A wire received in Launceston yesterday states that the death occurred at his late residence at Chatswood, North Sydney, on Saturday (2nd March, 1929) of Mr. William Corin, who was connected with the Launceston City Council's electric lighting scheme from 1895 to 1907 and after leaving Tasmania held the position of Chief Electrical Engineer in the N.S.W. Public Works Department until he retired after 18 years' service to take up his profession privately as a Consulting Engineer.
Mr. Wm. Corin was born at Forest Hill, London, educated at a private school and at King's College, London, end subsequently spent three years at the University College, London, in an engineering department, studying under Sir Alexander Kennedy, Dr. J. Fleming, Prof. Vernon Harcourt and Prof. G. Carey Foster, who was largely connected with some of the earlier engineering work in England. After leaving University College, London, he went for a time to the works of Dubs & Co., Glasgow, and on leaving there was employed by the firm of James Cleminson & Sons, Civil Engineers, inspecting railway material for South Africa and China. Mr. Wm. Corin then obtained a position on the staff of the Metropolitan Electric Supply, London, where he remained for four and a half years. A vacancy occurred in Launceston, Tasmania, and he came out in 1895 and was appointed Electrical Engineer to the Corporation in November the same year. He was in the electric lighting department until 1907. He was responsible for the original Duck Reach Power Station on the South Esk; and for the change-over to the three phase system during the final three years of his term. He advised the Queensland Government on the Barron Falls electric scheme and, some years after leaving Launceston, was called in to make a report on the enlargement of an existing tunnel in connection with the Duck Reach station.
After resigning his position with the City Council, he was for some months the private Consulting Engineer for the City Council. Mr. Wm. Corin was highly esteemed in Launceston business and social circles, and by his employees.
(Details of marriage and issue then furnished.)
I was in general practice in Adaminaby between the years 1927 and 1931. My father accompanied me there when I went to take over from my predecessor and during the remaining eighteen months of his life he made several visits to me at Adaminaby. The last one was in November, 1928, just before he entered hospital for the investigation of a persistent swelling in his neck. This turned out to be an inoperable malignancy and my father lived for only four months after the operation. His death took place at our home in Sydney on 2nd March, 1929.
I feel, therefore, that during the brief period of my father's last few months of life, I was privileged to have him often in my home in Adaminaby. I came to realise, particularly at that time when he was staying in the Snowy area, how much the Snowy scheme, as it was then known, meant to him and how bitterly disappointed he must have been when the Government did not accept his outline for the scheme as given in his report presented in January, 1920. His estimate for this had been £2,000,000. I had always been aware of his intense interest in all hydro-electric development, but the Snowy really seemed to be the scheme that was nearest and dearest to his heart. I was present on occasions when he was discussing it with some of the local dignitaries and I began to realise just how much the non-cooperation of the Government, which he served so long, so faithfully, had irked a man of his brilliant and conscientious attainment.
As the Government had declined the scheme, he suggested to the Adaminaby Shire Councillors that they might dam the Eucumbene River and metal a small hydro-electric scheme which could serve the needs of the town and the shire. He gave quite close attention to this proposition during the time which he spent with me and I know that he presented a report to the Council, although his recommendations were not followed.
I also heard in conversation at that time about a proposal made by some American businessmen who wanted to instal a bacon industry on the south coast of N.S.W. They had offered to finance the N.S.W. Government to the extent of £10,000,000 to proceed with the Snowy scheme, so that they would be able to have cheap hydro-electric power. Their offer, for some reason, was not accepted.
My father, William Corin, was born at Forest Hill, Kent, on 13th October, 1867. He was the fourth son and fifth child of Edwin Paul Corin, a London manufacturer. My grandfather was a Cornishman and my father, although born in the precincts of London, was always proud of his Cornish forebears who, tradition says, gave their name of Corin's Walls to the County of Cornwall. My grandfather, apart from being a successful businessman, was a lay preacher and, from what I have been told both by my father wad my aunts, had a wonderful personality. His last words, spoken at a funeral, were: For me to live is Christ, and to die gain. As he spoke these words he collapsed and died shortly afterwards. My grandmother was then left with the up-bringing of twelve children, but, apparently, the family had been well provided for as each of the eight sons was able either to enter professions, or to follow the avocation which he selected.
