Joseph Davis (1854-1932)
Joseph Davis (1854-1932)
1932 Obituary [1]
JOSEPH DAVIS, son of Elijah Davis, was born at Oldbury, Worcestershire, on the 3rd November, 1854.
After engineering training under Messrs. North, of Dudley, he was engaged as resident engineer on railway and other work under the late Mr. Jacob Forrest, M.Inst.C.E., from 1875 to 1880, was then for three years in local charge of the Dudley sewerage works under the late Mr. H. J. Marten, M. Inst. C.E., and in 1883 went to New South Wales, where he entered the Sewerage Branch of the Public Works Department.
From 1884 to 1889 he was resident engineer on the Bondi main sewer and branches, and in 1889 he was appointed Supervising Engineer in charge of all sewerage contracts, under the late Mr. R. Hickson, M. Inst. C.E.
In 1897 he was placed on the Public Service Board, New South Wales, and in 1901 he was appointed Under Secretary for Public Works.
In 1907 he was transferred to London as Consulting and Inspecting Engineer to the New South Wales Government. After five years he returned to Sydney to take up the appointment of Director General of Public Works, but in 1919 he resumed his position in London, which he continued to hold until his death on the 20th January, 1932. As Consulting and Inspecting Engineer he was responsible for the approval of all steel manufactured in Great Britain for the Sydney Harbour Bridge, as well as much of the electrical equipment and rolling stock of the suburban railways of Sydney.
Mr. Davis served on numerous Royal Commissions and other bodies. He was Chairman of the Royal Commission on Sydney Water-Supply, and President of the Inter-State Royal Commission on the Murray River; a member of Royal Commissions on the Working of the Government Dockyard and Workshops, New South Wales, and on the Boundaries of Local Government Areas ("Shires"); and President of the Local Government Advisory Board.
He reported in 1905 to the Public Works Department of Western Australia on the sewerage system of Perth, and in 1915 to the Commonwealth Government on the proposed system of sewerage for Canberra and on the Small Arms Factory at Lithgow. He was appointed in1 916 representative of the New South Wales Government on the Commission appointed under the River Murray Waters Act, 1915.
In 1902 he contributed to the Proceedings of The Institution a Paper on "Sewerage Systems of Sydney, New South Wales," for which he was awarded a Telford Premium.
He married in 1878 Carline, daughter of Mr. James Shedden, of Dudley, Worcestershire.
He was elected an Associate Member of The Institution on the 3rd December, 1889, and was transferred to full Membership on the 9th November, 1891. He served as a Member of Council resident in Australia from 1906 to 1908 and from 1914 to 1916.