Charles Mott
MOTT, Charles Banks, M.E.Qld MIEAust (1896-1967)
MOTT, CHARLES BANKS, municipal engineer, was born at South Brisbane on 1 November 1896, graduating in 1919 with First Class Honours at the University of Queensland. His initial experience was with consulting engineers, the Lands Department, and the Main Roads Board. After qualifying as an Authorised Surveyor in 1923 he became the Assistant City Engineer of the South Brisbane City Council and in 1925 the first Designing Engineer of the newly-formed Greater Brisbane City Council where he set up the design office and prepared the standards and specifications for a vigorous programme of road construction and storm-water drainage within an area of some 1000 sq km. From 1928 he also acted as a District Engineer and in 1934 he was seconded to the Stanley River Works Board to assist W.H.R. Nimmo (q.v.) in the design of Somerset Dam, including the township and the construction plant, as well as the mass-concrete dam itself.
Mott returned to the Brisbane City Council in 1937 and was appointed Deputy City Engineer in 1938. In 1940 he also acted as Construction Engineer to the Co-ordinator General of Public Works (J.R. Kemp, q.v.) for the Bowen Bridge Road overbridge, which was built conjointly with major street-regrading at South Brisbane and the straightening of Breakfast Creek, all of which he designed.
In 1940 the Council was reorganized and the City Engineer's Department was expanded to include water supply and sewerage under a new City Engineer; Mott was made Designing Engineer in the new department at a time· when Brisbane was being turned into the supply base for the South Pacific War. In 1942-43 he was seconded to the Allied Works Council as Resident Engineer for the construction of the army base and freight transfer depot at Wallangarra. On returning to the Council in 1943 his work included the design of filtration plant at Mount Crosby and preparing for post-war expansion. In 1945 he was put in control of the Works Branch at a time of great activity; 550 km of road was built in 1946; there was much mechanization, and Mott developed one of the largest asphalt plants in Australia, using high-speed pavers to place asphalt on concrete bases.
In 1952 water-supply and sewerage reverted to a separate department and Mott became Engineer for Works in the reorganized Department of Works, with direct control of a very large labour force and much plant, and of the administration of major contracts. There was a rapid spread of estates developed by private subdividers, who used design specifications set and administered by his Department. In 1958 his title was upgraded to Chief Engineer and Manager, Department of Works.
Mott retired in 1962 after thirty-nine years' service to the city which he saw grow from a population of about 240,000 to 600,000; the keys to his lifelong work were his integrity, his loyalty to the Council and his continued interest in engineering; his steadfast attitude was that the Council was responsible for the care of its own property, and that all improvements in private property should be at the expense of the owner. No one has had more influence on municipal engineering in Brisbane; as Chief Engineer and Manager he kept in close touch with all technical matters, meeting his branch heads and their staffs regularly. He was a member of the Local Government Engineers Board of Queensland and the standards he developed for Brisbane were copied throughout the State. He regarded design as of first importance, but had a pragmatic attitude to what could be done with the money available, and he took this attitude to the lectures on structural engineering which he gave at the University in 1943-45 and after he had retired.
Charlie Mott always took a personal interest in his staff, looking after their interests in the frequent reorganizations which afflicted the Council. He joined the Institution of Engineers, Australia, as an Associate Member in 1924, and transferred to Member (now Fellow) in 1946; he was Chairman of the Brisbane Division in 1949 and Councillor of the Institution in 1950 and 1951. Mott died in Brisbane on 29 August 1967, leaving a wife, a daughter and a son.
References:
Eminent Queensland Engineers Vol 1 is available here.
Jour, I.E.Aust,, Vol. 14 (1942) pp. 177-89, Vol. 24 ( 1952), pp. 162, 163, 187;
G. Greenwood and L,J. Laverty, 'Brisbane 1859-19591 (Brlsb, 1959);
Information from Mrs R.M. Wylie and former colleagues and personal recollections
NOTE: Charles Mott was Engineers Australia Queensland President 1949 QLD Presidents
