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Blackwell,Louis Buckland
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Unique IDPE-000053SurnameBlackwellGiven namesLouis BucklandPost-nominal honorificsAssoc. MICEBirth date1st January 1851Birth date qualifieryear onlyDeath date24th July 1933Biographical noteEarly life in England and Canada
Louis Buckland Blackwell was christened on 6 February 1852 at Bathwick, near Bath, Somersetshire, England, the youngest son of Thomas Evans Blackwell, M.I.C.E. At that time his father was the Engineer to the Bristol Dock Company. In 1857, Thomas Blackwell went to Canada becoming the General Manager for the building of the Grand Trunk Railway connecting Montreal to Toronto. His oldest son, Charles Blackwell born in 1843, was educated at the High School Montreal and McGill College, Montreal. Charles Blackwell stayed in Canada becoming a well-respected engineer with the Grand Trunk Railway, the Intercolonial Railway and other railways in Canada and the USA. Thomas Blackwell and the younger members of his family, including Louis, returned to England in 1862. Blackwell senior’s health deteriorated rapidly leading to his early death at the age of 45 in 1863.
Louis Buckland Blackwell was probably articled to Thomas Howard M.I.C.E. who was the Engineer for Bristol Dock from 1855 to 1882. At the time of the UK Census in April 1871, Louis Blackwell is listed twice as a boarder at residences in Cornwall as an “Electrical student” aged 21.
Sydney, telegraph operator, Assistant engineer, 1872-1875
Blackwell arrived in Sydney in January 1872 and by March he had found employment with the NSW Government as a telegraph operator at Goulburn. In May 1873, he was transferred to the Head Office of the Electric Telegraph Department in Sydney. In October of that year, he married Blanche Lucy Halloran at Ashfield. Blanche was the daughter of Henry Halloran, civil servant and poet, and grand-daughter of the famed colonial school teacher, Laurence Halloran. Her maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Underwood, and her family had much to do with the early development of Ashfield (the suburb of Sydney). Henry Halloran had overseen the merger of the NSW Crown Lands Office and the Survey Department and became under-secretary to the Colonial Secretary’s Department; his much lauded organisational skills had been utilised in the organisation of such huge events as the visit of the Duke of Edinburgh to Sydney in 1867 and the public funeral of William Charles Wentworth in 1872.
In January 1874, Louis Buckland Blackwell was appointed the Assistant City Engineer in the City of Sydney Corporation. He was selected from 10 applicants for the position. By the end of 1874, the Corporation was facing one of its periodic financial crises and City Senior Officers were ordered to slash the numbers of labourers employed and to report on the duties of their professional staff and on the necessity for those duties. ‘The Sydney Morning Herald’ on 15 January 1875 published the report of the City Engineer, Francis Bell, in which he stated
“Mr Blackwell is engaged in surveying and levelling for the compilation of a correct plan of the watershed, as suggested by the Hon the Minister for Lands, showing the lands granted to, and the purchased lands in possession of the Corporation for water purposes; the alienated lands, the drainage of which can be diverted, with the probable cost of such drainage works; the lands that would require to be purchased, with the estimate of the probable cost of the same. This work is now progressing satisfactorily, but it will be some time yet before it is completed. He has also in hand the drawings of the extension of the Paddington reservoir.”
At the end of November 1875, Blackwell applied for 2 weeks leave “to complete private matters”. He did not, however, wait for leave to be granted or refused but left. Francis Bell reported to the Mayor that he believed it “improbable” that he would return. Blackwell, in fact, left not just his job and Sydney but returned to England taking with him his wife Blanche and probably his daughter Blanche Annie (born 1874). Just what the “private matters” may have been is unknown although the New Zealand newspaper, ‘The Star’, in 1880 made passing reference to a suit in Chancery.
England: Engineer, waterworks, Peterborough, drainage, Kent, 1876-1879
In his CVs published in the ‘Poverty Bay Herald’ (Gisborne, New Zealand) and the ‘Newcastle Morning Herald’ (Newcastle NSW) in September 1906, Blackwell referred to work he had done as assistant engineer under John Addy M. I. C. E. at Peterborough, England and in Kent. Addy developed the Peterborough water-supply and sewerage and drainage systems between 1874 and 1879 and also superintended sewerage works at Dartford, Kent in the same period. The birth of Blackwell’s son, Louis Mowbray Buckland Blackwell, was registered in Peterborough in the second quarter of 1877.
New Zealand: consulting engineer, Christchurch, 1879-1880
By September 1879, Blackwell had arrived in New Zealand. The Christchurch Council had been wrestling with the problem of water supply for the City. There was no unanimity of opinion on whether to supply water let alone how it was to be done and what would be the source of the supply or whether the City could afford it. Council began a trial in February 1879 to test the potential supply of water from the Waimakariri River in a scheme devised by Mr W White. Various engineers supplied reports on the experiment. After elections in September, the new Council advertised for “a competent hydraulic engineer” to advise it on the water supply scheme and on 13 October Louis Blackwell and Mr Hubbard were selected from 9 applicants. Louis Blackwell, now using the honorific ‘associate M.I.C.E.’, wrote a comprehensive report read to Council at its meeting 10 December 1879. Blackwell was asked specifically to report on the feasibility of White’s scheme but in the process he also evaluated other schemes that were brought to his notice. He wrote on the advantages of having city water works noting the enhancement of property values, the development of new industries, the ability to fight fires using public hydrants under pressure and the sanitary benefits of access to city water supply. He noted costs might be partly defrayed by the sale of water. He then presented technical matters on quantities of water, the source of supply and the means of supply. He made detailed estimates of costs and revenue. He discussed measures relating to fire alarms and proposed responses. His report was printed in Christchurch in 1879 and runs to some 28 pages with illustration, maps and tables. The report was received well by the Council and by the local Press of Christchurch all of whom were supportive of his main recommendations and of an alternative cheaper scheme he devised. Nevertheless, the prospect of a large loan meant that the ratepayers, whose approval was needed in a special vote on the issue, rejected the scheme. Blackwell was still present in Christchurch in April 1880 when public meetings on the issue were called. According to a letter by John Kay to the local paper, ‘The Star’, the Council had spent a total of £1500 on engineers’ reports including paying Hubbard and Blackwell £503 for their separate reports.
Melbourne, 1880
Blackwell began looking for another job and applied in July 1880 to the Hobart Council for appointment as a draughtsman. This position carried a salary of £200 pa. There were six candidates and he survived the first cut but was then eliminated.
He had arrived in Melbourne by the end of 1880 and from there he wrote to the City of Sydney sending a copy of his report on the Christchurch water supply. Blackwell also forwarded “a short account of the works I have been engaged upon since I held the position of Assistant Engineer to your City Council”.
Sydney: Engineer, NSW Government Railways; Engineer, Borough of Balmain, 1882-1884
By February 1882 he was apparently in the employment of the NSW Government in the Department of Public Works, Railway Branch. His CV published in newspapers in September 1906 in relation to his appointments as Engineer to Gisborne (New Zealand) and Newcastle (NSW) describes his work with the railways as in “the trial survey department, where he was chiefly associated with contour work determining local water supply and drainage matters”. At this time, Blackwell wrote to the City of Sydney Town Clerk, CW Woolcott, prompted by newspaper reports that the City was considering electric street lighting. Blackwell supplied “recent estimates received from leading firms in England for supplying the necessary plant for lighting the streets of a small town where engine power amounting to 20 HP was available”: the firms involved had illuminated parts of London and were the Anglo American Brush Co, [date of estimate: 3 August 1881], Siemens Brothers & Co and Swans lights. It is not at all clear how or why he had such information to hand but he clearly was intent on keeping the City Council aware of his return to Sydney and his credentials.
His next appointment was as Engineer to the Borough of Balmain (Sydney). He filled that position from September 1882 until his second abrupt departure from Sydney in April 1884. In this period, his wife Blanche had two more daughters born in Sydney, Grace in 1882 and Irene in 1884. At Balmain, Blackwell oversaw the introduction of a new type of gutter, he designed a pumping scheme for using salt water to water the streets and he designed and completed the Balmain Baths at the White Horse reserve but actions taken in his personal life now overturned his professional life in Sydney, destroyed his marriage and brought about a lifelong estrangement with the children of that marriage.
He had become involved with Emily McLerie, wife of Thomas McLerie, a son of the well-known Inspector General of Police, John McLerie. A crisis occurred with the result that Blackwell fled the Australian colonies taking with him Mrs McLerie and three of her young daughters; she left behind with the McLerie family her son Alexander then aged 13 and her daughter Florence Emily aged 6. Blackwell’s wife, Blanche, took immediate action against her husband. A court warrant was issued in April 1884 for Blackwell’s arrest for illegal desertion and leaving his wife without means of support and his wife commenced divorce proceedings on the grounds of adultery. The divorce was undefended and granted in November 1884 becoming absolute in May 1885; Mrs Blackwell was granted custody of the children.
England: Engineer, waterworks, Southampton, 1884-1888
In his CV published in the ‘Poverty Bay Herald’ (Gisborne) and the ‘Newcastle Morning Herald’ in 1906, Blackwell stated that, after his time as Balmain engineer, he had completed surveys, prepared plans and acted as resident engineer during the construction of water works at Southampton in England. The water works at Otterbourne, supplying Southampton, were formally opened in 1888.
In March 1888, Thomas McLerie died in Sydney. The news must have been quickly transmitted to Blackwell and Mrs McLerie in England. The couple immediately married in London and soon left for Australia. They arrived in Sydney with the three McLerie daughters on RMS Arcadia on 12 July 1888. Mrs Blackwell formerly McLerie reclaimed her other daughter Florence Emily now aged 10 who had been left in Sydney. The child’s aunt, Mary McLerie, applied to the Courts to obtain legal custody. Her lawyer, Mr Coffey, said he could not reconcile the mother’s action in leaving Florence behind with her desire now to have her. Character references were given for both Louis and Emily Blackwell while it was alleged that Thomas McLerie “was a man of most intemperate habits; that he had frequently used violence towards his wife”. Adultery between the Blackwells prior to their marriage was denied. Mr Pilcher, for Mrs Blackwell, argued that she was “absolutely entitled to have her daughter unless it could be shown that she was an immoral person”. Judge Foster concurred with this argument and gave custody of Florence Emily to her mother. The custody battle received much newspaper coverage in Sydney in the ‘Evening News’, the ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ and the ‘Australian Town and Country Journal’.
