Jack Payne
Jack Payne (1872-1932)
1932 Obituary[1]
"THE LATE MR. JACK PAYNE.
The sudden death of Mr. Jack Payne in his office at Sydney, New South Wales, on July 6, removes a well-known figure from the ranks of Australian naval architects and marine engineers. Mr. Payne, who had been general manager of Cockatoo Island Naval Dockyard, Sydney, for the past eleven years, was born in England on March 30, 1872. He began his apprenticeship at the works of Messrs. George Clark and Sons, Southwiok, Sunderland, and completed it at the Naval Construction Works of Messrs. Vickers, Limited, Barrow-in-Furness. In 1893, he joined the British African Royal Mail Line as junior engineer. He continued to serve on several vessels of this and other lines, and gradually worked his way up to the rank of chief engineer, which he obtained in 1900. Subsequently he rejoined Messrs. Vickers as draughtsman and outside engineer and, in 1911, took out and handed over the Brazilian scout cruiser Rio Grande do Sul. Mr. Payne proceeded to Australia in 1912, having been appointed engineering manager of the Cockatoo Island Dockyard by the Government of New South Wales. A year later the Dockyard came under Federal control, but Mr. Payne’s services were retained, and he continued to occupy the position of engineering manager until 1921. In that year he was promoted to the rank of general manager of the Dockyard, which position he was holding at the time of his death.
During his tenure of office he superintended the installation of boilers and turbine propelling machinery on board the cruisers Adelaide and Brisbane and in the destroyers Huon, Swan and' Torrens. At a later date, the cargo liners Ferndale and Fordsdale, the seaplane-carrier Albatross, and the lighthouse steamers Cape Leeuwin, Cape Otway and Cape York were built at Cockatoo Island. The war period was, of course, a busy one for the personnel of the Dockyard, and Mr. Payne was responsible for all repairs to the warships and transports utilising Sydney as their base. He was chairman of the Commonwealth Shipping Board for a period of nearly four years. For long a member of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, he served as chairman of the Sydney Division during the 1924-25 session. He was also a member of the Institute of Marine Engineers for many years and was elected to membership of the Institution of Naval Architects in 1925."