Frank Statham
STATHAM, Francis (Frank) West, ASTC FIEAust FAIM ED OBE (1916-1999)
Frank Statham was born in Toowoomba, Queensland on June 25, 1916, the only son of plantation owner Geoffrey Howieson Statham and his wife Jane Rose Statham née West. The family were living in the British Solomon Islands where, in August 1924, Frank’s father died of Blackwater Fever. Frank’s mother then took him to New South Wales for his education. His secondary education was at North Sydney High School with his engineering education commencing at Sydney Technical College in 1933. In 1938 he completed a Diploma of Mechanical Engineering.
Frank’s grandfather was Edwyn Joseph Statham MICE MRS, a pioneer road engineer in New South Wales who spent 32 years in the NSW Department of Roads and Bridges, from 1864 to 1896. A Senior Supervising Engineer for NSW, he also acted as Commissioner for the NSW Public Works.
Frank joined the British Tobacco Company in 1933, where he worked until he enlisted in 1939. On December 9, 1939 Frank married Hazel Winifred Thompson and they had one son, Peter, and one daughter, Pamela. Peter studied engineering in Western Australia and became an engineer. Pamela is a prominent West Australian historian.
Frank enlisted in the AIF on October 31, 1939 with the rank of Captain and was promoted to Major in 1940. He was at the siege of Tobruk with the 9th Australian Division as Commander of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1943 in the 1st Australian Armed Division. He was in Papua New Guinea in 1944 and 1945 with the 1st Army, AIF. He was discharged on October 29, 1945. On March 6, 1947 he was awarded an Order of the British Empire for his military service in the South West Pacific. Frank continued his military service post war, becoming Colonel Commandant of the Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (RAEME) 5 MD in 1976, for six years.
In 1945 Frank Statham returned to the British Tobacco Company as Manager of the Morpeth Tobacco Factory, and by 1946 was Chief Engineer of their Melbourne manufacturing establishments. In 1949 he became General Manager of Standard Steel Pty Ltd Victoria.
In 1953 he became Chief Plant Engineer Commonwealth Department of Works (CDW), and then Assistant Director General (Plant and Workshops). In April 1965 he moved to Western Australia as Director CDW. He held this post until he retired in Western Australia on June 11, 1981, managing what was a period of extraordinary growth and change.
The Commonwealth Department of Works has been involved in the procurement of Commonwealth defence and civil works in WA since federation, under several names, and CDW is used herein for consistency.
The technical achievements of CDW in Western Australia in Statham's time are many. They include CSIRO Regional Laboratory, Swanbourne Army Barracks, Learmonth Airfield, Reserve Bank, Commonwealth Centre, Mail Exchange, Garden Island Causeway and HMAS Stirling, Pearce RAAF Base expansion, Wellington Telephone Exchange (RAIA design award), Quarantine Station at Cocos Islands, and Telecom State Headquarters. He was given a NASA Apollo Achievement Award for the establishment of a Tracking Station at Carnarvon.
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In addition to the planning, design and construction of capital works in that sixteen year period, Statham was responsible for several hundred construction, maintenance and operational staff. These were in various onsite depots, sharing workload with private contractors. These direct employees were invaluable, particularly in times of emergency such as cyclone Tracy in 1975. At that time Frank acted as Deputy Secretary in Central Office, directing staff from many states to respond immediately, with great success.
Frank successfully managed the implementation of changes in the delivery of engineering and other project work, in common with other countries. A previous common practice in the engineering profession, where a design department did all planning and design and then handed a project to construction, was replaced by integrated project management in 1974. Alliances and other forms of procurement were introduced with good results.
Frank’s wife, Hazel, died on February 17, 1977 aged 63. Frank married again, on September 16, 1977, at St Margaret’s Church, Nedlands, Matron Vivian Bullwinkel, AO (1993), MBE (1973), and recipient of the Florence Nightingale Medal (1947). Matron Bullwinkel[1] was a heroine of the Japanese occupation of Singapore in 1942, with many subsequent achievements.
Frank received the Australian Efficiency Medal in 1958, and the Australian Efficiency Decoration in 1961.
Frank joined the Institution of Engineers, Australia as a Student Member in 1937, becoming a Junior Member in 1943, and a full Member in 1944. He was made a Fellow in 1963. He was also a Member of the Board of Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, and a Commonwealth Electoral Redistribution Commissioner (1979).
Frank died on December 3, 1999 aged 83, survived by his second wife, Vivian, and his children by his first marriage.
References:
Fifty Years of Construction, written by members of the Commonwealth Department of Works, 1979.
Margaret A Sacks (Editor), The WAY 79, Who is Who, Crawley Publishers, Nedlands, 1980.
J S Legge (Editor, Who’s Who in Australia, Herald and Weekly Times, Melbourne, 1977.
Sydney Morning Herald, 29.1.1934, p. 7.
Sydney Morning Herald, 10.1.1939, p. 18.
The Australian Women’s Weekly, 9.11.1977, p. 8.
Australian Dictionary of Biography, Statham, Francis West (Frank) (1916-1999), 2022.
- ↑ A ward of Hollywood Private Hospital is named after Matron Bullwinkel.