NSW: mine engineer and manager, Lithgow, 1888-1900
Blackwell found occupation in the Lithgow district where he remained for the next ten years or so. He was in charge of the Cullen Bullen Coal mine owned by the Cullen Bullen Coal and Coke Company. The ‘Australian Town and Country Journal’ reported on 7 March 1891: “The mine is under the able control of Mr Louis B Blackwell, a gentleman possessing much practical knowledge and skill.” The Company during 1889-1890 produced large quantities of coal for the NSW Government for locomotive use but by 1891 it was supplying coal only for local use and Blackwell was seeking to produce coke. In April 1892 he was appointed to the Public School Board for the sub-district of Wallerawang. He was still at Cullen Bullen in December 1892 when his wife Emily gave birth to a short lived son named Louis Buckland Blackwell who died in 1893. In May 1893, the ’Australian Town and Country Journal‘ published an article by LB Blackwell of Cullen Bullen, illustrated with his own excellent photos and line drawings and describing a fortnight he had spent at Lord Howe Island at Easter. He wrote:
“Having considered after a few years’ hard work in business I was entitled to a holiday, and having at times visited the pleasures and health resorts of sunny New South Wales, I determined I should, if possible, seek fresh scenes for a week or two and attempt to drown the troubles and cares of business life as well as to recuperate enfeebled energy.” The passenger list for the steamer ‘Rockton’ shows he was accompanied by his wife and by two of her daughters listed as Miss FE Blackwell and Miss LE Blackwell.
Throughout the 1890s Blackwell had periods of unemployment and by January 1895 he was in severe financial distress and a sequestration order was made on his own petition in the Supreme Court in Bankruptcy. In October 1896 he was appointed a Member of the Board for appointing Examiners under the Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1896 and he continued in that capacity until 1906. In 1899 he was the manager of the Vale of Clwydd Colliery at Lithgow but the appointment seems to have ended in that year and he moved to Sydney.
Sydney: Plague Officer, Inspector of Nuisances, City of Sydney, February 1900-February 1902
In mid-January 1900, bubonic plague appeared in Australia at the port of Adelaide and within a week or so arrived in Sydney with cases being officially confirmed as plague during February. Various authorities had some responsibilities in the management of such a crisis, including Government statutory bodies such as the Board of Health and the Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board, the City of Sydney Corporation and other Municipal Councils and the Government of NSW itself. As well as the fragmentation of responsibility for dealing with a crisis of this nature, there was not complete consensus in the medical world of Sydney as to the means of transmission of the disease and on the measures to be taken. The City Health Officer, Dr Gwynne-Hughes, believed that lack of cleanliness, accumulation of rubbish, overcrowding and lack of ventilation were instrumental in spreading the plague. He advocated quarantine of those affected, clearing of rubbish and disinfection of buildings. Dr Ashburton Thompson of the Board of Health believed that the plague was spread by fleas from infected rats and accordingly he felt that the eradication of rats was central to containing the plague. The first phase of action in dealing with the plague resulted in public dissension between various of these institutions and their officers.
At the end of February 1900, Blackwell was appointed by the Mayor of the City of Sydney, Sir Matthew Harris MLA, as a Special Officer to deal with the plague.
Sir Matthew informed the Council on 2 March 1900 that he had appointed Blackwell stating he “has had considerable experience in municipal and sanitary matters, and has been accustomed to direct labour to conduct those operations”. The Mayor explained that normally George Baker, the Inspector of Nuisances would have been in charge but he had refused to be inoculated. The Mayor and Blackwell had already commenced action; the rats were to be targeted and there was to be a house-to-house visitation in certain parts of the City to flush and disinfect drains; extra workers were employed. The Mayor had arranged that the Pinhoe Company would destroy vermin collected, the Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board was sharing information and providing some labour, the directives of the Board of Health were to be followed and the Mayor had met with the Premier of NSW, Mr Lyne, and the Colonial Treasurer.
Blackwell made frequent reports throughout March and April on measures taken and the staff employed. His report read to Council on 9 March stated:
“A systematic house-to-house inspection is being accomplished throughout the city, and each district is dealt with in sections. In areas abutting the harbor a cordon of disinfectants has been established along the higher ground, and simultaneous flushing and disinfecting of all private drains, sinks, and water closets within that district are carried out. In addition to this, rat traps are set within the same limits. Our present staff is dealing with over 700 water closets daily, and considerably over that number of sinks and private drains, besides reporting any flagrant cases of insanitary premises. Rat catching is being prosecuted with great vigour, upwards of 9000 having been destroyed within the last week. Their carcases are disinfected and finally burnt. In connection with this crusade a very large quantity of disinfectants have been used, both by our officers and by the public at our expense, who have with zeal assisted our endeavours in dealing with the subject. We have received every assistance from the Water and Sewerage Department, who have appointed four inspectors to thoroughly examine the sanitary fittings under our direction.”
The Mayor reported that four hundred and fifty men had been employed to clean the City and gangs of rat-catchers were at work and that all workers had been inoculated. Pressure mounted on the Government to do more. The “Evening News” pointed out the ultimate legal authority was the Board of Health “but primarily, the public looks to the Premier to see that the Board of Health carries out its powers and duties”. Free disinfectant was supplied by the Government to coastal municipalities. More plague serum for inoculation was sought from India and Paris. By the end of March the Government quarantined a portion of the city between Darling Harbour and Kent St and took over control of the area, with police on guard and 1000 men employed to clean and disinfect the area. The Premier, as reported in the ‘Sunday Times’ on 25 March, also appointed a Committee “to see that the necessary work of cleaning the infected area is properly carried out. The Mayor nominated Mr Blackwell, C.E., and the Government appointed Dr Thompson (President of the Board of Health) and Mr Hickson (Undersecretary for Works).”
By April, Blackwell was acting as the City’s Inspector of Nuisances and took on the duties of that office, such as prosecutions for food unfit for human consumption, while continuing his special role in dealing with the plague. He was formally appointed Inspector of Nuisances at the Council Meeting of 17 July 1900 with a salary of £400 pa. By the middle of the year, cases of the plague were fewer although sporadic outbreaks occurred continuing into 1901.
Council wanted to prosecute owners of premises considered to be a health risk. Blackwell reported on the cumbersome process needed under section 38 of the Public Health Act. [‘Sydney Morning Herald’ on 18 July 1900]:
“The Water Supply and Sewerage Board have no powers to insist upon their regulations being carried out, and the methods adopted by the City Council are as follows: (1) Information having been laid as to defective fittings by an officer of the W and S Board, (2) such information is laid before the City Council for authority to proceed; (3) notice is served upon the owner to remedy the defects; (4) on re-inspection, after 15 days, by the council’s officer and medical man and nothing found to have been done, (5) a complaint is laid before a magistrate, and (6) a summons is issued for the defendant to show cause why the premises should not be closed as unfit for habitation. Unfortunately, however, the Act describes the premises to be dealt with under this section as ‘dwelling-houses’, and no provision has apparently been made for warehouses, stores, workshops, offices, etc. The consequence of this wording of the Act is that at the date of writing no less than 2095 premises have been reported as having defective sanitary appliances, and the uncertainty of obtaining a verdict in our favour has not warranted proceedings being taken.”
In November 1900, Blackwell’s personal financial affairs overwhelmed him. He wrote to the Town Clerk offering to resign. He said he had been unemployed for some months before his appointment to the City’s service and when an “unforeseen trouble” involving “certain family matters” had arisen, he had borrowed from money lenders who had charged heavy interest and were now pressing for payment in the belief that he had “friends” he might call upon. He said he had incurred no other debts since working for the City.
Anderson transmitted Blackwell’s resignation immediately to the Mayor, expressing his opinion:
“I forward this to the Right Worshipful the Mayor with extreme regret. Mr Blackwell came to us at the time of the plague trouble and one with less tact would have increased our difficulties. He is an able man and is establishing the Nuisances Department on a broad and lasting basis especially in view of the poor material he has had to work with, a defect that will be remedied after the course of lectures and subsequent examinations now proceeding at the Technical College have been completed when suitable men will be at our disposal as Sanitary Inspectors. His services have been entirely satisfactory in every sense.”
The resignation was held over and not proceeded with but in the meanwhile a sequestration order in the Bankruptcy Court was made on the petition of Fish & Packer (money lenders) and in December an order was made to pay £150 pa out of his salary in monthly instalments. Action in his earlier bankruptcy also occurred and a second distribution plan was determined.
In February 1901, the newly elected Council met to consider “what precautions should be taken, in view of a probable recurrence of the plague, the organisation of the sanitary department, and the establishment of a vigilance committee and the appointment of necessary sanitary officers under the Health Act”. The meeting under the chairmanship of the new Mayor, Dr James Graham, discussed these matters in general with no motion being put. When the meeting came to the matter of the appointment of the Chief Sanitary Officer (Inspector of Nuisances), the Mayor cut short the argument. The ‘Australian Star’ newspaper reported the Mayor’s stand in its issue of 27 February 1901:
“Mr. Blackwell had produced credentials which not one of the whole of the 100 applicants could show, and was a man of high professional attainments. Why should, as some of the aldermen advocated, Mr. Blackwell be insulted by being asked to go back to a trifling examination at the Technical College? He trusted that they would pass the report, as he knew of no one In the city whose qualifications came within miles of him, and if they did not he was assured that some other body would take him up. ……. The Mayor advised the council if they did not accept Mr. Blackwell to appoint a civil engineer. The report was adopted on a majority of 11 votes to 6 on a division.
Blackwell continued his work as Inspector of Nuisances vigorously prosecuting many offenders for milk adulteration, smoke nuisance and buildings unfit for habitation but his employment with the City of Sydney was jeopardised and eventually brought to an end by the continuing turmoil of his financial affairs. New creditors began to pursue Blackwell directly for payment while three plans of distribution were filed in the Insolvency Court between May and December 1901. Several garnishee orders were served on Council for direct deductions from his salary to pay his creditors and demands were made by the Official Assignee of the Insolvency Court. The City Treasurer was given contradictory instructions regarding his salary payments by Blackwell. Blackwell was reprimanded in November 1901 by the Mayor for his behaviour, particularly in the matter of the garnishee orders, and warned that a recurrence would bring about his dismissal but Blackwell seemed unable to find workable solutions.
Sydney’s ‘Truth’ newspaper reported that “the visits of creditors to the Town Hall have become so painfully frequent that their presence became a nuisance.” Under renewed threat of suspension, Blackwell, on 19 February 1902, presented his resignation to Council which swiftly accepted it.
