Charles Yelverton O'Connor
O'CONNOR, Charles Yelverton (1843-1902)
Charles Yelverton O’Connor was born in Ireland in 1843 and began his training as an engineer in 1859 when he was articled John Chaloner Smith, of Dublin, who worked as a railway engineer. During his apprenticeship, O’Connor came into contact with noted consulting engineer, Isambard Brunel. He was exposed to solving problems associated with drainage, gradients and gauges, the power and limitations of various engines and rolling stock, rock cutting, tunnelling and bridge construction. When he completed his training in 1861 he was appointed an assistant engineer with Smith.
By 1864 railway construction in Ireland was slowing and O’Connor decided that it was best to look elsewhere for permanent employment. At this time new railways were required in other parts of the Empire so the young O’Connor chose to immigrate to New Zealand, where he had relatives. He arrived in Auckland in March 1865 and immediately found work as a surveyor in remote country to the south of Auckland. However gold discoveries near Otago on the South Island, and the resultant population boom in the province of Canterbury, created a demand for the construction of safe harbours, accessed via good roads. O’Connor successfully secured the position of assistant engineer with Edward Dobson, the Provincial Engineer for public works in Canterbury. O’Connor’s first task was to survey a route over the Southern Alps to the goldfields on the west coast.
In 1870 O’Connor was appointed District Engineer to the Westland province. Here he undertook the construction of permanent harbours at Westport and Hokitika on the South Island’s dangerous west coast. He married Susan Letitia Ness, from Christchurch, in 1873. The couple had three sons and four daughters, born in various locations about the country. Due to his capabilities as an engineer, he was appointed New Zealand’s Under Secretary for Public Works in 1883. When his friend and fellow engineer, John Blackett resigned as New Zealand’s Engineer in Chief in 1889, O’Connor hoped to step into this position. Instead Blackett’s deputy was given the appointment and O'Connor was offered the role of Colonial Marine Engineer. O’Connor felt betrayed and worried about his long term employment due to New Zealand’s slowing economy. In April 1891, he was contacted by the Premier of Western Australia, John Forrest, who offered him the appointment of Chief Engineer to the colony at £1,200 a year. He decided to take the position.
When O’Connor arrived in Western Australia the colony had just been granted self governance from Britain and gold had been discovered in remote regions in the north and east. The colony was badly in need of roads, railways and harbour improvements, as well as a range of public buildings. Its new status of self governance together with income from gold mining gave the formerly impoverished colony the ability to raise loans for the construction of important infrastructure. O’Connor first focused his attention on improving the railway system. He found that the administration and account keeping systems were antiquated; the government railway line over the Darling Range was inadequate and used under powered locomotives, and the location of the Railway Workshops created inefficiencies. He set about making improvements in these areas, which resulted in criticism of his 'high handedness', leading to reports and enquiries in Parliament. None the less, he had the support of his Minister and pressed on.
Since its establishment in 1829, the colony’s main port at Fremantle had proved unsafe and unsatisfactory. The river entry was blocked by a rocky bar, restricting the size of ships. Fremantle was increasingly avoided in favour of the southern port at Albany, the colony’s secondary harbour. O’Connor’s solution to the problem was to demolish the rocky bar by blasting, dredge out a channel and develop the port area by reclaiming land and using retaining walls. Two long moles, on either side of the entrance, would provide protection for the inner harbour area. The works began in November 1892. The first large ships began to use the harbour in 1897 and in 1900 the first Royal Mail ship docked.
The richness of the eastern goldfields at Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie resulted in the extension of the railway line eastward from Northam to this region. Unfortunately the area lacked water, a vital requirement for humans, beasts and the goldmining processes. The bold solution was to pump water from a reservoir in the Darling Ranges near Perth over a distance of 566 km to Kalgoorlie via a pipeline. However, the reservoir was only 103 metres above sea level and it had to be pumped over the scarp and inland to a height of 465 metres. O’Connor’s solution was to construct eight pumping stations which would lift the water over the scarp and move it through the long pipeline to Kalgoorlie; making it at that time the longest pipeline in the world. Work commenced on the project in 1898. O’Connor had to overcome numerous technical obstacles related to the construction of the reservoir wall and the design and manufacture of the pipes, and also public criticism due the cost and the potential folly if it did not work. As the weir wall rose, a line of steel pipes began to head eastwards towards Kalgoorlie. Despite steady progress the criticism from the newspapers, the public and politicians continued to grow. Many doubted that water would reach Kalgoorlie. Eventually O’Connor found the strain too much and he took his own life in March 1902. In January 1903, the first water reached Kalgoorlie and the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme was credited as being O’Connor’s greatest engineering achievement.
Author M Bush, April 2019.
References:
Elle Hardy, How visionary engineer CY O'Connor transformed Western Australia, Create Digital, 27 January 2022.
