Colin Porter
PORTER, Colin Francis, BSc MIEAust CPEng (1930-2020)
Colin was a pioneer in environmental protection in Victoria and Western Australia.
Colin was born in Croydon, Surrey on October 11, 1930, the son of Albert Ernest Porter and his wife Dorothy Porter, nee Austen.
Colin was educated at King’s School, Canterbury and he graduated with a degree in Science from London University in 1951. He served in the Royal Air Force from 1952 to 1954. Between 1953 to 1962 he represented England at rowing winning a gold medal at the Empire Games in Cardiff in 1958. He also won two bronze medals at the Empire Games in Perth in 1962.
From 1956 to 1962 he was with the London Port Authority as Engineer in charge of hydraulics research. He then was responsible for pollution control on the River Thames from 1963 to 1967. From 1968 to 1969 he was Departmental Manager Central Personnel at the Port of London Authority.
On May 25, 1967 he married Christine Stella Whitmore in Surrey. They had two daughters and a son.
On February 2, 1969, the family boarded a British Airways flight to move to New South Wales under the Australian Assisted Passage Migration Scheme. He had been recruited by the New South Wales Government to head up the hydraulic research program for the new port at Botany Bay.
From 1972 to 1976, he was the Director of Operations of the Victorian EPA, based in Melbourne.
Around 1972, Colin became a Member of the Institution of Engineers Australia and a Chartered Professional Engineer.
In 1976 he was appointed Assistant Director of the Western Australian Department of Conservation and Environment and in 1978 was promoted to the Director of that Department. He was also the Chairman of the West Australian EPA from 1977 to 1981.
He was appointed to the inaugural Australian Water Research Advisory Council in 1985. He also spent 8 years on the Perth Metropolitan Region Planning Authority.
Colin resigned in 1986 and spent the next 8 years assessing appeals and rezonings for the Minister for Planning. From 1994 to 2002, he was a Member of the WA Town Planning Appeal Tribunal.
Colin died on August 21, 2020 at Bassendean aged 89 years. He had lived by the Swan River for over 40 years. He had consistently prioritised the environment over political expediency in pioneering environmental protection in Victoria and Western Australia.
References:
Canberra Times, 11.9.1974, p. 2.
Margaret Sacks, The WAY 79 Who is Who, Crawley Publishers, Nedlands, 1980.
Colin Porter, The Tragedy of the Swan River, C F Porter, Bassendean, 2002.
Compiled by Chris Fitzhardinge April 13, 2026
