John Darker
DARKER, John William, MWAIE (1867-1925)
Born at Ipswich in Queensland on November 15, 1867 the son of Richard Thomas Darker and his wife Wilhelmina Darker, nee Forbes. He was educated at Ipswich Grammar School. Darker worked in the Ipswich Railway Workshop for three and a half years, and transferred into the Construction Branch in 1888. He joined the construction of the North Coast Railway in 1890, and the office of the Chief Mechanical Engineer in 1892.
During 1893, he constructed a mining dredge on the borders of NSW and Queensland, and then worked in a coal mine at Purgah near Ipswich.
Moving to Western Australia in 1894, he spent six months in the Fremantle Railway Workshop and then became a draughtsman in the Railway Construction Branch. Appointed Chief Draughtsman in this branch in 1900 under J. Thompson, and successively Resident Engineer at Menzies in 1902, Senior Draughtsman in 1903, and Resident Engineer again in 1905, he was a Principal Assistant to the Engineer in Chief and in charge of railway construction in 1920.
He married Evelyn Margaret Hill in Perth in 1906, and they had a daughter, Alexandra Margaret. In 1932 Alexandra married Paul Hasluck, later (as Sir Paul) to be Governor General of Australia. Alexandra was the first Dame of the Order of Australia, appointed in 1978, for her "pre-eminent achievement in the fields of literature and history and for extraordinary and meritorious public service to Australia". Dame Alexandra passed away in 1993, aged 84.
John Darker was a foundation member of the Western Australian Institution of Engineers in 1910 and a member of its council from 1910 to 1919. He passed away in Brisbane, on July 7, 1925.
References:
J. S. Battye (ed), Cyclopedia of Western Australia, vol 1 (Adel), 1912;
CWA1, p. 499;
PSL 1909, 1924;
M. T. Morley, personal communication 1990.
