Digby Leach
LEACH, John Digby, BSc BE FIEAust CBE (1897-1966) Civil Engineer
John Digby Leach was born on November 25, 1897 at Yarm on Tees in North Yorkshire, England, to John Frederick Wilson Leach and his wife Edith Leach, nee Howcroft. The eight year old Digby arrived in Fremantle with his family on the ship, "Oratava", on April 4, 1906.
Digby attended Perth Boys State School and then won a scholarship to Perth Modern School being a foundation student in 1911. He completed schooling in 1914 subsequently joining the Army on December 6, 1915 and fighting in France with the 1st AIF 3rd Brigade.
In 1919, Digby enrolled in a Bachelor of Science in Engineering at the University of Western Australia. Whilst still studying, in June 1922, he joined the Public Works Department Surveys as a Field Assistant. In July 1923, after graduation with his BSc (Eng), he was appointed as an Assistant Engineer in the PWD. When the Main Roads Department was formed in 1926 he was transferred to the new body from the PWD. By August 1928 he was District Engineer, Geraldton. Another appointment as District Engineer was to Northam in 1941. In 1935 he completed a full Bachelor of Engineering at UWA by examination and thesis.
In November 1946, Digby was appointed to Executive Engineer, the second highest position in the MRD. Digby was appointed Commissioner of Main Roads by Executive Council on January 19, 1953, a position he held until 1964.
A young Digby Leach had undertaken a short course in town Planning offered by UWA in 1921 which stood him in good stead for the major planning exercise overseen by him, for Metropolitan Perth, undertaken in the 1950s. Driven by post war expansion and the development of the Kwinana Industrial Area there was a need to plan a network of major roads. Professor Gordon Stephenson arrived in January 1953 to drive the development of this plan. By 1955 G Stephenson and J A Hepburn, the Town Planning Commissioner, had released a plan for Perth to reach a population of 1.4 million by 2000. This plan has been the pivotal document for infrastructure planning for Perth.
Commissioner Leach strongly backed the plan and was far sighted enough to encourage major land acquisition of the planned alignments as early as September 1955. He also established a small team to analyse current patterns of road use and make predictions of future demand. This work was supported by groundbreaking origin and destination surveys which had an amazing 26,000 responses.
The Narrows Bridge and the first section of the Kwinana Freeway were completed in 1959, during his term a Commissioner. He also commissioned Don Aitken in 1951 to research the introduction of traffic lights into Western Australia and proceeded with their installation in Perth in 1953.
The Main Roads administered Contributory Bitumen Scheme, to support local governments seal roads, was a major success with 555 miles of roads being sealed between 1954 and 1957.
His home garage was part of many experiments in soil stabilisation and the use of crushed limestone as a chip seal. He was keen to use improved technology in both road construction and operation such as introducing heated bitumen tankers in 1963 as part of sealing the Eyre Highway.
Digby was also a member of the National safety Council and assisted found the Australian Road Research Board in 1960 and was a board member from 1960 to 1964. He was a member of the UWA Senate from 1961 until his death in 1966. He was also an active member of the Institution of Engineers, having joined as Junior in 1921. He was a committee member of the WA Division from 1943 to 1948, Chairman in 1949, and National President in 1964.
Digby was awarded an Order of the British Empire Commander in 1964 for public service.
After being engaged in 1923, Digby Leach married Grace Lilian Wright in 1925 in Perth. They had four children. Digby died on October 26, 1966, and was survived by his wife Grace and his four boys.
As well as being passionate for providing all weather roads across the state, Digby had advanced long term planning, research and education. He positioned Main Roads well to be able to handle the infrastructure challenges of the subsequent mining boom. His legacies are the Narrows Bridge, sealing of the Eyre Highway, support for local government road improvements and the land that was acquired for major roads well in advance of construction.
Select Bibliography
Leigh Edmonds, The Vital Link, A history of Main Roads Western Australia 1926 1996, University of Western Australia Press, 1997;
The Sphinx Foundation Inc, Perth Modern School, The history and the Heritage, Curtin Print and Design, 2005;
Perth Causeway Bridges Nomination for Engineering Heritage, August 4, 2012, Engineers Australia;
https://www.ozroads.com.au/WA/history.htm accessed March 10, 2019.
References:
Western Australian Public Service Lists 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925.
Prepared by Chris Fitzhardinge for the centenary book 'Anything is possible' in March 2019.
