George Ernest Hamilton
{{short description|Australian civil engineer}}
{{For|the contemporary South Australian senior police officer|George Hamilton (South Australian police)}}
{{EngvarB|date=April 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}
George Ernest Hamilton CE (ca.1800 – 8 October 1872) was a British civil engineer who played a leading role in development of the Colony of South Australia.
History
He was involved in various water supply schemes in England between 1826 and 1840: Shrewsbury, Chesterfield and Wolverhampton, and a slipway for the Port of Caernarvon.
He arrived in South Australia in 1850 and was appointed as a member of the first Adelaide City Council,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64118920 |title=Recollections of a Town Clerk |newspaper=The Register |location=Adelaide |date=14 May 1923 |accessdate=14 August 2014 |page=10 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} then in 1853 the first Town of Kensington and Norwood council.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article42977008 |title=Correspondence. |newspaper=South Australian Register |location=Adelaide |date=23 May 1879 |accessdate=14 August 2014 |page=4 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} He was an early advocate of steam navigation of the River Murray.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article38450569 |title=Improvements at Port Elliot; The Goolwa, and Navigation of the Murray |newspaper=South Australian Register |location=Adelaide |date=2 September 1851 |accessdate=14 August 2014 |page=2 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} He put forward a plan for a reservoir on the Torrens Gorge and was appointed Superintendent of the Mechanical Department of the SA Assay office under B. H. Babbage, then Assistant Engineer for the Port Adelaide railway in 1853 and Inspector General of Roads in 1854{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48554147 |title=Waller's Case |newspaper=South Australian Register |location=Adelaide |date=21 March 1854 |accessdate=14 August 2014 |page=3 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} and Inspector of Main Roads in 1855.Cumming, D. A. and Moxham, G. They Built South Australia pub. by the authors, Adelaide 1986 {{ISBN|0 9589111 0 X}}
He was Chief Engineer for the Waterworks Department 1857–1858, and responsible for the Torrens Gorge weir near Campbelltown which failed in July 1858, its first year of operation.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article96493605 |title=Tuesday, September 27 |newspaper=South Australian Weekly Chronicle |location=Adelaide |date=1 October 1859 |accessdate=14 August 2014 |page=6 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} Hamilton was called as a witness in 1859 when it was discovered that the contractors Frost & Watson had skimped on materials for the dam wall, but came in for a share of the blame{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1197607 |title=Law and Criminal Courts |newspaper=The South Australian Advertiser |location=Adelaide |date=29 September 1859 |accessdate=15 August 2014 |page=3 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} and resigned, to be replaced by John England. The partnership of (Thomas) Frost and (Edward) Watson was dissolved in 1860.
He was involved in designing the smelters at Port Adelaide and Wallaroo in 1860. He was appointed engineer for construction of the Strathalbyn and Victor Harbor tramway in 1866{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article94744299 |title=A New Difficulty |newspaper=South Australian Weekly Chronicle |location=Adelaide |date=25 August 1866 |accessdate=14 August 2014 |page=2 Supplement: Supplement to the South Australian Weekly Chronicle |publisher=National Library of Australia}} and Resident Engineer for the Strathalbyn to Middleton tramway in 1867.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article39190040 |title=Strathalbyn and Middleton Railway |newspaper=South Australian Register |location=Adelaide |date=28 March 1867 |accessdate=14 August 2014 |page=5 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} He was appointed JP in 1862.
He and his son, architect Edward Angus Hamilton, were involved in constructing the Kadina to Wallaroo railway, completed in 1866.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article94746811 |title=Opening of the Wallaroo Railway. |newspaper=South Australian Weekly Chronicle |location=Adelaide |date=14 July 1866 |accessdate=14 August 2014 |page=7 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} Their partnership was dissolved in 1866 when George was appointed to the Strathalbyn and Middleton Railway and E. A. Hamilton to the firm of Wright & Woods,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article72812914 |title=Advertising. |newspaper=The South Australian Advertiser |location=Adelaide |date=22 March 1866 |accessdate=14 August 2014 |page=1 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} (then in 1868 second-in-charge of the Colonial Architect's Department, MLA for Kadina 1870–1871 and later moved to South America).{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64051268 |title=Digging Up the Past |newspaper=The Register |location=Adelaide |date=15 November 1924 |accessdate=14 August 2014 |page=10 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}
He was a member of a consortium that was formed in 1870 to lay a railway between Port Adelaide and Holdfast Bay.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article39195253 |title=The Public Accounts. |newspaper=South Australian Register |location=Adelaide |date=1 February 1870 |accessdate=14 August 2014 |page=3 Supplement: Supplement to the South Australian Register |publisher=National Library of Australia}}
He returned to Britain and died at Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, aged 73
Personal
Hamilton was married to Eliza, who died on 12 December 1858 aged 58 at their home "The Lodge", Kensington.
References
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