My father went first to a small private school, then to King's College School, London, and finally spent three years at the University College, London, in the Engineering Department, studying under Sir Alexander Kennedy, Dr. J.A. Fleming, Professor L.F. Vernon-Harcourt and Professor G. Carey Foster, all of whom were largely connected with some of the earlier engineering work in England. As a student his work was outstanding and he topped his years at the University College in practically all subjects. We still have a copy of a list of prizes distributed for the Faculties of Arts and Laws and of Science for the Session 1884-85 where his name appears under numerous classifications. After leaving there he went to Glasgow for practical experience and I remember his pride in having had the opportunity there of meeting Lord Kelvin for whom he had a great admiration. He returned to London during the early nineties when he was appointed to the staff of the Metropolitan Electric Supply in that city.
It was possibly their Cornish ancestry that made so many of the eight Corin brothers anxious to travel. Two of them went to South America, two to South Africa and, in 1895, my father applied for and was appointed to the position of Electrical Engineer to the City council in Launceston, Tasmania. He was only 28 at that time, but the vast potentialities of his new surroundings impressed him from the very beginning. He could see a future in the small island of Tasmania and as his work and capabilities became better known his advice was sought for, and gladly given, to other areas in the South Pacific. In Tasmania itself he was responsible for the original Duck Reach Power Station on the South Esk, the first of its kind in Australia, and he made the preliminary surveys for the Great Lake schemes which are now in almost full operation in Tasmania. He made all of his preliminary investigations on horseback and travelled through some of the roughest and uncharted country then known in Tasmania. He was always ready to offer his advice to anyone, in either a private or public capacity, and he was instrumental in establishing several small schemes for some of the farms in Tasmania. I think he could see hydro-electric power in every running stream.
During his term of office in Tasmania he was granted leave to report to the Queensland Government on the Barron Falls scheme and the report which he drew up was eventually adopted by the Government there. Then in 1906 he travelled to Fiji on a similar mission. When he resigned his position in 1907 to take up the appointment of Chief Electrical Engineer to the N.S.W. Public Works Department, he left behind him a record of service which has always made Launceston a byword for pioneer electrical development. The city at that time was lighted and powered up to its full capacity of population, but provision was made for an increase as the years went on. 0ne of my father's most outstanding services, however, was in connection with wiring installations. The standard on which he insisted in that city has never been surpassed and I understand that wiring which either he, or his inspectors, supervised, has, in many instances, stood the test of the 50 years which have now elapsed since their installation.
Travelling to Sydney in 1908, after having been in Launceston, was almost like a reversal to the dark ages. Launceston, to us, had been a city of light. We had known nothing else but electricity, or open fires. We found Sydney lighted largely by gas and we were very sorry that my father's position in the Public Works Department did not permit his pushing the extension of electricity into the suburbs in which we were living.
My memories of my father's work in those early years are, of course, vague, but I do know that he was away from Sydney a great deal. I think that from the beginning be envisaged an Australia that would be served as far as possible by means of hydro-electric power. He knew that in certain areas it would be necessary to erect thermal stations, but, very early in his career as Chief Electrical Engineer, he put forth suggestions for a system in which all the stations in N.S.W., as he proposed them, could be linked together and so could serve the whole of this State and, if required, could later be extended to the adjoining States. I have heard it said of my father that he knew more about the sources of all the rivers on the east coast of N.S.W. than any other man alive in his time, and I quite believe that this was the case. During his trips away he would journey to the nearest township by train, or by boat, which was always his favourite mode of travel, and then from this centre he would set forth on horseback, often accompanied only by one or two local identities. Sometimes, of course, he would take officers from his own department with him, or, maybe, someone from the Surveyor-General's Department. He was intensely interested in rivers, not only from the point of view of hydro-electric development, but also in the opportunities presented for water conservation. I know he used to talk a great deal about the depredation of our forests and he was keenly interested in any scheme of afforestation, or in any proposals which might arrest soil erosion.
