Edward Keane
KEANE, Edward Vivian Harvey (1844 - 1904)
Edward Vivian Harvey Keane was born in Birkenhead, Merseyside, Cheshire, England on August 8, 1844, the son of Royal Navy Commander Edward Keane and his wife Sarah Ladd Keane, née Peake. At the time of Edward Keane’s birth his father was Captain of the Royal Navy vessel Merlin based at Liverpool.
E V H Keane was educated privately and at Christ’s Hospital, a boarding school in Horsham. He was then apprenticed to a series of prominent rail contractors and civil engineers being the Irish engineer, William Dargan; the partnership between civil engineers Samuel Morton Peto and Edward Ladd Betts; and London based builders Charles Thomas Lucas and his brother Thomas Lucas.
Qualifying as a civil engineer he travelled to Melbourne on the Agamemnon arriving on May 23, 1876. Moving to South Australia he was appointed as Resident Engineer with the South Australian Railways. His first task was supervising the Kapunda to Morgan railway line that was opened in September 1878.
On May 27, 1879 he married Lilla Rebecca Wharton White in Adelaide. Lilla was the daughter of Abraham White with whom Keane later worked in partnership in both South Australia and Western Australia.
Keane resigned his position with the South Australian Railways on September 23, 1878 and with his father in law, Abraham White, entered the rail contracting business. As Keane & White, railway contractors, they built an engine shed at Naracoorte, the Stepney drainage works, reservoirs at Terowie and Orroroo, the Holdfast Bay rail line from Adelaide to Glenelg, and the 36 mile Orroroo extension of the rail line from Terowie to Pichi Richi.
With the completion of the Orroroo rail extension in November, 1881, they tendered for the second stage of the Eastern Railway in Western Australia from Guildford to Chidlow’s Well. Although his tender was unsuccessful Keane decided to work with the successful tenderer, J W Wright. Keane arrived at Fremantle on April 3, 1882 with his wife. When Wright had problems with earthworks, Keane took over the construction and completed the project. Keane then tendered in his own right for the Chidlow’s Well to York line which was accepted on October 22, 1883, with the line being officially opened on June 29, 1885.
Keane & White also established a timber mill at Mount Helena in 1883 (later to be known as Lion Mill) to provide construction materials for their projects. Abraham White built the mill and it was managed by his son, Lionel White. Keane & White sent a polished seven foot diameter cross section of a Jarrah log, weighing five tons, to the Indian and Colonial Exhibition in London (Kensington) in 1886.
Keane’s partner and father in law, Abraham White, died in Perth on May 14, 1885. Abraham White’s sons continued to be involved in Keane’s projects, particularly Edward White, surveyor and Lionel White, mill manager.
The completion of the Chidlow’s Well to York line reinforced Keane’s reputation a capable rail contractor and led to further contracts such as the York to Beverley line (opened August 5, 1886), the Spencer’s Brook to Northam line (opened October 13, 1886) and the Geraldton to Walkaway line (opened July 1, 1887). He also constructed the Bunbury to Boyanup line (opened March 12, 1891).
In January 1886 Keane was approached by Richard Price Williams, attorney for The Western Australian Midland Land and Railway Syndicate, to become their contractor. Keane was assured by the syndicate chairman, John Ewart, that funding of £150,000 was available if needed. Keane signed an agreement with the syndicate to build the earthworks with construction commencing at the Guildford end of the line to Walkaway on March 1, 1886. Construction at the Walkaway end commenced August 1886.
Due to financing problems with the syndicate, all work stopped by January 29, 1887, with Keane having an overdraft to the National Bank of £85,000. In January 1888 Keane was forced to sail to England to resolve financing of the project. In June 1890, a new entity, the Midland Railway of Western Australia, was formed with an initial task of raising £500,000. Keane had to purchase 88,000 of the 200,000 ordinary shares for this target to be reached. By July 1890, 8,000 tons of rails had been ordered and by September 1890 work was resumed. Keane used the project to pioneer mechanised earthworks using a steam dragline imported to Geraldton on December 1890. By May 1891 there were 700 labourers working on the line.
In 1889 Keane was involved with Neil McNeil in promoting and constructing a water supply scheme based on the Victoria Reservoir in Perth. In 1891 the resultant private supply of water to Perth was managed by Perth Water Supply Limited. In 1891, Keane also purchased Mason and Bird’s timber concession at Canning Mills that was within the reservoir catchment and the continuing operation of the mill raised water pollution fears. To serve the mill he constructed the Upper Darling Range Railway from Midland, via Kalamunda to Canning Mills in 1891 including the iconic section known as the Zig Zag, now a one way road downhill from Kalamunda.
Keane was elected Lord Mayor of Perth in May 1891. Victoria Reservoir was opened in 1891 by the Lady Mayoress, Lilla Keane.