‘Truth’, owned by John Norton, who had been an Alderman (1898-1901) and was MLA for Northumberland (1899-1904), delivered its pugnacious verdict on Blackwell’s financial behaviour under the sub-heading “The Boss Stink Sniffer resigns his Billet” and, after noting that the existence of his debts could easily have cast into doubt his independence by rendering him vulnerable to pressure, concluded
“[he] may have been unfortunate in getting into debt, but as all the evidence points the other way, TRUTH is inclined to believe that he acted most recklessly, and deliberately contracted debts which he could not pay, thereby causing inconvenience and extra labour for his fellow officers.”
Blackwell’s financial affairs appear to have muddled along for many more years and his Insolvency was not discharged until 1914.
Interestingly, despite the apparent ignominious end to his employment by the City of Sydney, when the Public Service Board wrote to the Town Clerk, Thomas Nesbitt, in August 1902 requesting information on Blackwell who had applied for a temporary position, the Town Clerk’s office answered: “During the time of his employment at the Town Hall he was energetic and painstaking and showed a complete knowledge of the duties pertaining to his position”.
NSW: coal mine manager, Maitland, c1902-1906
Blackwell moved to the South Maitland area and was manager of the Abermain Colliery from its first boring in 1902/1903 until the final installation of electric drills, electric coal cutting machines and electric pumps in May 1904. In May 1903 the Newcastle Morning Herald reported that “The manager resides in a two roomed tent, but his residence should be ready for him within a few months.” Some 30 acres had been cleared and the mine already employed a large number of men. In November 1903, the Maitland Mercury reported “We have been shown an excellent sample of coal taken from under the Abermain Colliery Company’s seam. This seam is 14 feet in thickness……….. The coal is hard, heavy, and bright, of a beautiful colour, and should make an excellent gas or steaming coal.” The paper further reported “The popular manager (Mr Blackwell) occupies a splendid cottage within easy reach of the colliery workings with which it is connected by telephone.”
With the completion of the installation of the electrical machines, Blackwell retired from management of the mine. The ‘Newcastle Morning Herald’ and the ‘Maitland Daily Mercury’ published detailed accounts of the farewell presentation to Blackwell which was followed by afternoon tea with “refreshments” for the men while “selections were rendered on the gramophone”; meanwhile many inspected the much praised garden created by Mrs Blackwell and her daughters. About 120 employees and their families watched the presentation of a purse of sovereigns and listened to eight speakers who paid tribute to Blackwell, Mrs Blackwell and her daughters.
The Chairman of the proceedings (Mr G Hill Montgomery) said “they always found him a good friend and an honest worker, who devoted his time and energies to the interests of the company. As a manager, he had shown great tact, and always met the employees in a friendly spirit. It was therefore no surprise that every man connected, with the colliery felt satisfied, and that things had run smoothly. His good wife and daughters, had also done much, especially in cases of sickness to win golden opinions from the residents.”
Mr AA Dolman, of West Maitland recalled the “excellent name” Blackwell had at Lithgow both as manager and man. He said that at Abermain “He had not spared himself in managing the colliery, and had shown great consideration in dealing with his men. Mrs Blackwell and her daughters had endeared themselves to the people by their many acts of kindness.”
Blackwell had apparently announced his intention to leave the district but he may have been, for a very short time in September 1904, the manager of the Maitland and South Greta colliery. The mine owner James Ralston announced early that month that the old Maitland colliery was to be reopened to work in conjunction with his South Greta colliery and the manager was to be Blackwell. Although the coal industry was facing difficulties, Ralston had secured contracts to take his full output from the new large mine for some considerable time. Ralston’s certificate to work as a mine manager had been suspended in March1904 for 12 months at an inquiry into a breach of the Coal Regulations Act at the South Greta Mine, a breach deemed gross negligence on his part. For this reason, Ralston needed to appoint a manager but Blackwell’s successor took over as early as 16 September. Blackwell, accordingly, was not the mine manager in October 1904 when the mine suffered roof collapses which once again led to Ralston being charged and convicted of negligence. Perhaps Blackwell saw problems ahead and got out quickly or perhaps he never took up the position.
Apart from a further plan of distribution in his insolvency approved in March 1905 in which his address is given as “Sydney”, no records have yet been found of Blackwell’s subsequent activities until his applications for the positions of City Engineer at Newcastle NSW and Engineer for Gisborne Borough New Zealand. On 12 September 1906, Blackwell found himself the successful applicant for both positions. He declined the New Zealand appointment and accepted the Newcastle position. Interestingly in both CVs, as reproduced in New Zealand and Newcastle newspapers, there is no mention of either of his appointments to the City of Sydney - as assistant engineer in his youth or in his much more recent appointment as Plague Officer and Inspector of Nuisances.
Newcastle, NSW: City Engineer, September 1906 - October 1912
Blackwell was appointed City Engineer with a salary of £312 pa. As usual Blackwell showed his talent for pleasing those he worked with, at least initially. The Mayor, Alderman James, in February 1907 remarked that “In Mr Blackwell, the city had a very competent engineer with whom it was a pleasure to work.”
Newcastle owes its very name and existence to the discovery of rich seams of coal. Coal mining was commenced there by the Australian Agricultural Company in 1832. Subsequent problems of mine subsidence first came to wide public notice in May 1906, a few months before Blackwell’s appointment, with the occurrence of the first Newcastle Creep, “creep” being the mining term used for a slow ground movement down a slope caused by the collapse of underground roofs or pillars in a mine. Major damage was caused in October 1907 by the second Creep and further damage by the third Creep in January 1908. Minor earth movements also occurred from time to time causing damage to roads or structures.
While coal mining was the largest industry in the Newcastle district, the City Council saw the necessity for other sources of income and employment. Its popularity as a holiday destination was recognised with its main attraction being its beach. Accordingly in 1907, the City and its Engineer turned their attention to the beach and its environs. First target was improved shelter at the beach, at that time provided only by a large shed. On 23 April 1907 Blackwell reported to Council that the Shortland Park shelter was finished and improvements had been made to the beach and bathing boxes. In this report, Blackwell reported completion of some other municipal works. He had also inspected two new fissures which had opened up near Bull Street that he thought were attributable to the Australian Agricultural Company’s Sea Pit coal workings but the Company replied that it “was not certain that the mine had anything to do with the fissures”.
In July 1907, Blackwell submitted plans for beach improvements using the £1000 grant given by the Government. The plans including painting of structures, paving, tarring and concreting of new and existing paths and surfaces, gravelling of carriage drives, forming seats and terracing, constructing additional sea wall, men’s and women’s bathing sheds with conveniences and major drainage works, as well as taking measures to contain sand drift. By September 1907, Council aldermen were so pleased with Blackwell’s performance that on the Mayor James’s motion, they unanimously voted a salary increase to £364 pa extolling his “improved means and methods”, his record keeping, and the works performed. Alderman Light said he was “a most courteous officer, and went about his work in an unassuming way. He was well liked by the council’s employees and had well-earned the increased salary.”
On Wednesday 16 October 1907, Newcastle suffered its second ‘Creep’. Substantial damage occurred to roads and to buildings. Blackwell as City Engineer was busy directing road repairs and monitoring the cracks in the floor of the Council’s electric lighting station. Movement continued to be felt during November. The third Creep occurred on 17 January 1908, once again affecting the high areas of the central part of the City. The NSW Government appointed a Royal Commission to inquire into the cause of the creeps at Newcastle and it held hearings throughout February and delivered its findings in April. Essentially the Royal Commission found all three creeps were caused by the same underground movement caused by the probable collapse of disused or inaccessible mine workings and that a secondary cause of the damage was faulty construction in certain buildings such as the City Cathedral. Blackwell gave evidence that as far as he could ascertain street levels had only changed by a drop of one or two inches but damage had been caused by a northerly movement of the ground. Further movement was felt in September of 1908.
Blackwell became part of the professional Newcastle community. He was a Council member of the Northern Engineering Institute and at one meeting delivered a paper on “Concrete as applied to Local Government Works”. He was also a Committee member of the Newcastle School of Arts.
A Committee was formed in 1909 to erect a memorial to be funded by public subscription in the extended Hunter Street to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Municipal Council. Blackwell designed and supervised the erection and completion in 1910 of an elaborate memorial with pedestal, plinth, pillars supporting a cube of black marble on a top table representing coal, the whole surrounded by decorative urns. The final Committee meeting in January 1911 moved a vote of thanks to Blackwell, its chairman stating that “Mr Blackwell was the brain of the moment and put all his energy into the memorial.”
Further beach improvements were carried out during 1909 including the building of a pavilion leased to the Newcastle Surf Club and14 “life-saving stations”, and upgrading of access to the beach, all to the admiration and approval of Aldermen. They declined, however, to pay him a bonus £50 suggested by the Mayor and seconded by Alderman Moroney who said Blackwell “was not only the architect and engineer, but he was also the working foreman”; Aldermen Levey and Shedden commended the work but declined to support payment of the bonus.
At the end of 1907, a proposal had been made to build Ocean Baths at the Newcastle Beach and, after gaining another NSW Government Grant of £1000, work started on the Baths in May 1911. Sydney Councils, such as Manly and Waverley, sought Blackwell’s advice on their ocean beaches. Meanwhile, some dissenting voices were being raised at Council on the condition of the City’s streets. Blackwell replied in a letter read at the Council meeting 24 January 1912, stating that Council had voted insufficient funds for street works. One faction believed that he was “too much in the office and on the baths” while the pro Blackwell faction believed he was “one of the best engineers in the state. His work on the beach showed that”.
In June 1912, Blackwell reported that progress on the baths was slow: heavy seas or bad weather had limited work; no one had tendered for the contract for erecting buildings for the baths. Pressure on Blackwell increased during July. Council was divided on acceding to Waverley Council’s request for consultation with Blackwell. Those councillors critical of Blackwell pointed out that he had frequently claimed to be overworked so could hardly have time to go to Waverley. Meanwhile his personal financial incompetency appeared in public again when in the Small Debts Court, an order for payment with costs was made against him. External forces next contributed a final devastating blow to Blackwell’s employment as City Engineer.
Nature brought calamity to Newcastle and its beaches with a tremendous storm followed by massive tides on 14 and 15 July. Wind gusts were timed up to 70 miles (113km) an hour; 232 points of rain fell in 24 hours (about 59mm); waves were estimated to be 30 feet (9 metres) high. The Newcastle Morning Herald reported of the night
“The waves reached a stupendous height, and swept the beach with relentless fury breaking with thunderous roar on the sands and racing madly up to the promenade. Never before in the memory of any of the residents who witnessed the awe inspiring spectacle has such a sea raged off the coast at Newcastle. By the light of the stars could be seen the stretch of boiling foam and huge towering white-capped waves.”