For a professional man my father showed an amazing knowledge of bushcraft. He had always been interested in Astronomy and I can remember from my earliest days how he used to take us for walks in the early evening mad point out the various constellations. In the bush he was never at a loss, being perfectly capable of finding his way at nighttime by means of observing the stars, and always carrying with him a compass and an aneroid barometer. On only one occasion do I remember that he was ever lost. This time he was on his own and when he realised that he had made a full circle in trying to find his whereabouts, he decided to camp for the night and easily found his way again in the morning. He also had a great knowledge of Geology which undoubtedly served him in good stead in making his reports to the N.S.W. Government.
Five years after his N.S.W. appointment, my father was sent abroad by the Government to study contemporary developments in electrical engineering in the British Isles, on the Continent and in America. He was away for twelve months, leaving Sydney during the latter half of 1913 and returning just before the outbreak of war in 1914. I think that, during that period, he visited every major hydro-electric undertaking then in existence, so that from then onwards he was in a better position than ever to advise, not only the N.S.W., but also the Federal, Government, on what he considered should be their future policy in regard to power requirements and resources in Australia. It was unfortunate that, just at this time, four years of war should intervene, and that there was, of necessity, great delay in any public works projects in Australia.
I am not quite sure as to when the schemes on the North Coast were begun and completed, but I can remember my father's close association with Sir Earle Page who always was, and still is, so vitally interested in hydro-electric development. In his capacity as Member for Cowper he was able to implement the schemes that were later brought to fruition at Mullumbimby, Dorrigo and Nymboida. These, as far am I know, were the only schemes that were completed in N.S.W. during my father's lifetime.
It was frustrating indeed to a man of my father's temperament to be unable to proceed with the schemes which were so dear to his heart. And so, in 1923, he decided to resign from the Government and take up consulting work. Until that date, I understand that he had been the pioneer of all hydro-electric development in Australia and the adjoining portions of the Southern Hemisphere. As already mentioned, in addition to his work in Tasmania and in N.S.W., he bad acted as consulting engineer to the Fiji Government and to the Queensland Government regarding their Barron Falls' scheme. He was also consulted by the French Government in connection with a scheme in New Caledonia and by the New Zealand Government regarding the Lake Coleridge undertaking which was Christchurch's introduction to hydro-electric power.
During his term with the N.S.W. Government, he was instrumental in the lighting of the Jenolan Caves and later those at Yarrangobilly. In this work he was vitally interested and was responsible for the system of indirect lighting which has displayed so beautifully the stalactite and stalagmite formations in these caves. I know, too, that he often visited the Cordeaux and adjoining dams, and the Burrinjuck scheme, which was initiated under his direction. Amongst other major works, with which he was connected during his term of office, were thermal stations which were established at Newcastle, Wollongong, Orange, Albury and also at other large country towns. He was on the Commission for the Selection of the site of the Federal Capital, favouring Dalgety rather than the present site, as he considered the new capital would be far better served by a Snowy River hydro-electric scheme than by a similar one from the Cotter River.
I have mentioned my father's brilliant scholarship. He was undoubtedly a most outstanding mathematician and I can remember well my pride when, as quite a small child, I overheard one of his engineers, pointing him out to someone else, saying- That is Mr. Corin, he is the second most brilliant mathematician in the Commonwealth. I wanted to know who was the first! He also had quite a knowledge of languages, both ancient and modern, and was able to converse fluently in French. His knowledge of the classics, too, was wide. He was very musical and also had a good voice. He had studied the piano in his younger days and played the organ or piano quite well, having, in addition, a great knowledge of the theory and history of music.
My fathers work, of necessity, brought him into contact with some of the leading men of his day and I can recall the names of Dr. Bradfield, Sir Ernest Shackleton, Sir Edgeworth David, Mr. Brunsden Fletcher, formerly editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, as being some o1 the most notable of his friends and contemporaries. He was an active member of the Electrical Association of N.S.W., presenting papers and assuming, rather against his own wishes, the Presidential Chair in 1917.
My father had an unforgettable personality. I have never known anyone whose eyes could change so quickly from a bright sparkling blue to a steely grey. He was a kind and most generous father to his four daughters and two sons, though undoubtedly he was a disciplinarian and, as such, was strict with us in our upbringing. He had a great sense of humour and much personal charm, but he was most intolerant of anything that savoured of dishonest practices and never hesitated to express himself very forcibly to, or about, anyone whom he considered was not running straight. The mere mention of bribes was anathema to him and he would not accept the smallest present or recognition which he considered might savour of this.
