck and Christian Brothers, Wagga Wagga, with short periods at St Mary's, Wagga Wagga, Albury and Mirool. For high school he attended Christian Brothers, Wagga Wagga until he achieved his Leaving Certificate in 1945.
In his school holidays Laurie worked as an ice, fruit and vegetable delivery boy, a farm hand on wheat, dairy and grazing properties and as a telegram boy. After his Leaving Certificate he worked in a number of jobs, including, at a clothing factory, bus company and at the education department at the Wagga Teacher's College from 1946 - 1947.
From 1948 - 1952 he worked as a cadet engineer for the Lockhart Shire Council and during this time he studied and qualified for his Ordinance 4 exams. During this time his tasks included sealing roads, marking out, clerical records and surveying. He also had some part in road design, work roads and drainage. Following the floods of 1950 he had to design the timber bridge on the Belubula River and improved the roads.
Between 1952-1967 he was an assistant engineer for the Waugoola Shire Council (Cowra, NSW) and from 1967-1970 he was the Design Engineer for Wagga Wagga City Council. After moving to Wagga Wagga, mainly because of the improved opportunities it presented to his children, he noted that he could never take full advantage of his leave because there was no one else to do the work. His design work in Wagga Wagga included the flood pump design, detention pond, sewerage, roads, saleyards, saline water table, levee bank system and the Wyangala Dam construction.
From 1970-1984 he was the Deputy City Engineer for the Wagga Wagga City Council and this was when the large scale planning began. In 1984 he became the City Engineer, a post he held until 1993. He said that the move to City Engineer necessitated more of an involvement with politics and organisation rather than hands on work. Of all his achievements as City Engineer, he believed that the greatest were the introduction of the asset management system and the major sewerage program, including waste water recycling. In 1993 his title was changed to the Director of Engineering and Technical Services under the new Local Government Act.
Laurie retired in 1994 at the statutory age and began his own consulting firm, 'Laurie Fromholtz and Associates.' He worked across many states mainly in livestock marketing centres, waste water treatment and reclamation and the transport industry. Aside from his actual career, Laurie held a number of additional roles:
He was the Chairman of the Wagga Wagga Traffic Committee for ten years, the Chairman of the Wagga Wagga Flood Plain Management Committee for nine years and a member of the Executive NSW Saleyards Operators Association for twelve years. He was a delegate for five years and the Secretary for one year of the Eastern Australian Saleyards Executive, Deputy Chairman for the Association of Regional Livestock Markets for five years, a member of the National Saleyards Convention Committee for four years and a member of the honorary editorial panel for "Highway Engineering in Australia" and "Municipal Engineering in Australia." He was also a member of the Wagga Wagga City Council Economic Development Board for two years.
Qualifications and Memberships included:
Ordinance 4 Qualifications in 1968.
Qualification as Engineer under the NSW Local Government Act.
Chartered Professional Engineer
Senior Management Programme, Canberra College of Advanced Education.
Management Course, UNSW Sewerage Treatment Course, UNSW.
Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Australia.
Fellow of the Institute of Municipal Engineers, Australia.
Member of the Society of Authors.
Taylor Memorial Medal 1979, from Local Government Engineers Institute.
Laurie Fromholtz died on 2 August 2019.
Prepared by Patricia Taaffe, December 2002 from oral history interviews conducted on 19 September 1999, 7 March 2000 and 20 September 2000.
For an appreciation of the life of Laurie Fromholtz at the time of his death please see:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156135862871296&id=87868316295&set=a.99989196295
To access an oral history interview with Laurie Fromholtz please use this link:'
https://heritage.engineersaustralia.org.au/wiki/Oral_Histories_Sydney
