David Eric Hutchison
HUTCHISON, David Eric BA BE(hons) Dip Ed HonFMAA (1927-2017)
David was born on February 24, 1927, at Miss Harvey’s Private Hospital in Bulwer Street, Perth. He was the second son of advertising manager Norman Eric Hutchison and his wife Annie Helen Hutchison nee Dixon. He grew up in Darlington and Claremont. He joined the Air Training Corps in 1943 rising to the rank of Corporal. He was encouraged to study engineering and matriculated through Perth Technical College in 1944.
In 1945, he commenced studying civil engineering at the University of Western Australia, graduating with honours in March 1951. He was elected Guild President in October 1949 and commenced an Arts course studying subjects in economics and philosophy in 1950. He was also Vice President of the National Union of Australian University Students and their International Officer.
His initial appointment after graduation was with West Australian Government Railways as a civil engineer in 1951.
He applied for a Rhodes Scholarship and narrowly missed being selected. An opportunity arose for him to travel to London in 1952 and work with the firm Personnel Administration. He also studied economics at Oxford University as part of an arts degree. He was asked to represent the Australian Union of Students at conferences in Europe, which took him to Hungary, Austria and Romania.
He returned to Western Australia on the “Orontes” in May 1953 with the ambition to be a consulting engineer but took up an appointment as Senior Science Master at Christchurch Grammar School. During his time at Christchurch he had part-time work at the University of Western Australia tutoring in history, and at WAIT (now Curtin University), lecturing in the History and Philosophy of Science.
On December 30, 1955, David married teacher June Rosemary Birt. They had two children, Jane and Mark.
In 1963, David was awarded the Australian Industries Development Association Science Education Award for services to science education. He took up a position as lecturer/tutor at the University of Western Australia in 1968. Here he worked as Tutor Organiser in the University Adult Education and Extension Service.
David was appointed as the first Curator of History in Australia in 1970 when he took up a posting at the Western Australian Museum. In 1982, he was sought out by Gough Whitlam to curate an exhibition of Australian history in Canberra and was seconded to the Federal Department of Home Affairs.
In 1985, David was seconded to the Western Australian Department of Science and Technology to prepare a brief for the establishment of Scitech. David retired in December 1985 and set up as a consultant in historical research and museology.
David was an Associate Member of the Museum Association of Australia and was made an Honorary Fellow in 1986.
He illustrated George Seddon’s, A Sense of Place, UWAP, with botanical drawings. He authored many publications including the Australian Dictionary of Biography entry for Professor Othman Blakey. His publications include:
- 1969, Aboriginal Progress: A New Era? University of Western Australia Press.
- 1995, A Town Like No Other: The Living Tradition of New Norcia, Fremantle Arts Centre Press.
- 2006, Fremantle Town Hall: 1887-1987, Fremantle City Council.
- 2006, Fremantle Walks, Fremantle Arts Centre Press.
- 2007, Many Years a Thief, Wakefield Press.
David died on December 27, 2017, aged 90 years. He was survived by his wife June.
References:
Freotopia accessed July 8, 2024
Margaret A Sacks (Editor), The Way 79 Who is Who, Crawley Publishers, 1980
West Australian, 5.10.1949, p27
West Australian, 30.3.1951, p6
Daily News, 19.3.1952, p6
