Cicero Palmer
PALMER, Cicero (1869-1911)
Cicero was born in Brisbane on May 7, 1869. He was the third son of draper, Benjamin Henry Palmer and his wife, Mary Palmer (nee Burke). He took up an engineering cadetship with the Queensland Railways in the Survey and Construction Department. On June 1, 1889 he was appointed as a draughtsman.
On August 25, 1892, Benjamin Palmer with his wife and six children, including Cicero, arrived at Fremantle. Cicero was employed on surveying railways in the Darling Scarp. In September 1896 Cicero was appointed a draughtsman in the WA Public Works Department and in 1901 became an Assistant Engineer in the Mines Water Supply Department working under P V O'Brien.
From September 1906 to March 1908, Cicero Palmer was Resident Engineer at Ravensthorpe, enlarging the No 1 Dam and completing the No 2 Dam and extending the town water reticulation. He also constructed a water supply dam at nearby Kundip. He also surveyed and constructed the Ravensthorpe to Southern Cross Road including establishing water supplies along the route. On the completion of the project in 1906, he travelled the 120 mile road in five days by camel.
Palmer was the Engineer in Charge of the Mines Water Supply at Southern Cross when he was struck down with appendicitis. Although surgery was successful there were further complications and he died at Southern Cross on June 1, 1911, aged 42.
P V O’Brien gave the eulogy at Palmer's funeral, acknowledging the important contribution that Cicero Palmer had made to Western Australia over 17 years of public service.
Cicero Palmer did not marry, but was survived by his mother, two brothers and two sisters.
References:
Cumming Papers
Inquirer and Commercial News, 27.8.1892, p3.
Pilbarra Goldfield News, 29.9.1906, p4.
Pilbarra Goldfield News, 14.3.1908, p2.
West Australian, 8.6.1911, p3.
Western Mail, 10.6.1911, p3.