My father had a distinguished appearance. His height of 5 feet 11½ inches was shorter than that of most of his brothers who were nearly all over 6 feet tall. In true Edwardian and Georgian fashion he wore a beard and moustache, in both of which he took great pride - he always said that what was good enough for the King of England was good enough for him! He had a distinctive style of dress, wearing consistently a white shirt with a white handkerchief in his breast pocket, but he was by no means a slave to fashion. He considered comfort a far greater necessity than elegance. He nearly always carried an umbrella which he would use as a walking stick should the occasion demand it. I have mentioned earlier his great love of walking and this, together with horseriding, comprised his main physical activities. He did not play organised sport. He was, however, particularly keen on rowing and we spent many Saturdays and public holidays on the waters of Middle Harbour, or on the Hawkesbury River. His love for this was, no doubt, born in him and carried on from the pursuit of yachting and sailing on the Norfolk Broads with his father and brothers, during their early years together. His principal hobby was carpentry, at which he excelled. He had a wonderful set of tools and used to spend many an afternoon constructing something for his home. He was not fond of gardening and left the supervision and care of our gardens, usually large, to my mother. In Tasmania he had always kept his own horse, but in Sydney itself the opportunities for horse-riding did not present themselves. However, he felt it necessary to have sufficient land in which to keep a cew.
My father was twice married. His first wife was Kathleen Sleeman, daughter of Captain Sleeman, a naval engineer, who for some reason of which I was not aware, went to Tasmania in the early 1890's and settled in Launceston. My father's family and the Sleeman family had always been close friends and it was probably his deep affection for Katie Sleeman that led him to apply for and accept the position of City Electrical Engineer in Launceston in 1895. They were married soon after he settled there, but, unfortunately, his happiness then was short-lived as his wife died following the birth of their daughter, the eldest member of our family, in 1896. For some years my father remained a widower and the care of his household and baby was undertaken by his sister, Grace Corin, who came out from England for this purpose.
During the years that followed my father and his sister formed a lasting friendship with the family of the late Sydney Hope Unwin, an Englishman and a pioneer settler of the north-eastern district of Tasmania. In 1900 my father married again, his second wife being Ellen Louise, the second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Unwin, my maternal grandparents.
I do not feel that any record of my father's life would be complete without paying a tribute to my mother. Of gentle birth and breeding, my grandparents had given up a life of comparative luxury in Ceylon in order that they might not be parted, for educational purposes, from their children. So it was that they came to Tasmania, my grandfather taking up land in a hitherto unsettled district and my grandmother taking on the care of her family and her home in a new land where the domestic assistance, to which she had been accustomed all her life, was not obtainable. Gradually, as her daughters grew older, they were able to share with their mother in the care of their home, thus all becoming true home-makers. So my mother was richly endowed, both by her birth and by her up-bringing, for the responsibilities which she assumed from the time of her marriage. She was an admirable housewife and a charming hostess. Her soft gentle personality, under which lay a quiet determination to succeed in any undertaking, won for her many friends and she made a perfect foil for a man of my father's more volatile temperament. How greatly her devotion to my father and to her home was appreciated by him was made apparent in some of his last letters to me; these I still have and treasure. Her courage, after he was taken and during later years of sorrow and bereavement and sometimes of financial stress, made a lasting impression on all those who have loved and known her. She died, during a visit to Tasmania, in May 1954.
Although my father did not follow his own father as a lay preacher, he was in all terms a Christian gentleman and in our home religious observance bore a very large part. It was with a wonderful and extremely peaceful spirit that he finally accepted the fact that he would not survive his illness in 1929. He did this in the same sure faith as his father before him, knowing that he was about to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better.
William Corin, formerly M.lnst.C.E., M.I.E.E., M.Amer.I.E.E., M.I.E.(Aust.), was one of Australia's great pioneers. He was a man of great faith and undoubtedly one of the great men of his profession in his generation. From his writings it to evident that he did not plan for the immediate present, but that he looked always to the future and to the future development of this great Australia of ours. Were he alive today he would indeed be proud to know that the Snowy River project had grown and developed into such a vast organisation which is eventually going to benefit not only New South Wales, but a great part of the east coast of Australia. It would have been his wish that further areas of this great continent should be developed on the same lines and that we should not only avail ourselves of every bit of water power of which we are possessed, but that we should continue to conserve all our rainfall to the utmost of our capacity.