Most of the northern beach facilities such as the Surf Club, dressing sheds and refreshment rooms were extensively damaged or destroyed; the promenade was undermined or damaged; the beach was strewn with huge boulders and shattered timbers. At the port’s wharfs, cranes had toppled and the road had subsided and several slippages occurred on the breakwater. The Christ Church Cathedral still under repair from the “Creep” was further damaged; fences and outbuildings in the city were blown down. Across at Stockton, the Missions to Seamen’s building had been lifted off its foundations by the force of the waves.
The new Baths suffered much damage with 140 feet of their outer wall destroyed although the rest of the wall had survived. The south-east corner piece weighing 8 tons had been carried more than 100 feet into the baths. The newly laid promenade was severely damaged and of the two cranes working at the Baths, the foundation of one had gone and its crane had fallen down to the rocks below while the other crane had been lifted up against the promenade.
Public discussion, newspaper articles and Council deliberations followed. The Newcastle Morning Herald commented on suggestions that the site of the Baths was unsuitable by reminding readers that the plans for the Baths had been scrutinised and reported on by Mr James Mollison M.I.C.E. for the NSW Public Works Department at the time that Council had sought permission to borrow £3000 for the project. Mollison had specifically stated that site was the best available and the design was approved. Blackwell presented a comprehensive report and plan with costings for the repairs and suggested improvements to Council on 20 August. He referred to the huge swell during the storm and noted other places where enormous boulders had been lifted and transported by the waves. He pointed out that the capital cost that would be incurred to strengthen the walls of the Baths against the recurrence of such a rare storm event had to be balanced against the likely costs of occasional repairs. Council had received also a letter from the prominent architect FG Castleden recommending preparation of working drawings, specifications and a bill of quantities by an authorised quantity surveyor at a charge of 5% on total cost prior to the calling of tenders for the works. Council decided to accept Castleden’s terms and to request of the Department of Public Works that Mollison confer with Blackwell.
In the meanwhile, the Council’s Finance Committee had investigated a payment authorised by Blackwell of about £17 to GT Edwards for a quantity of scrap iron and had moved that Blackwell’s actions were “considered unsatisfactory and deserving of censure and that the City Treasurer be authorised to initiate a better system governing the payment of accounts”. Council on 5 August duly censured Blackwell. At its next meeting, the Finance Committee recommended that the Engineer be given the opportunity to resign having lost the confidence of the Council. The matter was referred back to the Committee.
The anti-Blackwell faction gathered momentum and the Finance Committee presented a new recommendation to Council on 2 September “that the city engineer, be given three months' notice, in terms of his agreement with the council, at the time of his appointment and that applications be at once called for the position of city engineer, at a salary of £350 per annum.”
Councillors critical of Blackwell brought up the matter of the scrap iron purchase even though Mayor Shedden ruled discussion of it out of order. They further asserted Blackwell had made a protective tender for too low an amount for work in King St and there had been other unspecified too low protective tenders; he had made mistakes at the Baths; he lacked firmness in dealing with or reporting on the performance of employees and was incompetent to control a large body of men; he had no backbone; his estimates were misleading; the City’s roads were poor; there were insufficient work gangs, stone-crushing charges were too high; he had not investigated a garbage destructor or other benefits for the City while “he was all there when anything artistic was to be done” .
Councillors supporting Blackwell stated there were no specific charges made against Blackwell; his ‘indiscretion’ in the matter of the purchase of scrap iron had already been dealt with by censure; he was a faithful officer and Council should deal with him with justice and fair play; an occasional mistake could be overlooked; his estimate for work on the Baths was only £100 different from the Government’s estimate; his work on the Baths was splendid; the beach improvements were a credit to him; he should be allowed to reply to criticisms.
The motion to give Blackwell three months’ notice was put to the vote with 7 in favour and 5 against.
Blackwell spoke to the press soon after and the Newcastle Morning Herald published a lengthy item. Blackwell gave details about the scrap iron purchase and the involvement of Mayor Shedden and the Town Clerk in signing the cheque before approval by the Finance Committee. He gave reasons for the blow-out of costs on the King St works. He stated that in his career he had directed large number of employees and he had many professional qualifications. He gave details of the progress on the Baths. He alluded to much unqualified advice having been offered to him by the Mayor and to some disagreements between them. He attributed the problem of poor road maintenance to the Council’s failure to allot the necessary funds on many occasions.
On 21 September the Council met in a special meeting to consider the report of the auditor into the disappearance in 1909 of a Council owned theodolite. After discussion held in camera on the advice of Council’s solicitor, the meeting recommended Council dispense immediately with Blackwell’s services. His employment was formally terminated at the meeting of 16 October 1912.
Through October and November the intriguing story of the theodolite was revealed in Hunter District newspapers and the Sydney papers. It had been used in the City Engineer’s Office from 1870 to 1909 when it was acquired by a second hand dealer, John Weir, from a junior employee in the Engineer’s department (not named in court) and pledged to the NSW Mont de Piete at Newcastle; its subsequent sales and transfers had been traced. Mayor Shedden laid an information against Weir and at a Police Court hearing, he was committed for trial on charges of theft. Subsequently the Attorney General refused to file a bill for prosecution and eventually Council reimbursed the last purchaser of the now returned theodolite.
Newcastle: Broken Hill Proprietary Co, Newcastle Steelworks, c1913 to c1930
Blackwell was employed as an engineer by the Broken Hill Proprietary Co (BHP) in the erection of the Newcastle Steelworks. The general manager of the Works was David Baker, engineer from Philadelphia, previously in charge of several large steelworks in the USA. Blackwell is attributed in his obituaries as being the engineer in charge of driving the first piles in the Waratah Swamp to enable the building of the Steelworks. Throughout 1913 and 1914 extensive dredging and pile driving took place and the construction of the buildings and blast furnace occupied 1914. The first steel rolled off the mills in April 1915.
In August 1917, Blackwell’s wife died at their residence in Stockton. Many people attended the funeral and the Steel Works staff sent a wreath. The pall-bearers were Alderman W. Ball (Mayor of Stockton), Richard Thomas (manager of the Sea Pit Mine of the Australian Agricultural Co), G. T. Edwards (Mayor of Wickham), and Colonel Ranclaud (former commanding officer of the 4th regiment, member of the Anglican Synod of Newcastle).
The BHP Company’s display of the steel making process at the ANA Exhibition in Melbourne in February 1917 was designed by Blackwell who was described in the Melbourne Argus newspaper as “the engineer in charge of the steelworks”.
In 1924, Blackwell contracted his third marriage to Frances Harvey who outlived him as did his first wife, Blanche Lucy, of whose existence Frances appears to have had no knowledge.
His obituary published in the Newcastle Morning Herald states that he retired from BHP in 1930 because of failing eyesight. He died of heart disease at his home at Henry Street, Tighes Hill in the Newcastle District on 24 July 1933. He was cremated at Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney.
May 2017; Marilyn Mason
References:
City of Sydney Archives:
CRS 7 Minutes of City of Sydney Council; CRS 26 Letters Received, CRS 22 Reports of the Finance Committee; Town Clerk’s Correspondence Files from 1900; (item descriptions or digitised objects available online).
Sydney’s Aldermen http://www.sydneyaldermen.com.au
Australian Dictionary of Biography: http://adb.anu.edu.au/ (Henry and Elizabeth Halloran; Joseph Underwood; Robert M McC Anderson; John Norton; Matthew Harris)
Grace’s Guide: British Industrial History; http://www.gracesguide.co.uk; (Thomas Evans Blackwell; Thomas Howard; John Addy; Charles Blackwell; Joseph Bazalgette)
Southampton water supply: www.localhistories.org/southampton.html
English and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2008; England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005; England; England and Wales; Censuses 1841, 1851, 1871; https://familysearch.org
NSW Birth Death Marriages Registry: http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au; Indexes on line; transcripts by NSW Family History Transcriptions
New Zealand newspapers: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers: The Star (Christchurch); The Press (Christchurch). Poverty Bay Herald (Gisborne)
Australian newspapers digitised by the National Library of Australia, www. trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper. Items from the following publications: Argus (Melbourne); The Australian Star (Sydney); Barrier Miner (Broken Hill); The Catholic Press (Sydney); Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney); Clarence and Richmond Examiner and New England Advertiser (Grafton); Empire (Sydney); Evening News (Sydney); Macleay Chronicle (Kempsey); The Maitland Daily Mercury; Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate; Northern Star (Lismore); South Coast Times and Wollongong Argus; Sunday Times (Sydney); The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser; Sydney Morning Herald; Truth (Sydney); The Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Observer.
NSW Police Gazette, digitised; available online
NSW Government Gazette digitised by the National Library of Australia, www. trove.nla.gov.au
Photographs showing Newcastle Beach Structures are accessible via University of Newcastle’s Cultural Collection and www.flickr.com
Photograph of Blackwell and article by him, “Newcastle Beach – An Attractive Pleasure Resort”, Australian Country Life (Sydney), November 15, 1910, pages 68 to 71 at http://www.surfresearch.com.au/1910_Aust_Country_Life_Newcastle_Nov.html accessed 12/08/2015Relationship legacy dataRELATED TO: Public health FN-0012
RELATED TO: Inspector of Nuisances AG-0075
RELATED TO: City Engineer and City Surveyors Department I AG-0086
Occupational historyCity of Sydney:Assistant City Engineer 27 January 1874 - November 1875Special Officer – Plague, appointed February 1900Inspector of Nuisances, July 1900 - February 1902Offices in NSW Government:Electric Telegraph Department, junior operator, Goulburn, 1872Electric Telegraph Department, operator, head office, 1873Department of Public Works, Railway Branch, Survey Department, 1882Member of the Public School Board for the sub-district of Wallerawang, 1892Member of the Board appointing Examiners under the Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1896-1906Other Municipal Offices held:Engineer, Borough of Balmain, 1882-1884City Engineer, City of Newcastle, 1906-1912Positions in private business in NSW:Coal mine manager, engineer, Cullen Bullen, Lithgow, 1888-1900 and Abermain colliery, Maitland, 1902-1906Engineer, BHP Co, Newcastle Steel Works, c1913-c1930Overseas positions:Engineer, Peterborough, England, waterworks 1876-1879Engineer, Southampton, England, waterworks, 1884-1888Consulting engineer, Christchurch Council, New Zealand, 1879-1880Archivist noteResearched and drafted by City of Sydney Archives volunteer Marilyn Mason, May 2017.Legacy dataRegistered by: Smith, Michael
Registered date: 25/05/2017
Amendments:
Last amendment date: None
Minister: NoneUpdated Date: 12/09/2017
Updated User: mdsmithSource system ID53
Louis Buckland Blackwell was christened on 6 February 1852 at Bathwick, near Bath, Somersetshire, England, the youngest son of Thomas Evans Blackwell, M.I.C.E. At that time his father was the Engineer to the Bristol Dock Company. In 1857, Thomas Blackwell went to Canada becoming the General Manager for the building of the Grand Trunk Railway connecting Montreal to Toronto. His oldest son, Charles Blackwell born in 1843, was educated at the High School Montreal and McGill College, Montreal. Charles Blackwell stayed in Canada becoming a well-respected engineer with the Grand Trunk Railway, the Intercolonial Railway and other railways in Canada and the USA. Thomas Blackwell and the younger members of his family, including Louis, returned to England in 1862. Blackwell senior’s health deteriorated rapidly leading to his early death at the age of 45 in 1863.
