John Phillips
PHILLIPS, John Townley, BE MEngSc FIEAust CPEng MASCE EngExec (1940-2023)
John was born on November 24, 1940, in St John’s Private Hospital, Prospect, Adelaide, the eldest son of clerk Jack Williams Phillips and his wife Gladys Alice Phillips (nee Townley). John was educated at Adelaide Boys High School in West Terrace, Adelaide.
Around 1957, he commenced an engineering degree at Adelaide University. In April 1959, he was appointed as a Cadet Engineer with the Commonwealth Department of Works.
Graduating with an engineering degree in 1961, he commenced his engineering career at the Woomera Rocket Range with the Department of Works. By 1962 he occupied the position of Engineer Roads and Aerodromes based at Adelaide. He also worked on projects in Perth and Melbourne.
One of his early projects was the foundations of the Australian Tax Office building on St Georges Terrace that is now the Duxton Hotel. Other projects included the international air terminals at Tullamarine and Mascot and foundation designs for Reserve Bank buildings. By 1965 he was working in the Structural Section of the Engineering Design Branch based in Melbourne.
John married Judith in 1963 and they had three children, Suzanne, Mark and Jodie. John later married Paula with their children being Steve and Sue-Ellen.
He was successful in being awarded a scholarship to study a Master of Engineering Science, in soil mechanics, at Melbourne University, which he completed in 1966.
In 1967, John joined GHD in Melbourne and worked on the largest dam project GHD had completed at the time, the Bungal Dam in Victoria. By 1976 was a Principal of GHD. He was also a guest lecturer at Monash and Melbourne Universities. He came to Western Australia, with his family in 1979, as Director of GHD-Dwyer (WA) and a key project was the development of five tailings dams for Worsley Alumina. There had been very few state of the art tailings dams constructed in Australia so John undertook a tour of Germany and the USA to review best practice. As part of the Worsley Alumina project, he innovated a system for the construction of tailings dams that resulted in two patents registered in the USA.
In 1994, the WA Water Corporation invited tenders for the outsourcing of all its dams, water supply, sewerage, electrical and mechanical design work. After being shortlisted with another consultant group, GHD was invited to make a presentation to all of the 75- plus people who would be affected by the outsourcing. This presentation was made by GHD’s WA managers, led by John, rather than the competition’s head office managers from interstate. As a master stroke, GHD had 20 of its Perth-based people attend the presentation in Leederville. A subsequent unplanned social gathering suitably impressed the Water Corporation and led to GHD securing the work.
From 1981 to 2002, John was Director of GHD, becoming National Chairman in 1999. During his three years as Chair, GHD nearly doubled its staff numbers to 2,300 and increased its overseas offices from one to twelve. Annual turnover doubled during this period to $280 million.
On retirement, in 2002, John transitioned to the position of Principal Engineer at GHD, a role he continued until a few weeks before his death. He also worked as a consultant. He became the Director of Vortex Pipes Limited in July 2008 and the CEO of the Construction Contractors Association WA.
He had a sustained engagement with the Australian National Committee on Large Dams (ANCOLD) being its National Chair from 1994 to 1997. He was also a member of the ANCOLD Tailings Subcommittee and Australian representative on the ICOLD Tailings Committee. He was lead author of the 1999 ANCOLD Tailings Guidelines and peer reviewer of the 2012 Guidelines. He was made a Life Member of ANCOLD in 2012.
John joined the Institution of Engineers Australia in 1967 as a Member. He later became a Fellow. He was WA Division President in 2006, WA Division Centre for Engineering Leadership and Management (CELM) Chair and CELM National Board Member. He was a popular speaker for Engineers Australia on geotechnical topics including subjects such as “Engineering Failures and Near Misses”. He was an early achiever of the Engineers Australia title “Engineering Executive” in 2012.
John was active in the Association of Consulting Engineers Australia (ACEA) being WA Chapter Chairman from 1987 to 1990. He was also a Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
John died on May 6, 2023, aged 82 years.
John had been involved in the construction of around 100 tailings dams, 30 major dams and 3 large coffer dams built into the sea. He had become an international tailings dam expert and was still completing technical papers in his eighties.
References:
Margaret A Sacks (editor), The WAY 79 Who is Who, Crawley Publishers, Nedlands, 1980.
John Phillips* - ANCOLD (accessed 31 May 2023).
Michael Sweet, Breaking New Ground GHD 1988-2016, GHD, 2017.
Ian Shepherd, Vale John Phillips - Overview of John's Career, 24 May 2023.
