William L'Estrange
L'ESTRANGE, William Manderville Ellis, AMIEAust MIEE FCIS Lond.(1868-1951)
L'ESTRANGE, WILLIAM MANDERVILLE ELLIS, electrical engineer and administrator, was born in Dublin on 11 December 1868, son of Edgar William L'Estrange and Mary Frances Henderson. He was educated at Arnold House, Chester, England and came to Australia in 1886. From 1887 to 1893 he was engaged in surveying work first as an assistant to the Logan District Surveyor, C.D. Dunn, and later working independently. During this period he also farmed in the Beechmont area. In 1893 he contemplated returning to Ireland, but decided to accept employment with a relative, E.G.C. Barton (q.v.) of the electrical firm of Barton and White, (later Barton, White and Co.) of Brisbane. Three years later when aged twenty-eight, he left the firm to seek overseas experience. He attended courses in England at University College and Finsbury Technical College in London and also in Cologne, Germany. The next two years were spent with the. General Electric. Co., concluding with installation work in San Francisco.
On returning to Brisbane in 1900 L'Estrange became Secretary of the Brisbane Electric Supply Co. Ltd which with a capital of 2,000 pounds had succeeded Barton, White and Co. Following the reconstruction of the company a further change of name to City Electric Light Co. (CEL) was made in 1904. In 1912 L'Estrange became Joint Manager and Engineer of the company, a position he retained until 1915 when he retired to become Chairman of the Queensland State Repatriation Board. He returned to CEL in 1920 as Joint Governing Director and was a director until 1938. The Ipswich Electric Supply Co. was formed in 1917 and from then until 1927 LiEstrange was the Secretary. He was a director from 1927 and, from 1933 to his retirement in 1938, Chairman of Directors. This· company was associated with CEL and purchased energy in bulk from it. During his periods of service with the Brisbane Electric Supply Co. and CEL there was a very great increase in the use of electricity. In 1900 the number of consumers was perhaps 200; in 1935 there were over 18,000 and the power demand had increased two hundred-fold.
L'Estrange was a member of the Queensland Electrical Association which had been formed in 1898 "to promote the general advancement of electrical and telegraphic science... ". When this Association merged with the Queensland Institute of Engineers in 1911 he became the first President of the enlarged organization. Prior to this he was a member of a committee of the Association set up to consider reasons for the slow development of the electric light and power industry. A particular difficulty was that the Queensland Electric Light and Power Act of 1896 followed English practice in requiring that electricity mains be underground. This was preventing economic reticulation in situations where overhead mains were regarded by the industry as appropriate.
At a meeting of the Queensland Institute of Engineers in May 1914, a sub committee was set up to discuss the need for improved roads in Queensland. L'Estrange, as a member, favoured the creation of a Department of Highways to control the making of all roads in the State. The formation of a Main Roads Improvement Association seems to have resulted from the discussions and a Main Roads Board was later set up.
For a few years prior to 1919 there had been discussions about the benefits of forming a national society for professional engineers to replace State bodies. In 1918 a decisive step was taken at a national conference and in August 1919 the Institution of Engineers, Australia was formed. L'Estrange was a founding member and became Chairman of the Brisbane Division for 1933-4. His retiring chairman's address is a valuable record of the history of electricity supply in Queensland. He represented the Institution of Engineers, Australia on the Great Barrier Reef Committee and was its Honorary Treasurer. He was also Honorary Secretary and Treasurer of the Queensland Committee of the Institution of Electrical Engineers from about 1914 to 1934.
L'Estrange was very interested in the development of the University of Queensland and was appointed a member of the Senate in 1927. He became Chairman of the Buildings and Grounds Committee in 1928 and was Warden of the Standing Committee of Council from 1922 to 1927. He continued his Senate appointments until 1935.
He married Mary Emmeline Alder, daughter of E.H. Alder, Chief Inspector of Public Works for Queensland, in March 1900 and they had a son and three daughters; he died on 20 December 1951.
References:
Eminent Queensland Engineers Vol 1 is available here.
'Queensland and Queenslanders' (Brlsb, 1936);
W.M.E. L'Estrange, 'The History of Electricity Supply In Brisbane', in S.E.Q.E.B Archives, No. 103.
NOTE: William L'Estrange has also been recognised in the Queensland Hall of Fame
and was Engineers Australia Queensland President 1933 QLD Presidents