Louis Buckland Blackwell was probably articled to Thomas Howard M.I.C.E. who was the Engineer for Bristol Dock from 1855 to 1882. At the time of the UK Census in April 1871, Louis Blackwell is listed twice as a boarder at residences in Cornwall as an “Electrical student” aged 21.
Sydney, telegraph operator, Assistant engineer, 1872-1875
Blackwell arrived in Sydney in January 1872 and by March he had found employment with the NSW Government as a telegraph operator at Goulburn. In May 1873, he was transferred to the Head Office of the Electric Telegraph Department in Sydney. In October of that year, he married Blanche Lucy Halloran at Ashfield. Blanche was the daughter of Henry Halloran, civil servant and poet, and grand-daughter of the famed colonial school teacher, Laurence Halloran. Her maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Underwood, and her family had much to do with the early development of Ashfield (the suburb of Sydney). Henry Halloran had overseen the merger of the NSW Crown Lands Office and the Survey Department and became under-secretary to the Colonial Secretary’s Department; his much lauded organisational skills had been utilised in the organisation of such huge events as the visit of the Duke of Edinburgh to Sydney in 1867 and the public funeral of William Charles Wentworth in 1872.
In January 1874, Louis Buckland Blackwell was appointed the Assistant City Engineer in the City of Sydney Corporation. He was selected from 10 applicants for the position. By the end of 1874, the Corporation was facing one of its periodic financial crises and City Senior Officers were ordered to slash the numbers of labourers employed and to report on the duties of their professional staff and on the necessity for those duties. ‘The Sydney Morning Herald’ on 15 January 1875 published the report of the City Engineer, Francis Bell, in which he stated
“Mr Blackwell is engaged in surveying and levelling for the compilation of a correct plan of the watershed, as suggested by the Hon the Minister for Lands, showing the lands granted to, and the purchased lands in possession of the Corporation for water purposes; the alienated lands, the drainage of which can be diverted, with the probable cost of such drainage works; the lands that would require to be purchased, with the estimate of the probable cost of the same. This work is now progressing satisfactorily, but it will be some time yet before it is completed. He has also in hand the drawings of the extension of the Paddington reservoir.”
At the end of November 1875, Blackwell applied for 2 weeks leave “to complete private matters”. He did not, however, wait for leave to be granted or refused but left. Francis Bell reported to the Mayor that he believed it “improbable” that he would return. Blackwell, in fact, left not just his job and Sydney but returned to England taking with him his wife Blanche and probably his daughter Blanche Annie (born 1874). Just what the “private matters” may have been is unknown although the New Zealand newspaper, ‘The Star’, in 1880 made passing reference to a suit in Chancery.
England: Engineer, waterworks, Peterborough, drainage, Kent, 1876-1879
In his CVs published in the ‘Poverty Bay Herald’ (Gisborne, New Zealand) and the ‘Newcastle Morning Herald’ (Newcastle NSW) in September 1906, Blackwell referred to work he had done as assistant engineer under John Addy M. I. C. E. at Peterborough, England and in Kent. Addy developed the Peterborough water-supply and sewerage and drainage systems between 1874 and 1879 and also superintended sewerage works at Dartford, Kent in the same period. The birth of Blackwell’s son, Louis Mowbray Buckland Blackwell, was registered in Peterborough in the second quarter of 1877.
New Zealand: consulting engineer, Christchurch, 1879-1880
By September 1879, Blackwell had arrived in New Zealand. The Christchurch Council had been wrestling with the problem of water supply for the City. There was no unanimity of opinion on whether to supply water let alone how it was to be done and what would be the source of the supply or whether the City could afford it. Council began a trial in February 1879 to test the potential supply of water from the Waimakariri River in a scheme devised by Mr W White. Various engineers supplied reports on the experiment. After elections in September, the new Council advertised for “a competent hydraulic engineer” to advise it on the water supply scheme and on 13 October Louis Blackwell and Mr Hubbard were selected from 9 applicants. Louis Blackwell, now using the honorific ‘associate M.I.C.E.’, wrote a comprehensive report read to Council at its meeting 10 December 1879. Blackwell was asked specifically to report on the feasibility of White’s scheme but in the process he also evaluated other schemes that were brought to his notice. He wrote on the advantages of having city water works noting the enhancement of property values, the development of new industries, the ability to fight fires using public hydrants under pressure and the sanitary benefits of access to city water supply. He noted costs might be partly defrayed by the sale of water. He then presented technical matters on quantities of water, the source of supply and the means of supply. He made detailed estimates of costs and revenue. He discussed measures relating to fire alarms and proposed responses. His report was printed in Christchurch in 1879 and runs to some 28 pages with illustration, maps and tables. The report was received well by the Council and by the local Press of Christchurch all of whom were supportive of his main recommendations and of an alternative cheaper scheme he devised. Nevertheless, the prospect of a large loan meant that the ratepayers, whose approval was needed in a special vote on the issue, rejected the scheme. Blackwell was still present in Christchurch in April 1880 when public meetings on the issue were called. According to a letter by John Kay to the local paper, ‘The Star’, the Council had spent a total of £1500 on engineers’ reports including paying Hubbard and Blackwell £503 for their separate reports.
Melbourne, 1880
Blackwell began looking for another job and applied in July 1880 to the Hobart Council for appointment as a draughtsman. This position carried a salary of £200 pa. There were six candidates and he survived the first cut but was then eliminated.
He had arrived in Melbourne by the end of 1880 and from there he wrote to the City of Sydney sending a copy of his report on the Christchurch water supply. Blackwell also forwarded “a short account of the works I have been engaged upon since I held the position of Assistant Engineer to your City Council”.
Sydney: Engineer, NSW Government Railways; Engineer, Borough of Balmain, 1882-1884
By February 1882 he was apparently in the employment of the NSW Government in the Department of Public Works, Railway Branch. His CV published in newspapers in September 1906 in relation to his appointments as Engineer to Gisborne (New Zealand) and Newcastle (NSW) describes his work with the railways as in “the trial survey department, where he was chiefly associated with contour work determining local water supply and drainage matters”. At this time, Blackwell wrote to the City of Sydney Town Clerk, CW Woolcott, prompted by newspaper reports that the City was considering electric street lighting. Blackwell supplied “recent estimates received from leading firms in England for supplying the necessary plant for lighting the streets of a small town where engine power amounting to 20 HP was available”: the firms involved had illuminated parts of London and were the Anglo American Brush Co, [date of estimate: 3 August 1881], Siemens Brothers & Co and Swans lights. It is not at all clear how or why he had such information to hand but he clearly was intent on keeping the City Council aware of his return to Sydney and his credentials.
His next appointment was as Engineer to the Borough of Balmain (Sydney). He filled that position from September 1882 until his second abrupt departure from Sydney in April 1884. In this period, his wife Blanche had two more daughters born in Sydney, Grace in 1882 and Irene in 1884. At Balmain, Blackwell oversaw the introduction of a new type of gutter, he designed a pumping scheme for using salt water to water the streets and he designed and completed the Balmain Baths at the White Horse reserve but actions taken in his personal life now overturned his professional life in Sydney, destroyed his marriage and brought about a lifelong estrangement with the children of that marriage.
He had become involved with Emily McLerie, wife of Thomas McLerie, a son of the well-known Inspector General of Police, John McLerie. A crisis occurred with the result that Blackwell fled the Australian colonies taking with him Mrs McLerie and three of her young daughters; she left behind with the McLerie family her son Alexander then aged 13 and her daughter Florence Emily aged 6. Blackwell’s wife, Blanche, took immediate action against her husband. A court warrant was issued in April 1884 for Blackwell’s arrest for illegal desertion and leaving his wife without means of support and his wife commenced divorce proceedings on the grounds of adultery. The divorce was undefended and granted in November 1884 becoming absolute in May 1885; Mrs Blackwell was granted custody of the children.
England: Engineer, waterworks, Southampton, 1884-1888
In his CV published in the ‘Poverty Bay Herald’ (Gisborne) and the ‘Newcastle Morning Herald’ in 1906, Blackwell stated that, after his time as Balmain engineer, he had completed surveys, prepared plans and acted as resident engineer during the construction of water works at Southampton in England. The water works at Otterbourne, supplying Southampton, were formally opened in 1888.
In March 1888, Thomas McLerie died in Sydney. The news must have been quickly transmitted to Blackwell and Mrs McLerie in England. The couple immediately married in London and soon left for Australia. They arrived in Sydney with the three McLerie daughters on RMS Arcadia on 12 July 1888. Mrs Blackwell formerly McLerie reclaimed her other daughter Florence Emily now aged 10 who had been left in Sydney. The child’s aunt, Mary McLerie, applied to the Courts to obtain legal custody. Her lawyer, Mr Coffey, said he could not reconcile the mother’s action in leaving Florence behind with her desire now to have her. Character references were given for both Louis and Emily Blackwell while it was alleged that Thomas McLerie “was a man of most intemperate habits; that he had frequently used violence towards his wife”. Adultery between the Blackwells prior to their marriage was denied. Mr Pilcher, for Mrs Blackwell, argued that she was “absolutely entitled to have her daughter unless it could be shown that she was an immoral person”. Judge Foster concurred with this argument and gave custody of Florence Emily to her mother. The custody battle received much newspaper coverage in Sydney in the ‘Evening News’, the ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ and the ‘Australian Town and Country Journal’.
