Horace Robertson
ROBERTSON, Horace Patrick MCE AMICE MIMM JP (1867-?)
Horace Robertson was born on October 18, 1867, at St Kilda, Victoria, the fourth son of Police Magistrate and Artist, James Robertson, and his wife Katherine Robertson, née Rees. Horace was educated at Hawthorn Grammar School and successfully sat for the Civil Service Examination in 1884. Enrolling at the Melbourne University in 1886, he completed a four year Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree in October 1889 then continued to complete a Masters of Civil Engineering with his formal graduation being in March 1893.
Horace worked briefly as the Assistant Shire Engineer at Dundas Shire Council (Victoria) from December 1890 to February 1891, before being offered an irrigation engineering appointment with the Western Wimmera Irrigation Trust based at Horsham. In 1893 he was working as the Shire Engineer at Tambo Shire.
Horace travelled to Western Australia in 1894 to join the Public Works Department. He was subsequently appointed as the Chief Assistant Engineer for Sewerage and Town Water Supply.
Horace commenced work on the design of the Coolgardie Water Supply Scheme in early October 1895. He undertook preliminary design of a scheme based on a reservoir near Guildford, to pump water through six pump stations to Coolgardie. At this time Horace was working with John Pidgeon, directly to C Y O’Connor. Riveted, cast iron, wrought iron and steel were assessed as pipe materials with numerous contacts with Mephan Ferguson. Through his meticulous work and detailed investigation Horace established that a steel pipeline to the Goldfields with six to nine pump stations would be a viable project.
Horace’s work was essential to determining a reliable estimate for the cost of the Coolgardie Scheme, so as to get approval for funding. On July 16, 1896, the Coolgardie Water Supply Loan Bill was introduced into the Western Australian Parliament and passed into legislation in September 1896.
In October 1896, Horace resigned from the PWD and became a partner in the Kalgoorlie consulting firm, Macartney, Robertson and Smith. He had earlier in 1896 become a licensed surveyor in WA. In February 1897 he was appointed as acting Town Surveyor for the Kalgoorlie Municipal Council.
Horace married Gwladys Mary Lewis, at Holy Trinity Church Kew, Victoria, on April 13, 1898.
In June 1898, Horace dissolved his partnership with Edward Macartney and Neil Smith. From 1899 to 1904 he was General Manager of the Lake View and Boulder Junction Gold Mining Company. In late 1904 he was winding up the company and managing the sale of the company's leases and equipment.
In 1904, Horace purchased tailings at the Euro Mine near Laverton and was extracting the residual gold by cyaniding. In the period August 1904 to March 1906 he sold £242 worth of gold to the Fremantle Gold Smelters.
In April 1906 he commenced as Manager of the Mount Elliott Copper Mines in Cloncurry, Queensland, before returning to Western Australia in February 1908 to take up the position of Manager of Gwalia Consolidated Mines. In September 1909, Horace resigned from Gwalia Consolidated Mines, and travelled to South Africa, before returning in August 1910.
In 1911 it is known that he was living with his wife Gwladys in St Ives, Cornwall. It is not known when he died.
Horace Robertson's work was pivotal in getting parliamentary approval for the iconic Coolgardie Water Supply Scheme. It was his January 1896 comparisons of pipeline costs that determined that the Goldfields Pipeline should be built in steel.
References:
R G Hartley, River of Steel, Access Press, Bassendean, 2007
Denis A Cumming and Richard G Hartley, Westralian Founders of Twentieth Century Mining, Richard G Hartley, 2014
West Australian, 24.2.1896, p3
Kalgoorlie Miner, 18.11.1896, p1
Kalgoorlie Miner, 3.2.1897, p2
The Sun, 4,12,1904, p10
Morning Post Cairns, 12.4.1906, p2
Kalgoorlie Miner, 19.9.1906, p5
The Mirror, 14.2.1908, p18
