Jack Lawson
LAWSON, John Dempster (Jack), BE(Hons) PHD MEng FIEAust MASCE (1926-1991)
Jack was born on June 10, 1926, at “Niola” private hospital in Cambridge Street, West Leederville, the son of Bibining (near Kununoppin) farmer David Lawson and his wife Margaret Dorothy Lawson (nee Dempster).
He grew up on the family property at Bibining and his primary schooling was at Kununoppin. His secondary education was at Wesley, in South Perth, where he completed his Junior Certificate in 1941 and Leaving Certificate in 1943. In 1944 he commenced a five year engineering course at the University of Western Australia. In 1947 he was awarded the Winzar Telford Prize for the best student in the final year of Civil Engineering.
He completed a Degree in Civil Engineering with First Class Honours, graduating in April 1948. During 1948 and 1949 he worked with the Commonwealth Department of Works in Perth as a civil engineer.
In December 1948, he was awarded a Hackett Research Scholarship. He then undertook a PHD at Aberdeen University on “Scale Models in Hydraulic Engineering” under Professor Jack Allen. Jack Lawson’s doctoral work focussed on the principles governing choice of scale in hydraulic modelling.
He completed his PHD in 1951. In July 1951 he had signed up to work with the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority (SMHA), at their London recruiting office, as a hydraulic research engineer, with his main role being to establish the SMHA Fluid Mechanics Laboratory at Cooma. He spent six months on a comprehensive tour of Western Europe investigating hydraulic laboratories and hydro-works from Scandinavia to Italy.
On March 15, 1952, he married Aberdeen University Biology Lecturer Olive Bessie Adam at Kings College Chapel, Aberdeen. They had one son, David John Adam Lawson, born 1958.
In April 1952, he returned from Europe with Olive to Fremantle on the “Strathmore”. In mid-1952 he commenced work to establish the SMHA Cooma research facility as well as a test weir on Cooma Creek. He then undertook the first two hydraulic model studies at Cooma. One of these studied was the flooding at the Munyang-Snowy confluence and its impact on the design of the Guthega Power Station.
For the first six months working at Cooma, Jack had basic camp facilities and his wife Olive remained in Sydney. When appropriate housing was secured in Cooma, Olive joined Jack and ultimately was employed by SMHA as an ichthyologist even though her background was in botany. She was engaged to determine whether eels could survive passing through a turbine and then be able to populate the River Murray.
In December 1953, Jack joined the University of Melbourne as Senior Lecturer. He lectured in Civil Engineering and Fluid Mechanics. A key task for Jack was to develop the AGM Michell Hydrodynamics Laboratory at Parkville for the University of Melbourne. It was operational in 1962 and remains one of the largest experimental hydraulic laboratories within a tertiary institution in Australia.
Jack completed a Masters of Engineering in 1963 at the University of Melbourne. He was appointed Reader in the Engineering Faculty in 1964 and then Professor of Civil Engineering in August 1970, a position he held until his retirement in 1989.
Jack joined the Institution of Engineers as a Student Member in 1946, becoming a Member in 1953 and a Fellow by 1976. In 2011, he was inducted into the National Committee on Water Engineering Hall of Fame. The National Committee on Water Engineering recognised Jack’s outstanding contribution to the fields of hydraulic and water resources engineering by awarding the J D Lawson Scholarship. The J D Lawson Scholarship acknowledges and promotes a Professional Engineer who is making an outstanding contribution in hydro-environmental engineering to his/her profession and professional community.
In 1982 he became a member of the Council of the International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR). In 1986, he was the Chairman of the IAHR Asia and Pacific Regional Division. In 1987, he was elected President of IAHR for a term of three years.
Jack was also a member of the Council of the Victorian Institute of Marine Sciences. He was a Member of the Council of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology for 17 years.
Jack died on October 28, 1991, at Kew, Victoria, aged 65 years. He was survived by his wife Olive.
References:
Brad Collis, Snowy, Making of Modern Australia, Tabletop Press, Canberra, 1990.
West Australian, 15.6.1926, p. 1.
West Australian, 5.1.1944, p. 4.
West Australian, 2.4.1948, p. 16.
West Australian, 10.12.1948, p. 10.
West Australian, 15.3.1952, p. 10.
University of Melbourne, Faculty of Engineering Handbook, 1960.
International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research profile on J D Lawson.
Engineers Australia National Committee on Water Engineering Hall of Fame Nomination J D Lawson.