NSW: mine engineer and manager, Lithgow, 1888-1900
Blackwell found occupation in the Lithgow district where he remained for the next ten years or so. He was in charge of the Cullen Bullen Coal mine owned by the Cullen Bullen Coal and Coke Company. The ‘Australian Town and Country Journal’ reported on 7 March 1891: “The mine is under the able control of Mr Louis B Blackwell, a gentleman possessing much practical knowledge and skill.” The Company during 1889-1890 produced large quantities of coal for the NSW Government for locomotive use but by 1891 it was supplying coal only for local use and Blackwell was seeking to produce coke. In April 1892 he was appointed to the Public School Board for the sub-district of Wallerawang. He was still at Cullen Bullen in December 1892 when his wife Emily gave birth to a short lived son named Louis Buckland Blackwell who died in 1893. In May 1893, the ’Australian Town and Country Journal‘ published an article by LB Blackwell of Cullen Bullen, illustrated with his own excellent photos and line drawings and describing a fortnight he had spent at Lord Howe Island at Easter. He wrote:
“Having considered after a few years’ hard work in business I was entitled to a holiday, and having at times visited the pleasures and health resorts of sunny New South Wales, I determined I should, if possible, seek fresh scenes for a week or two and attempt to drown the troubles and cares of business life as well as to recuperate enfeebled energy.” The passenger list for the steamer ‘Rockton’ shows he was accompanied by his wife and by two of her daughters listed as Miss FE Blackwell and Miss LE Blackwell.
Throughout the 1890s Blackwell had periods of unemployment and by January 1895 he was in severe financial distress and a sequestration order was made on his own petition in the Supreme Court in Bankruptcy. In October 1896 he was appointed a Member of the Board for appointing Examiners under the Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1896 and he continued in that capacity until 1906. In 1899 he was the manager of the Vale of Clwydd Colliery at Lithgow but the appointment seems to have ended in that year and he moved to Sydney.
Sydney: Plague Officer, Inspector of Nuisances, City of Sydney, February 1900-February 1902
In mid-January 1900, bubonic plague appeared in Australia at the port of Adelaide and within a week or so arrived in Sydney with cases being officially confirmed as plague during February. Various authorities had some responsibilities in the management of such a crisis, including Government statutory bodies such as the Board of Health and the Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board, the City of Sydney Corporation and other Municipal Councils and the Government of NSW itself. As well as the fragmentation of responsibility for dealing with a crisis of this nature, there was not complete consensus in the medical world of Sydney as to the means of transmission of the disease and on the measures to be taken. The City Health Officer, Dr Gwynne-Hughes, believed that lack of cleanliness, accumulation of rubbish, overcrowding and lack of ventilation were instrumental in spreading the plague. He advocated quarantine of those affected, clearing of rubbish and disinfection of buildings. Dr Ashburton Thompson of the Board of Health believed that the plague was spread by fleas from infected rats and accordingly he felt that the eradication of rats was central to containing the plague. The first phase of action in dealing with the plague resulted in public dissension between various of these institutions and their officers.
At the end of February 1900, Blackwell was appointed by the Mayor of the City of Sydney, Sir Matthew Harris MLA, as a Special Officer to deal with the plague.
Sir Matthew informed the Council on 2 March 1900 that he had appointed Blackwell stating he “has had considerable experience in municipal and sanitary matters, and has been accustomed to direct labour to conduct those operations”. The Mayor explained that normally George Baker, the Inspector of Nuisances would have been in charge but he had refused to be inoculated. The Mayor and Blackwell had already commenced action; the rats were to be targeted and there was to be a house-to-house visitation in certain parts of the City to flush and disinfect drains; extra workers were employed. The Mayor had arranged that the Pinhoe Company would destroy vermin collected, the Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Board was sharing information and providing some labour, the directives of the Board of Health were to be followed and the Mayor had met with the Premier of NSW, Mr Lyne, and the Colonial Treasurer.
Blackwell made frequent reports throughout March and April on measures taken and the staff employed. His report read to Council on 9 March stated:
“A systematic house-to-house inspection is being accomplished throughout the city, and each district is dealt with in sections. In areas abutting the harbor a cordon of disinfectants has been established along the higher ground, and simultaneous flushing and disinfecting of all private drains, sinks, and water closets within that district are carried out. In addition to this, rat traps are set within the same limits. Our present staff is dealing with over 700 water closets daily, and considerably over that number of sinks and private drains, besides reporting any flagrant cases of insanitary premises. Rat catching is being prosecuted with great vigour, upwards of 9000 having been destroyed within the last week. Their carcases are disinfected and finally burnt. In connection with this crusade a very large quantity of disinfectants have been used, both by our officers and by the public at our expense, who have with zeal assisted our endeavours in dealing with the subject. We have received every assistance from the Water and Sewerage Department, who have appointed four inspectors to thoroughly examine the sanitary fittings under our direction.”
The Mayor reported that four hundred and fifty men had been employed to clean the City and gangs of rat-catchers were at work and that all workers had been inoculated. Pressure mounted on the Government to do more. The “Evening News” pointed out the ultimate legal authority was the Board of Health “but primarily, the public looks to the Premier to see that the Board of Health carries out its powers and duties”. Free disinfectant was supplied by the Government to coastal municipalities. More plague serum for inoculation was sought from India and Paris. By the end of March the Government quarantined a portion of the city between Darling Harbour and Kent St and took over control of the area, with police on guard and 1000 men employed to clean and disinfect the area. The Premier, as reported in the ‘Sunday Times’ on 25 March, also appointed a Committee “to see that the necessary work of cleaning the infected area is properly carried out. The Mayor nominated Mr Blackwell, C.E., and the Government appointed Dr Thompson (President of the Board of Health) and Mr Hickson (Undersecretary for Works).”
By April, Blackwell was acting as the City’s Inspector of Nuisances and took on the duties of that office, such as prosecutions for food unfit for human consumption, while continuing his special role in dealing with the plague. He was formally appointed Inspector of Nuisances at the Council Meeting of 17 July 1900 with a salary of £400 pa. By the middle of the year, cases of the plague were fewer although sporadic outbreaks occurred continuing into 1901.
Council wanted to prosecute owners of premises considered to be a health risk. Blackwell reported on the cumbersome process needed under section 38 of the Public Health Act. [‘Sydney Morning Herald’ on 18 July 1900]:
“The Water Supply and Sewerage Board have no powers to insist upon their regulations being carried out, and the methods adopted by the City Council are as follows: (1) Information having been laid as to defective fittings by an officer of the W and S Board, (2) such information is laid before the City Council for authority to proceed; (3) notice is served upon the owner to remedy the defects; (4) on re-inspection, after 15 days, by the council’s officer and medical man and nothing found to have been done, (5) a complaint is laid before a magistrate, and (6) a summons is issued for the defendant to show cause why the premises should not be closed as unfit for habitation. Unfortunately, however, the Act describes the premises to be dealt with under this section as ‘dwelling-houses’, and no provision has apparently been made for warehouses, stores, workshops, offices, etc. The consequence of this wording of the Act is that at the date of writing no less than 2095 premises have been reported as having defective sanitary appliances, and the uncertainty of obtaining a verdict in our favour has not warranted proceedings being taken.”
In November 1900, Blackwell’s personal financial affairs overwhelmed him. He wrote to the Town Clerk offering to resign. He said he had been unemployed for some months before his appointment to the City’s service and when an “unforeseen trouble” involving “certain family matters” had arisen, he had borrowed from money lenders who had charged heavy interest and were now pressing for payment in the belief that he had “friends” he might call upon. He said he had incurred no other debts since working for the City.
Anderson transmitted Blackwell’s resignation immediately to the Mayor, expressing his opinion:
“I forward this to the Right Worshipful the Mayor with extreme regret. Mr Blackwell came to us at the time of the plague trouble and one with less tact would have increased our difficulties. He is an able man and is establishing the Nuisances Department on a broad and lasting basis especially in view of the poor material he has had to work with, a defect that will be remedied after the course of lectures and subsequent examinations now proceeding at the Technical College have been completed when suitable men will be at our disposal as Sanitary Inspectors. His services have been entirely satisfactory in every sense.”
The resignation was held over and not proceeded with but in the meanwhile a sequestration order in the Bankruptcy Court was made on the petition of Fish & Packer (money lenders) and in December an order was made to pay £150 pa out of his salary in monthly instalments. Action in his earlier bankruptcy also occurred and a second distribution plan was determined.
In February 1901, the newly elected Council met to consider “what precautions should be taken, in view of a probable recurrence of the plague, the organisation of the sanitary department, and the establishment of a vigilance committee and the appointment of necessary sanitary officers under the Health Act”. The meeting under the chairmanship of the new Mayor, Dr James Graham, discussed these matters in general with no motion being put. When the meeting came to the matter of the appointment of the Chief Sanitary Officer (Inspector of Nuisances), the Mayor cut short the argument. The ‘Australian Star’ newspaper reported the Mayor’s stand in its issue of 27 February 1901:
“Mr. Blackwell had produced credentials which not one of the whole of the 100 applicants could show, and was a man of high professional attainments. Why should, as some of the aldermen advocated, Mr. Blackwell be insulted by being asked to go back to a trifling examination at the Technical College? He trusted that they would pass the report, as he knew of no one In the city whose qualifications came within miles of him, and if they did not he was assured that some other body would take him up. ……. The Mayor advised the council if they did not accept Mr. Blackwell to appoint a civil engineer. The report was adopted on a majority of 11 votes to 6 on a division.
Blackwell continued his work as Inspector of Nuisances vigorously prosecuting many offenders for milk adulteration, smoke nuisance and buildings unfit for habitation but his employment with the City of Sydney was jeopardised and eventually brought to an end by the continuing turmoil of his financial affairs. New creditors began to pursue Blackwell directly for payment while three plans of distribution were filed in the Insolvency Court between May and December 1901. Several garnishee orders were served on Council for direct deductions from his salary to pay his creditors and demands were made by the Official Assignee of the Insolvency Court. The City Treasurer was given contradictory instructions regarding his salary payments by Blackwell. Blackwell was reprimanded in November 1901 by the Mayor for his behaviour, particularly in the matter of the garnishee orders, and warned that a recurrence would bring about his dismissal but Blackwell seemed unable to find workable solutions.
Sydney’s ‘Truth’ newspaper reported that “the visits of creditors to the Town Hall have become so painfully frequent that their presence became a nuisance.” Under renewed threat of suspension, Blackwell, on 19 February 1902, presented his resignation to Council which swiftly accepted it.
‘Truth’, owned by John Norton, who had been an Alderman (1898-1901) and was MLA for Northumberland (1899-1904), delivered its pugnacious verdict on Blackwell’s financial behaviour under the sub-heading “The Boss Stink Sniffer resigns his Billet” and, after noting that the existence of his debts could easily have cast into doubt his independence by rendering him vulnerable to pressure, concluded
“[he] may have been unfortunate in getting into debt, but as all the evidence points the other way, TRUTH is inclined to believe that he acted most recklessly, and deliberately contracted debts which he could not pay, thereby causing inconvenience and extra labour for his fellow officers.”