K. Ruth Corin Shedden.
Taree, N.S.W.
25th July. 1958.
One of his last words were: I shall soon be a unit amongst the myriads praising the Lamb.
CORIN, WILLIAM (1867-1929), electrical engineer, was born on 13 October 1867 at Forest Hill, Kent, England, the fifth of twelve children of Edwin Paul Corin, importer, and his wife Eliza, née Knight. Educated at King's College School and University College, London , he graduated in engineering in 1887 with numerous prizes. He was employed by Dubs & Co., then by James Cleminson & Sons, civil engineers, in Glasgow until in 1891 he joined the London Metropolitan Electric Supply Co. Appointed as city electrician, he migrated to Launceston, Tasmania, on 26 November 1895. On 21 January 1896 at the Launceston registrar's office Corin married Kathleen Susan Sleeman whose family he had known in England; after the birth of their daughter in November, she died in April 1897. On 12 March 1900 at Scottsdale he married Ellen Louise Unwin: they had three daughters and two sons.
Corin had begun work in Launceston just before the opening of the hydroelectric scheme, developed by C. St John David [q.v.], and he controlled the Duck Reach power station; he later made preliminary surveys for the Great Lakes schemes. His safety standards in the installation of wiring in Launceston were exemplary; in 1904-07 his conversion of the wiring to the three-phase four-wire system was among the first in the British Empire.
In 1907 Corin entered private practice in Melbourne; he also acted as consulting engineer to the municipality of Launceston. On 1 July 1908 he was appointed chief electrical engineer to the New South Wales Department of Public Works and consulting electrical engineer to the Department of Mines. His major responsibility was the generation of thermal electricity for local distribution, but he foresaw the advantage of intrastate connections, with links to adjoining States. In 1913 he was sent abroad to study developments in electrical engineering. He returned with renewed enthusiasm for hydroelectricity and in 1915 began a series of reports on a Snowy River scheme. During his lifetime, however, the only schemes completed in New South Wales were comparatively small ones at Burrinjuck , Mullumbimby, Dorrigo and Nymboida. To continue the consulting work which he found more congenial he resigned in December 1923.
Corin advised the British and French governments respectively on hydroelectricity in Fiji (1906) and New Caledonia (1920) and also reported to the New Zealand government on the Lake Coleridge scheme. He was consulted on the Queensland Barron Falls project in 1906 and 1923-24. A member from 1909 and president in 1917 of the New South Wales section of the Electrical Association of Australia, he became a foundation member of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, in 1919. He was also a member of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers and of the Institutions of Electrical Engineers and Civil Engineers, London; the latter body awarded him the Telford Premium in 1911 for a paper on the water power of Tasmania.
In 1920 Corin estimated the cost of the Snowy River scheme at £2 million, and in 1927-28 he suggested to local councillors that they might install a small hydroelectric plant to meet shire needs. In his writings Corin advocated afforestation and the arrest of soil erosion to conserve all rainfall for the development of the hydroelectric potential. A practical engineer who 'saw hydro-electricity in every running stream', Corin was of distinguished appearance, possessing a great sense of humour and much personal charm, but outspoken about dishonest practice. He died of cancer on 2 March 1929 at Chatswood, Sydney, and was buried in the unsectarian section of Northern Suburbs cemetery. His work is commemorated by the Corin Dam, near Canberra, and by street names in that city and in Launceston.