Funding again plagued the Midland Railway project with the company only raising £900,000 of the £1,500,000 required to build the line. On November 6, 1891, the State Government guaranteed an overdraft of £60,000 to keep work going until February 1892 when 150 miles of the project was expected to be completed. In February 1892 work stopped until, in January 1893, the State Government gave a guarantee of principal and interest on £500,000 with mortgage over 2,400,000 acres of company land. The completed Midland Railway line was handed over by Keane to the company on June 17, 1895. Keane became the General Manager of the company and was granted 150,000 acres of land.
In 1893, Keane and his wife were amongst the first to purchase lots at Peppermint Grove which was being subdivided by Alexander Forrest, George Leake and Charles Crossland. Keane purchased eight and a half acres, including the feature known as Butler’s Hump which was renamed Keane’s Point.
In 1896 the State Government purchased the assets of Perth Water Supply Limited and created the Metropolitan Waterworks Board. Keane was its inaugural chairman until his resignation in October 1898.
In September 1896, a receiver was appointed by shareholders concerned about the Midland Railway Company’s financial position. Keane was subsequently sacked by the receiver.
The Australian Dictionary of Biography entry for E V H Keane concludes:
Keane represented Geraldton in the Legislative Council from December 1886 to January 1889 and then Perth until December 1890. He was then elected for Perth to the new Legislative Assembly until December 1891 and was returned for Eastern Province to the council in May June 1904. As a politician he was blunt and forthright, opposing the concentration of railways in the central districts and supporting free trade and Federation. He had been elected unopposed as mayor of Perth in 1891, but railway problems soon led to his resignation and he was given many glowing testimonials.
Among his diverse interests he was a justice of the peace and a local director of the South British Insurance Co. He also built the Perth Cathedral and the Fremantle Town Hall, in 1888 equipped the first party to go to the Yilgarn goldfields and later had a grazing property in the Eastern Districts where he imported well bred stock. Laid low by pneumonia and a heart attack in an election campaign Keane died on 9 July 1904, survived by his wife and four of his five children. At his funeral, flags in Perth were flown at half mast. His large home, Cappoquon House, Keane's Point, Peppermint Grove, and its garden was a district show piece. It was used as a rehabilitation centre for returned servicemen in World War I and later became the headquarters of the Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club.
References:
Kim Roberts, 'Keane, Edward Vivien Harvey (1844–1904)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/keane edward vivien harvey 3930/text6181, published first in hardcopy 1974, accessed online 30 December 2019.
Lindsay Watson, 'The Railway History of Midland Junction', L&S Drafting, Swan View, 1995
Weekly Times, 27.5.1876, p17
Adelaide Observer, 14.8.1878, p7
The Possum Perth, 22.10.1887, p6
West Australian, 6.10.1886, p3
Daily News, 18.6.1885, p3
Ruth Marchant James, 'Heritage of Pines', Vanguard Press, Perth, 1977
H E Hunt, 'Perth’s Early Water Supplies', Institution of Engineers Australia, Perth
J S H Le Page, 'Building a State', Water Authority of Western Australia, 1986
http://pickeringbrookheritagegroup.com/timber1.html accessed online 4 January 2020
Adrian Gunzburg and Jeff Austin, 'Rails through the Bush', Rail Heritage WA, Perth, 2008
Keane’s Rail Construction in Western Australia (Source: Rails through the Bush)
| Section of Line | Contract Let | Date Completed | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guildford Chidlow’s Well | 16.12.1881 | 11.3.1884 | Contract let to J W Wright and completed by E V H Keane |
| Chidlow Spencer’s Brook | 22.10.1883 | 20.6.1885 | |
| Bayswater Belmont | 30.9.1885 | 1.1.1886 | |
| Spencer’s Brook York | 22.10.1883 | 29.6.1885 | |
| Spencer’s Brook Northam | 15.4.1886 | 13.10.886 | |
| York Beverley | 21.4.1885 | 5.8.1886 | |
| Geraldton Walkaway | 15.4.1886 | 1.7.1887 | |
| Bunbury Boyanup | 8.3.1887 | 12.3.1891 | Used with horse drawn wagons by Keane as opening delayed |
| Guildford Gingin | 2.1886 | 3.4.1891 | Midland Railway |
| Midland Junction Canning Mills | 25.4.1891 | 25.7.1891 | Includes the Zig Zag |
| Walkaway Mingenew | 27.2.1886 | 16.8.1891 | Midland Railway |
| Gingin Mogumber | 27.2.1886 | 22.2.1892 | Midland Railway |
| Mingenew Arrino | 27.2.1886 | 27.2.1892 | Midland Railway |
| Mogumber Moora | 27.2.1886 | 2.7.1894 | Midland Railway |
| Moora Arrino | 27.2.1886 | 24.11.1894 | Midland Railway |