Blackwell’s financial affairs appear to have muddled along for many more years and his Insolvency was not discharged until 1914.
Interestingly, despite the apparent ignominious end to his employment by the City of Sydney, when the Public Service Board wrote to the Town Clerk, Thomas Nesbitt, in August 1902 requesting information on Blackwell who had applied for a temporary position, the Town Clerk’s office answered: “During the time of his employment at the Town Hall he was energetic and painstaking and showed a complete knowledge of the duties pertaining to his position”.
NSW: coal mine manager, Maitland, c1902-1906
Blackwell moved to the South Maitland area and was manager of the Abermain Colliery from its first boring in 1902/1903 until the final installation of electric drills, electric coal cutting machines and electric pumps in May 1904. In May 1903 the Newcastle Morning Herald reported that “The manager resides in a two roomed tent, but his residence should be ready for him within a few months.” Some 30 acres had been cleared and the mine already employed a large number of men. In November 1903, the Maitland Mercury reported “We have been shown an excellent sample of coal taken from under the Abermain Colliery Company’s seam. This seam is 14 feet in thickness……….. The coal is hard, heavy, and bright, of a beautiful colour, and should make an excellent gas or steaming coal.” The paper further reported “The popular manager (Mr Blackwell) occupies a splendid cottage within easy reach of the colliery workings with which it is connected by telephone.”
With the completion of the installation of the electrical machines, Blackwell retired from management of the mine. The ‘Newcastle Morning Herald’ and the ‘Maitland Daily Mercury’ published detailed accounts of the farewell presentation to Blackwell which was followed by afternoon tea with “refreshments” for the men while “selections were rendered on the gramophone”; meanwhile many inspected the much praised garden created by Mrs Blackwell and her daughters. About 120 employees and their families watched the presentation of a purse of sovereigns and listened to eight speakers who paid tribute to Blackwell, Mrs Blackwell and her daughters.
The Chairman of the proceedings (Mr G Hill Montgomery) said “they always found him a good friend and an honest worker, who devoted his time and energies to the interests of the company. As a manager, he had shown great tact, and always met the employees in a friendly spirit. It was therefore no surprise that every man connected, with the colliery felt satisfied, and that things had run smoothly. His good wife and daughters, had also done much, especially in cases of sickness to win golden opinions from the residents.”
Mr AA Dolman, of West Maitland recalled the “excellent name” Blackwell had at Lithgow both as manager and man. He said that at Abermain “He had not spared himself in managing the colliery, and had shown great consideration in dealing with his men. Mrs Blackwell and her daughters had endeared themselves to the people by their many acts of kindness.”
Blackwell had apparently announced his intention to leave the district but he may have been, for a very short time in September 1904, the manager of the Maitland and South Greta colliery. The mine owner James Ralston announced early that month that the old Maitland colliery was to be reopened to work in conjunction with his South Greta colliery and the manager was to be Blackwell. Although the coal industry was facing difficulties, Ralston had secured contracts to take his full output from the new large mine for some considerable time. Ralston’s certificate to work as a mine manager had been suspended in March1904 for 12 months at an inquiry into a breach of the Coal Regulations Act at the South Greta Mine, a breach deemed gross negligence on his part. For this reason, Ralston needed to appoint a manager but Blackwell’s successor took over as early as 16 September. Blackwell, accordingly, was not the mine manager in October 1904 when the mine suffered roof collapses which once again led to Ralston being charged and convicted of negligence. Perhaps Blackwell saw problems ahead and got out quickly or perhaps he never took up the position.
Apart from a further plan of distribution in his insolvency approved in March 1905 in which his address is given as “Sydney”, no records have yet been found of Blackwell’s subsequent activities until his applications for the positions of City Engineer at Newcastle NSW and Engineer for Gisborne Borough New Zealand. On 12 September 1906, Blackwell found himself the successful applicant for both positions. He declined the New Zealand appointment and accepted the Newcastle position. Interestingly in both CVs, as reproduced in New Zealand and Newcastle newspapers, there is no mention of either of his appointments to the City of Sydney - as assistant engineer in his youth or in his much more recent appointment as Plague Officer and Inspector of Nuisances.
Newcastle, NSW: City Engineer, September 1906 - October 1912
Blackwell was appointed City Engineer with a salary of £312 pa. As usual Blackwell showed his talent for pleasing those he worked with, at least initially. The Mayor, Alderman James, in February 1907 remarked that “In Mr Blackwell, the city had a very competent engineer with whom it was a pleasure to work.”
Newcastle owes its very name and existence to the discovery of rich seams of coal. Coal mining was commenced there by the Australian Agricultural Company in 1832. Subsequent problems of mine subsidence first came to wide public notice in May 1906, a few months before Blackwell’s appointment, with the occurrence of the first Newcastle Creep, “creep” being the mining term used for a slow ground movement down a slope caused by the collapse of underground roofs or pillars in a mine. Major damage was caused in October 1907 by the second Creep and further damage by the third Creep in January 1908. Minor earth movements also occurred from time to time causing damage to roads or structures.
While coal mining was the largest industry in the Newcastle district, the City Council saw the necessity for other sources of income and employment. Its popularity as a holiday destination was recognised with its main attraction being its beach. Accordingly in 1907, the City and its Engineer turned their attention to the beach and its environs. First target was improved shelter at the beach, at that time provided only by a large shed. On 23 April 1907 Blackwell reported to Council that the Shortland Park shelter was finished and improvements had been made to the beach and bathing boxes. In this report, Blackwell reported completion of some other municipal works. He had also inspected two new fissures which had opened up near Bull Street that he thought were attributable to the Australian Agricultural Company’s Sea Pit coal workings but the Company replied that it “was not certain that the mine had anything to do with the fissures”.
In July 1907, Blackwell submitted plans for beach improvements using the £1000 grant given by the Government. The plans including painting of structures, paving, tarring and concreting of new and existing paths and surfaces, gravelling of carriage drives, forming seats and terracing, constructing additional sea wall, men’s and women’s bathing sheds with conveniences and major drainage works, as well as taking measures to contain sand drift. By September 1907, Council aldermen were so pleased with Blackwell’s performance that on the Mayor James’s motion, they unanimously voted a salary increase to £364 pa extolling his “improved means and methods”, his record keeping, and the works performed. Alderman Light said he was “a most courteous officer, and went about his work in an unassuming way. He was well liked by the council’s employees and had well-earned the increased salary.”
On Wednesday 16 October 1907, Newcastle suffered its second ‘Creep’. Substantial damage occurred to roads and to buildings. Blackwell as City Engineer was busy directing road repairs and monitoring the cracks in the floor of the Council’s electric lighting station. Movement continued to be felt during November. The third Creep occurred on 17 January 1908, once again affecting the high areas of the central part of the City. The NSW Government appointed a Royal Commission to inquire into the cause of the creeps at Newcastle and it held hearings throughout February and delivered its findings in April. Essentially the Royal Commission found all three creeps were caused by the same underground movement caused by the probable collapse of disused or inaccessible mine workings and that a secondary cause of the damage was faulty construction in certain buildings such as the City Cathedral. Blackwell gave evidence that as far as he could ascertain street levels had only changed by a drop of one or two inches but damage had been caused by a northerly movement of the ground. Further movement was felt in September of 1908.
Blackwell became part of the professional Newcastle community. He was a Council member of the Northern Engineering Institute and at one meeting delivered a paper on “Concrete as applied to Local Government Works”. He was also a Committee member of the Newcastle School of Arts.
A Committee was formed in 1909 to erect a memorial to be funded by public subscription in the extended Hunter Street to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Municipal Council. Blackwell designed and supervised the erection and completion in 1910 of an elaborate memorial with pedestal, plinth, pillars supporting a cube of black marble on a top table representing coal, the whole surrounded by decorative urns. The final Committee meeting in January 1911 moved a vote of thanks to Blackwell, its chairman stating that “Mr Blackwell was the brain of the moment and put all his energy into the memorial.”
Further beach improvements were carried out during 1909 including the building of a pavilion leased to the Newcastle Surf Club and14 “life-saving stations”, and upgrading of access to the beach, all to the admiration and approval of Aldermen. They declined, however, to pay him a bonus £50 suggested by the Mayor and seconded by Alderman Moroney who said Blackwell “was not only the architect and engineer, but he was also the working foreman”; Aldermen Levey and Shedden commended the work but declined to support payment of the bonus.
At the end of 1907, a proposal had been made to build Ocean Baths at the Newcastle Beach and, after gaining another NSW Government Grant of £1000, work started on the Baths in May 1911. Sydney Councils, such as Manly and Waverley, sought Blackwell’s advice on their ocean beaches. Meanwhile, some dissenting voices were being raised at Council on the condition of the City’s streets. Blackwell replied in a letter read at the Council meeting 24 January 1912, stating that Council had voted insufficient funds for street works. One faction believed that he was “too much in the office and on the baths” while the pro Blackwell faction believed he was “one of the best engineers in the state. His work on the beach showed that”.
In June 1912, Blackwell reported that progress on the baths was slow: heavy seas or bad weather had limited work; no one had tendered for the contract for erecting buildings for the baths. Pressure on Blackwell increased during July. Council was divided on acceding to Waverley Council’s request for consultation with Blackwell. Those councillors critical of Blackwell pointed out that he had frequently claimed to be overworked so could hardly have time to go to Waverley. Meanwhile his personal financial incompetency appeared in public again when in the Small Debts Court, an order for payment with costs was made against him. External forces next contributed a final devastating blow to Blackwell’s employment as City Engineer.
Nature brought calamity to Newcastle and its beaches with a tremendous storm followed by massive tides on 14 and 15 July. Wind gusts were timed up to 70 miles (113km) an hour; 232 points of rain fell in 24 hours (about 59mm); waves were estimated to be 30 feet (9 metres) high. The Newcastle Morning Herald reported of the night
“The waves reached a stupendous height, and swept the beach with relentless fury breaking with thunderous roar on the sands and racing madly up to the promenade. Never before in the memory of any of the residents who witnessed the awe inspiring spectacle has such a sea raged off the coast at Newcastle. By the light of the stars could be seen the stretch of boiling foam and huge towering white-capped waves.”
Most of the northern beach facilities such as the Surf Club, dressing sheds and refreshment rooms were extensively damaged or destroyed; the promenade was undermined or damaged; the beach was strewn with huge boulders and shattered timbers. At the port’s wharfs, cranes had toppled and the road had subsided and several slippages occurred on the breakwater. The Christ Church Cathedral still under repair from the “Creep” was further damaged; fences and outbuildings in the city were blown down. Across at Stockton, the Missions to Seamen’s building had been lifted off its foundations by the force of the waves.