K. R. Shedden, Pioneering hydro-electric development in Australia: notes on the life and work of William Corin (priv. print, np, nd); Inst of Engineers. Aus, J, 1 (1929); Examiner (Launc), 5 Nov 1895, 28 Apr 1897; SMH, 8 Mar 1929; family papers (held by Dr K. R. Shedden, Port Macquarie, NSW)
Biography published in the Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, No.1, 1929 page 208:
On the 13th October, 1867, William Corin was born at Forrest Hill, a suburb of London. He was educated at a private school and at King's College, London, and subsequently spent three years at the University College, London, in the Engineering Department studying under Sir Alexander Kennedy, Dr. J.A Fleming, Professor Victor Harcourt and Professor Carey Foster. After leaving University College, Mr. Corin went for a time to the works of Dubs & Co., Glasgow, and on leaving there was engaged by the firm of James Cleminson & Sons, Civil Engineers, chiefly inspecting railway material for South America and China. He then joined the staff of the Metropolitan Electric Supply Co., London, where he remained for four and a half years. He was appointed Electrical Engineer to the Municipality of Launceston, Tasmania, in November 1895, and was in charge of the Council's Electricity Department until 1907. [When Duck Reach was being constructed] (Note from "History of Duck Reach Power Station")
After leaving Launceston, Mr. Corin was for twelve months in private practice in Melbourne, during which time he also acted as Consulting Electrical Engineer to the Launceston Municipal Council. He joined the Department of Public Works, N.S.W., in 1908 and was appointed Chief Electrical Engineer in July, 1913. He also concurrently held the position of Consulting Electrical Engineer to the Department of Mines, N.S.W. Mr. Corin resigned from the Department of Public Works in order to take up private practice as a Consulting Engineer in Sydney.
Mr. Corin carried out many important electrical engineering works in Australia. From 1904 to 1907 he changed the electricity supply of Launceston to the three-phase, four-wire system. [190/110 volts alternating current, the direct current system was removed. It was later changed again to 380/220 volts]. This was among the first installation of the kind in the British Empire. Some years after leaving Launceston he prepared a report for the Council on the enlargement of the Launceston [Duck Reach] Power Station.
In 1913 Mr. Corin visited Europe and America on behalf of the New South Wales Government to study the progress which had been made in electrical engineering. Following that visit he prepared an important paper on the Power Requirements and Resources of New South Wales.
This paper marked the beginning of many important works which he subsequently carried out in New South Wales. On his recommendation, the Government authorised an investigation into the hydro-electric generation of the State, and this work has since gone on steadily. Mr. Corin initiated the bulk supply of electricity by the Department of Public Works. Beginning with the Port Kembla Power Station in 1915, he saw this plant increase its power rating ten fold. He also initiated, but did not complete, the Burrinjuck hydro-electric undertaking. While with the Department of Public Works, and subsequently, as consulting engineer, Mr. Corin designed and carried out the electricity undertakings of many country towns of N.S.W. Among these were the towns of Albury, Wagga Wagga, Wollongong, Orange, Dorrigo, Cowra and Jullaumbimby.
At the request of the Queensland Government, Mr. Corin prepared two reports, one in 1906 and the other in 1923, on the hydro-electric development of the Barron Falls. He also visited New Caledonia in 1920, and reported to private interests on a proposed hydro-electric scheme.
Mr. Corin was a Foundation Associate Member of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, transferring to full Member in 1920. He was President of the Electrical Association of Australia (New South Wales Section) in 1917.He was also a Member of the Institution of Civil engineers, London, being awarded the Telford Premium by that body for a paper on "The Water Power of Tasmania" in 1911, and a Member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, London.
Mr. Corin died at his residence, Chatswood, NSW on the 2nd March 1929.
In a letter to Evan Best of 1 March 1982, the historian, author and broadcaster of Sydney, Philip Leslie Geeves, (1917-1983), A.M., F.R.A.H.S., wrote: William Corin's..."chronology interests me. He was studying his specialty at a time when the major discoveries in electrical technology were still being made. He must have felt as biochemists do today, when new discoveries are outstripping formalised knowledge to the point where no up-to-date textbooks are available. I note with interest that he studied under J.A.Fleming, who changed the whole history of the world by discovering the thermionic diode, which became known as a 'valve'. Also, he was obviously a worshipper of Lord Kelvin. From his chronology, Corin must have been personally acquainted with many of the gods of the physical pantheon, people like Marconi and Oliver Heaviside. What times these were! My series on wireless history in Australia is currently running in Electronics Australia, January to April [1982] inclusive. Corin must have been an interested observer of that. Why didn't someone take the trouble to write down his life story?" [In 1936 Geeves joined Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) Ltd. as a junior announcer at radio station 2CH; he became involved in short-wave broadcasting at VK2ME, known as the 'Voice of Australia'.]