Victor Hall
HALL, Victor Morgan MIE(Aust) (1922-2020)
Victor Morgan Hall was born in Perth, WA on January 15, 1922 the son of machinist Morgan Hall and his wife Gertrude Hall, née Wise, both of Perth, WA. His secondary schooling was at the Junior Technical College in Newcastle St. Perth, where he attained the Junior Certificate. He then joined the workforce and completed his education part time.
In 1937 at age 15 Hall joined Saunders & Stewart as an apprentice boilermaker, working in their structural steel division, while he completed his Leaving Certificate at Perth Technical College at night school. Upon finishing his school studies he continued with Saunders & Stewart and, with further part time studies at Perth Technical College, attained an Associateship in Civil Engineering and a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering.
Vic Hall was employed by Saunders & Stewart until 1946. He then changed direction, moving into technical education. He lectured at Perth Technical College until 1949, after which he took up the role of Principal of Wembley Technical College, a position he held until 1953. The Education Department of of the Western Australian Government then appointed him as Superintendent of Apprenticeship Training in WA, a position he held until 1960; and he then became Director of Operations in Technical Education in WA. In 1965 he became the Acting Director General of Technical and Further Education for WA, which he was until his retirement in 1982 when he was 60 years of age.
Vic Hall joined the Institution of Engineers Australia in 1950. He was appointed MIE(Aust) in 1952 and, following extensive participation in Institution affairs, including that of Honorary Treasurer from 1957 to 1963, he was appointed WA Division Chairman in 1967. He was also Convener of the 1965 National Institution of Engineers Conference held in Perth. Other Australia wide committee memberships were those of Metric Conversion, various aspects of Industry, and that of Local Government. Vic played a key role in securing funding to enable the WA Division to purchase its own premises in Murray Street and to move from rented premises in the Gledden Building.
Victor was also an active member of Rotary. He joined Rotary in 1958 and came to the West Perth Club in 1965 representing the classification of Engineering. He served that club in many capacities including on the Club Board and as President in 1972 73.
Highlights of Vic Hall's career included working during the war years with Saunders & Stewart on the armouring and equipping of ships for war service, being responsible for apprenticeship training in all trades in WA, and being appointed by the Commonwealth Government to report on the establishment of apprentice training facilities on Christmas Island. This report was subsequently put into operation. He was also awarded a six month long scholarship in the USA for Training in Engineering in 1968.
Victor interacted with many of the Senior Lecturers at Perth Technical College including Erich Shilbury and Bill Patterson, and also Harry Nash on Testing of Mechanical and Electrical equipment.
Victor married Nancy Joan (Joan), nee Davies of Perth in 1944. They had three boys and one daughter of whom the eldest Geoffrey Hall was also an Engineer MIE(Aust), but unfortunately dying early in his professional life.
Victor died on August 20, 2020 aged 98, having lived a full and productive life. At the time of his death, Victor was the oldest surviving Chairman/President of the WA Division of the Institution of Engineers Australia. He was guest of honour at the 2019 Centenary celebrations at the WA Division Office, the building for which he played such a key role in acquiring and developing.
References:
Largely prepared with personal input from Victor Hall in March 2019, through Peter Blockley.
The West Australian, 15 September 2020, p. 65, Obituaries, Passing the torch to future engineers.