The new Baths suffered much damage with 140 feet of their outer wall destroyed although the rest of the wall had survived. The south-east corner piece weighing 8 tons had been carried more than 100 feet into the baths. The newly laid promenade was severely damaged and of the two cranes working at the Baths, the foundation of one had gone and its crane had fallen down to the rocks below while the other crane had been lifted up against the promenade.
Public discussion, newspaper articles and Council deliberations followed. The Newcastle Morning Herald commented on suggestions that the site of the Baths was unsuitable by reminding readers that the plans for the Baths had been scrutinised and reported on by Mr James Mollison M.I.C.E. for the NSW Public Works Department at the time that Council had sought permission to borrow £3000 for the project. Mollison had specifically stated that site was the best available and the design was approved. Blackwell presented a comprehensive report and plan with costings for the repairs and suggested improvements to Council on 20 August. He referred to the huge swell during the storm and noted other places where enormous boulders had been lifted and transported by the waves. He pointed out that the capital cost that would be incurred to strengthen the walls of the Baths against the recurrence of such a rare storm event had to be balanced against the likely costs of occasional repairs. Council had received also a letter from the prominent architect FG Castleden recommending preparation of working drawings, specifications and a bill of quantities by an authorised quantity surveyor at a charge of 5% on total cost prior to the calling of tenders for the works. Council decided to accept Castleden’s terms and to request of the Department of Public Works that Mollison confer with Blackwell.
In the meanwhile, the Council’s Finance Committee had investigated a payment authorised by Blackwell of about £17 to GT Edwards for a quantity of scrap iron and had moved that Blackwell’s actions were “considered unsatisfactory and deserving of censure and that the City Treasurer be authorised to initiate a better system governing the payment of accounts”. Council on 5 August duly censured Blackwell. At its next meeting, the Finance Committee recommended that the Engineer be given the opportunity to resign having lost the confidence of the Council. The matter was referred back to the Committee.
The anti-Blackwell faction gathered momentum and the Finance Committee presented a new recommendation to Council on 2 September “that the city engineer, be given three months' notice, in terms of his agreement with the council, at the time of his appointment and that applications be at once called for the position of city engineer, at a salary of £350 per annum.”
Councillors critical of Blackwell brought up the matter of the scrap iron purchase even though Mayor Shedden ruled discussion of it out of order. They further asserted Blackwell had made a protective tender for too low an amount for work in King St and there had been other unspecified too low protective tenders; he had made mistakes at the Baths; he lacked firmness in dealing with or reporting on the performance of employees and was incompetent to control a large body of men; he had no backbone; his estimates were misleading; the City’s roads were poor; there were insufficient work gangs, stone-crushing charges were too high; he had not investigated a garbage destructor or other benefits for the City while “he was all there when anything artistic was to be done” .
Councillors supporting Blackwell stated there were no specific charges made against Blackwell; his ‘indiscretion’ in the matter of the purchase of scrap iron had already been dealt with by censure; he was a faithful officer and Council should deal with him with justice and fair play; an occasional mistake could be overlooked; his estimate for work on the Baths was only £100 different from the Government’s estimate; his work on the Baths was splendid; the beach improvements were a credit to him; he should be allowed to reply to criticisms.
The motion to give Blackwell three months’ notice was put to the vote with 7 in favour and 5 against.
Blackwell spoke to the press soon after and the Newcastle Morning Herald published a lengthy item. Blackwell gave details about the scrap iron purchase and the involvement of Mayor Shedden and the Town Clerk in signing the cheque before approval by the Finance Committee. He gave reasons for the blow-out of costs on the King St works. He stated that in his career he had directed large number of employees and he had many professional qualifications. He gave details of the progress on the Baths. He alluded to much unqualified advice having been offered to him by the Mayor and to some disagreements between them. He attributed the problem of poor road maintenance to the Council’s failure to allot the necessary funds on many occasions.
On 21 September the Council met in a special meeting to consider the report of the auditor into the disappearance in 1909 of a Council owned theodolite. After discussion held in camera on the advice of Council’s solicitor, the meeting recommended Council dispense immediately with Blackwell’s services. His employment was formally terminated at the meeting of 16 October 1912.
Through October and November the intriguing story of the theodolite was revealed in Hunter District newspapers and the Sydney papers. It had been used in the City Engineer’s Office from 1870 to 1909 when it was acquired by a second hand dealer, John Weir, from a junior employee in the Engineer’s department (not named in court) and pledged to the NSW Mont de Piete at Newcastle; its subsequent sales and transfers had been traced. Mayor Shedden laid an information against Weir and at a Police Court hearing, he was committed for trial on charges of theft. Subsequently the Attorney General refused to file a bill for prosecution and eventually Council reimbursed the last purchaser of the now returned theodolite.
Newcastle: Broken Hill Proprietary Co, Newcastle Steelworks, c1913 to c1930
Blackwell was employed as an engineer by the Broken Hill Proprietary Co (BHP) in the erection of the Newcastle Steelworks. The general manager of the Works was David Baker, engineer from Philadelphia, previously in charge of several large steelworks in the USA. Blackwell is attributed in his obituaries as being the engineer in charge of driving the first piles in the Waratah Swamp to enable the building of the Steelworks. Throughout 1913 and 1914 extensive dredging and pile driving took place and the construction of the buildings and blast furnace occupied 1914. The first steel rolled off the mills in April 1915.
In August 1917, Blackwell’s wife died at their residence in Stockton. Many people attended the funeral and the Steel Works staff sent a wreath. The pall-bearers were Alderman W. Ball (Mayor of Stockton), Richard Thomas (manager of the Sea Pit Mine of the Australian Agricultural Co), G. T. Edwards (Mayor of Wickham), and Colonel Ranclaud (former commanding officer of the 4th regiment, member of the Anglican Synod of Newcastle).
The BHP Company’s display of the steel making process at the ANA Exhibition in Melbourne in February 1917 was designed by Blackwell who was described in the Melbourne Argus newspaper as “the engineer in charge of the steelworks”.
In 1924, Blackwell contracted his third marriage to Frances Harvey who outlived him as did his first wife, Blanche Lucy, of whose existence Frances appears to have had no knowledge.
His obituary published in the Newcastle Morning Herald states that he retired from BHP in 1930 because of failing eyesight. He died of heart disease at his home at Henry Street, Tighes Hill in the Newcastle District on 24 July 1933. He was cremated at Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney.
May 2017; Marilyn Mason
References:
City of Sydney Archives:
CRS 7 Minutes of City of Sydney Council; CRS 26 Letters Received, CRS 22 Reports of the Finance Committee; Town Clerk’s Correspondence Files from 1900; (item descriptions or digitised objects available online).
Sydney’s Aldermen http://www.sydneyaldermen.com.au
Australian Dictionary of Biography: http://adb.anu.edu.au/ (Henry and Elizabeth Halloran; Joseph Underwood; Robert M McC Anderson; John Norton; Matthew Harris)
Grace’s Guide: British Industrial History; http://www.gracesguide.co.uk; (Thomas Evans Blackwell; Thomas Howard; John Addy; Charles Blackwell; Joseph Bazalgette)
Southampton water supply: www.localhistories.org/southampton.html
English and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2008; England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005; England; England and Wales; Censuses 1841, 1851, 1871; https://familysearch.org
NSW Birth Death Marriages Registry: http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au; Indexes on line; transcripts by NSW Family History Transcriptions
New Zealand newspapers: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers: The Star (Christchurch); The Press (Christchurch). Poverty Bay Herald (Gisborne)
Australian newspapers digitised by the National Library of Australia, www. trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper. Items from the following publications: Argus (Melbourne); The Australian Star (Sydney); Barrier Miner (Broken Hill); The Catholic Press (Sydney); Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney); Clarence and Richmond Examiner and New England Advertiser (Grafton); Empire (Sydney); Evening News (Sydney); Macleay Chronicle (Kempsey); The Maitland Daily Mercury; Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate; Northern Star (Lismore); South Coast Times and Wollongong Argus; Sunday Times (Sydney); The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser; Sydney Morning Herald; Truth (Sydney); The Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Observer.
NSW Police Gazette, digitised; available online
NSW Government Gazette digitised by the National Library of Australia, www. trove.nla.gov.au
Photographs showing Newcastle Beach Structures are accessible via University of Newcastle’s Cultural Collection and www.flickr.com
Photograph of Blackwell and article by him, “Newcastle Beach – An Attractive Pleasure Resort”, Australian Country Life (Sydney), November 15, 1910, pages 68 to 71 at http://www.surfresearch.com.au/1910_Aust_Country_Life_Newcastle_Nov.html accessed 12/08/2015Relationship legacy dataRELATED TO: Public health FN-0012
RELATED TO: Inspector of Nuisances AG-0075
RELATED TO: City Engineer and City Surveyors Department I AG-0086
Occupational historyCity of Sydney:Assistant City Engineer 27 January 1874 - November 1875Special Officer – Plague, appointed February 1900Inspector of Nuisances, July 1900 - February 1902Offices in NSW Government:Electric Telegraph Department, junior operator, Goulburn, 1872Electric Telegraph Department, operator, head office, 1873Department of Public Works, Railway Branch, Survey Department, 1882Member of the Public School Board for the sub-district of Wallerawang, 1892Member of the Board appointing Examiners under the Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1896-1906Other Municipal Offices held:Engineer, Borough of Balmain, 1882-1884City Engineer, City of Newcastle, 1906-1912Positions in private business in NSW:Coal mine manager, engineer, Cullen Bullen, Lithgow, 1888-1900 and Abermain colliery, Maitland, 1902-1906Engineer, BHP Co, Newcastle Steel Works, c1913-c1930Overseas positions:Engineer, Peterborough, England, waterworks 1876-1879Engineer, Southampton, England, waterworks, 1884-1888Consulting engineer, Christchurch Council, New Zealand, 1879-1880Archivist noteResearched and drafted by City of Sydney Archives volunteer Marilyn Mason, May 2017.Legacy dataRegistered by: Smith, Michael
Registered date: 25/05/2017
Amendments:
Last amendment date: None
Minister: NoneUpdated Date: 12/09/2017
Updated User: mdsmithSource system ID53
Relationships
CollectionPeople and PositionsRelated agenciesCity Engineer and City Surveyor's Department IInspector of NuisancesRelated functionsPublic health
Registration
Date registered5th December 2018Registered byData Migration UserRegistration statusApprovedDetailed recordYes
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Blackwell,Louis Buckland [PE-000053]. City of Sydney Recollect - UAT, accessed 04 Aug 2025, https://cosauat.recollect.net.au/nodes/view/62724