George Gordon
George Gordon (1828-1907)
1907 Obituary [1]
GEORGE GORDON was born in 1828 at Arbroath and received his earlier education at the local Academy, studying later at Bonn and Wiesbaden, in Germany. He served a term of pupilage to the late J. G. C. Curtis, and while thus engaged attended a course of engineering lectures at University College, London. He was afterwards employed on Parliamentary surveys and other work as assistant to the late William Buld.
In 1851 he was appointed Assistant Engineer on the Amsterdam Waterworks under the late Bland W. Croker, whom he succeeded as Chief Engineer in 1855. This office he held till 1859, when he was appointed one of the Resident Engineers on the Madras Irrigation and Canal Company’s Works, becoming Deputy Chief Engineer in 1869.
In 1871, when these works were approaching completion, Mr. Gordon received the appointment of Chief Engineer for Water-Supply in Victoria, Australia. As Chief Engineer he continued the works of the Coliban Water-Supply to Bendigo and other towns of the goldfields district, and also of the town supplies of Melbourne and Geelong and some provincial towns.
In 1878 a political crisis brought about changes in some of the public departments, and Mr. Gordon, leaving the Government service, engaged in private practice in Melbourne. He carried out water-supplies for various provincial towns and was consulted with reference to hydraulic works in the neighbouring colonies of Tasmania, New South Wales and New Zealand.
In 1884, in conjunction with the late Mr. A. Black, Surveyor-General of Victoria, he completed a series of reports to the Government of Victoria, on the supply of water to the northern plains for the use of stock and the domestic supply of the settlers.
These schemes were for the most past subsequently carried out, and the value of the agricultural land was much increased. Mr. Gordon paid a visit to England and the Continent between 1891 and 1894, and on his return resumed his practice in Melbourne, until 1899, when he retired.
He was the Author of two Papers published in the Proceedings on 'The Value of Water and its Storage and Distribution in Southern India' and on 'Irrigation in Victoria,' for which he was awarded a Telford medal and a Telford premium respectively.
He died at Melbourne on the 25th February, 1907. Mr. Gordon was elected a Member of The Institution on the 3rd December, 1867.