Bill Rourke
ROURKE, William John (Bill), BEc MEcon FTSE HonFIEAust CPEng FRINA (1928-2012)
First CEO of the Institution of Engineers Australia.
Bill was born at Pemberton, Western Australia, on July 29, 1928. He was the eldest son of teacher William Harold Rourke and his wife, also a teacher, Eva Helen Rourke (nee Williams).
Bill’s father was the head teacher at the small Yanmah School and Bill’s early years were living in the “School House”. In 1933 the family moved to Meekatharra where Bill’s father had been appointed headmaster. In a premonition of his future career, Bill won the prize for the best dressed boy under 8 as “sailor boy”.
In 1936 the family moved again to Merredin with a posting following to Geraldton. In November 1940, whilst at Geraldton High School, Bill received a scholarship to attend Perth Modern School.
He was only 13 years old when he and best friend David Leach were selected to travel from Western Australia by troop train to train at the Royal Australian Naval College, at Westernport, in January 1942. After graduating as a Midshipman in 1945, Rourke was posted to Britain, where he completed an engineering officer's course at Plymouth Royal Naval Engineering College.
Returning to Australia, he joined the aircraft carrier HMAS Sydney, serving as the flight-deck engineer during the Korean War and was mentioned in dispatches. In 1953, Rourke joined the HMAS Sydney Coronation Contingent having a front-row seat to the coronation ceremony.
Bill married nurse Jennifer Uren on December 31, 1956 in Victoria. They had two sons Michael and Andrew.
Bill returned to Britain in 1961 to take up postgraduate studies in nuclear engineering. He then went on to the Admiralty Research Centre in Glasgow, where he worked with nuclear submarines and discovered a way to reduce the effects of a critical incident and the subsequent fission product release. He was granted a British patent for this work.
Bill was then transferred to Bay City, Michigan, in 1964, to supervise the building of the three guided-missile destroyers - HMAS Perth, Hobart and Brisbane. He was subsequently posted to Brisbane as the commissioning engineer. During the 1960s, Rourke started an economics degree. After seven years of correspondence, Rourke was awarded his degree. Bill went on to take a masters degree in economics.
In 1976, the Chief of Navy offered Bill the job of general manger of the Garden Island dockyard. It was a testament to Bill’s negotiating skills that he brokered peace on a dockyard that was a melting pot of thousands of workers from dozens of different unions, racial backgrounds and skills. Demarcation became a thing of the past and productivity quickly improved.
On his promotion to Rear Admiral in 1979, Bill was appointed as the Chief of Naval Materiel. Responsible for acquisitions, particularly ships, he was in his element. He was particularly keen to restore and develop a local naval shipbuilding industry. Working with the Fraser (Liberal) and Hawke (Labor) governments to achieve this goal, Bill oversaw the production of 14 patrol boats built in Cairns, mine hunters built in Newcastle and the two last frigates Melbourne and Newcastle built at Williamstown Dockyard.
He was appointed as an Officer in the Order of Australia (AO) in 1983 'for service to the Royal Australian Navy particularly as General Manager Garden Island Dockyard and as Chief of Naval Materiel'.
Bill had joined the Institution of Engineers Australia as an Associate Member in 1964. He had 'retired' from the navy in 1985 to become the inaugural Chief Executive of that body. For seven years he headed the institution, taking an active role in advising the government of the day. Bill envisioned a better world for all and dreamt that engineering and technology could deliver it. He was a proponent of sustainable development.
In 1988 he and the Council of Engineers Australia accepted the proposal of the Sydney Division to have National Excellence Awards in addition to the divisional awards.
In 1991, Bill was made an Honorary Member of the Institution of Engineers, Australia. He was also a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Naval Architects, a Chartered Professional Engineer and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.
He became director of the World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO) and pursued the belief that engineers had an obligation to train people so they could make a difference on their home turf and that engineering could improve living standards for the poor as well as improve maternal and child health. Among his many projects was the establishment of a virtual library and the development of tsunami early-warning systems.
Bill was vice-president of WFEO from 1991 to 1999. At the 1999 General Assembly he was appointed as a special adviser to the president of WFEO. From 1990 to 1992 he was secretary general of the Federation of Engineering Institutions of Southeast Asia and the Pacific (FEISEAP). His report “Creating Our Common Future “helped form the FEISEAP Network for Sustainable Development in South-East Asia and the Pacific.
Bill spent the last few years of his life caring for Jenny through cancer and dementia. She died in 2011. Bill died on November 15, 2012, aged 84 years. He was survived by his two sons.
References:
West Australian, 27.11.1940, p. 9.
Geraldton Guardian and Express, 12.12.1940, p. 1.
Daily News, 8.1.1942, p. 14.
Albany Advertiser, 20.11.1952, p. 1.
Engineers Australia Magazine, December 2012
Rear Admiral William John Rourke - The Sea Power Centre, accessed on 17.9.2024 (Screen print available here.)
Chris Fitzhardinge, September 2024, Western Australia
