Hugh Alexander
ALEXANDER, Hugh MacMillan, FICE FIEAust FIArbA (1920-2005)
From 1941 to 1946 he served in the Royal Navy rising to the rank of Sub Lieutenant. He saw active service on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as well as Burma and Malaysia.
Hugh married Grace Henderson Wilson in 1946 and they had two children, Mary Elizabeth Wilson Alexander and Christina Robina Donaldson Alexander.
Between 1946 and 1961, Hugh worked in the Colonial Service in Nigeria commencing as an Assistant Engineer. He was promoted to District Engineer and Deputy Chief Engineer (Construction) before becoming Chief Engineer of the Nigerian Railways.
Hugh came to Western Australia in January 1964 to work with Maunsell and Partners. He worked as the Senior Resident Engineer on the Standard Gauge Project from Perth to Kalgoorlie and Kalgoorlie to Widgiemooltha. He also was involved with the planning and location of the Mount Newman railways.
In 1974 he resigned from Maunsell and Partners to be Area Railroad Superintendent of the Mount Newman Railway. In August 1976 he joined Westrail as Project Engineer with part of his role to assess the option of connecting the Westrail network into the mining company railways of the Pilbara. Hugh retired from Westrail in May 1985.
Hugh died on October 6, 2005 and was survived by his wife and two daughters. His wife Grace lived to be 101.
References:
Hall of Honour - Highgate RSL, accessed 3.10.2022
Alexander Collection of Photographs, BA2433, State Library of Western Australia
Fred Affleck, On Track – The making of Westrail 1950-1976, Western Australian Government Railways Commission, Perth, 1978
Margaret A Sacks, Editor, The WAY 79 Who is Who, Crawley Publishers, Nedlands, 1980
Western Australia Railways Institute Magazine, Vol 82, No 7, July 1985, p. 34.
