Manuel Hornibrook
{{short description|Australian builder and civil engineer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2018}}
{{Use Australian English|date=October 2018}}
File:Manuel Hornibrook, 1954.jpg
Sir Emanuel (Manuel) Richard Hornibrook OBE (7 August 1893 – 30 May 1970) was an Australian builder and civil engineer. He founded the firm M R Hornibrook Pty Ltd{{cite news | title =Hornibrook Highway Bridge | publisher =Redcliffe Historical Society Inc | url =http://www.redcliffehistoricalsociety.com/id11.html | access-date =20 January 2010 | url-status =dead | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20090914123903/http://www.redcliffehistoricalsociety.com/id11.html | archive-date =14 September 2009 }} that after merger with Baulderstone became one of the largest Australian civil engineering firms. Known as "MR", Hornibrook was knighted in 1960. He was highly respected and a builder of bridges across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Papua New Guinea as well as other major projects including Stages 2 (the Sails) and 3 of the Sydney Opera House.{{Cite news|url=http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/showcase/hornibrook/the-hornibrook-story-bridge/essay|title=Story Bridge essay|last=State Library of Queensland|newspaper=State Library of Queensland|access-date=10 February 2017|language=en|archive-date=11 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211080621/http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/showcase/hornibrook/the-hornibrook-story-bridge/essay|url-status=live}}
Early life
Emanuel Richard Hornibrook was born on 7 August 1893 in Enoggera, Brisbane, the second of seven children of John Hornibrook and his wife Catherine (née Sullivan).{{Cite web |title=Birth registration: Emanuel Richard Hornibrook |url=https://www.familyhistory.bdm.qld.gov.au/details/a6a891ad92c4d1b5ae368924548e55c751cf68b950e9602d783cb75d974804ab |access-date=2024-12-07 |website=Family history research |publisher=Queensland Government}} He was educated at Nambour, Obi Obi, Bowen Bridge and South Brisbane state schools.{{Citation |last=Whitmore |first=Raymond L. |title=Sir Manuel Richard Hornibrook (1893–1970) |work=Australian Dictionary of Biography |url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hornibrook-sir-manuel-richard-10547 |access-date=2024-12-07 |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |language=en |archive-date=4 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240804052859/https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hornibrook-sir-manuel-richard-10547 |url-status=live }}
Building (and engineering) career
File:Brisbane's Story Bridge under construction, 1939 (3989364752).jpg under construction in 1939]]
File:StateLibQld 1 69527 Construction of the William Jolly Bridge, Brisbane, 1931.jpg in 1931]]
At the age of 13 Hornibrook commenced apprenticeship with builder HW Fooks. In 1912, at the age of 19, Horninbrook with his brother Reginald established their own business, which started with building drainage channels and sewerage systems. Soon the bridge building became Hornibrook's speciality.{{cite news|url=http://www.baulderstone.com.au/index.php?page=about|title=About Baulderstone|access-date=20 January 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091013010944/http://www.baulderstone.com.au/index.php?page=about|archive-date=13 October 2009|publisher=Baulderstone}}
The business quickly moved into civil engineering contracting, excavating Queensland's first open-cut coal mine at Blair Athol in 1923. The William Jolly Bridge built from 1930 to 1932 became his all-time favourite project because of the aesthetic appeal of the bridge and the pioneering use of the sand island method of pier construction.{{Cite news|url=http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/showcase/hornibrook/the-william-jolly-bridge/william-jolly-bridge-essay|title=William Jolly Bridge essay|last=State Library of Queensland|newspaper=State Library of Queensland|access-date=10 February 2017|language=en|archive-date=11 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211090633/http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/showcase/hornibrook/the-william-jolly-bridge/william-jolly-bridge-essay|url-status=live}}
In 1914 Hornibrook joined the Queensland Master Builders' Association and was its president in 1922 and 1923; he was president (1926) and a life member (1959) of the Master Builders Federation of Australia; he was also a foundation fellow (1951), councillor and National President (1952–56) of the Australian Institute of Builders (now Building), and a driving force in the construction of its headquarters at Milsons Point, Sydney. For his contribution to the science and the practice of building, he was awarded the A.I.B.'s first medal of merit (the AIB Medal, 1955). President (1953–59) of the Queensland Civil Engineering Contractors' Association, he was an honorary member (1968) of the Australian Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors and an honorary fellow (1969) of the Chartered Institute of Building (Britain)—the first Australian to be so honoured. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1957 and knighted (as a Knight Bachelor) in 1960.
Sir Manuel Hornibrook was the Chief Engineer during construction of the Hornibrook Bridge which was named after him.{{Cite news|url=http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/showcase/hornibrook/the-hornibrook-highway/hornibrook-highway-essay|title=Hornibrook Highway essay|last=State Library of Queensland|newspaper=State Library of Queensland|access-date=10 February 2017|language=en|archive-date=11 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211095144/http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/showcase/hornibrook/the-hornibrook-highway/hornibrook-highway-essay|url-status=live}} He was also responsible for building Brisbane's Story Bridge and William Jolly Bridge.{{Cite web |title=Hornibrook: building bridges connects Brisbane |url=https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/discover/exhibitions/hornibrook |access-date=1 June 2022 |website=State Library of Queensland}} One of Hornibrook's most challenging projects was building the immensely complex roof shells of the Sydney Opera House, turning architect Jorn Utzon's dream into reality.{{SLQ-CC-BY|url=https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/archives-reveal-more-history-hornibrook-innovation-building-sydney-opera-house|title=Archives reveal more history of Hornibrook innovation in the building of Sydney Opera House.|date=3 November 2021|author(s)=Julie Hornibrook|accessdate=1 June 2022}}
Later life
Hornibrook died at the Holy Spirit Hospital on Wickham Terrace in Brisbane on 30 May 1970.{{Cite web |title=Death registration: Emanuel Richard Hornibrook |url=https://www.familyhistory.bdm.qld.gov.au/details/fca2e661b9d634570f66be50904b6a76bb4714207f0652ed305b675880266864 |access-date=2024-12-07 |website=Family history research |publisher=Queensland Government}}
Hornibrook was posthumously inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame in 2016.{{Cite web|url=http://leaders.slq.qld.gov.au/inductees/|title=Hall of Fame|website=Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame|publisher=State Library of Queensland|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181023083836/http://leaders.slq.qld.gov.au/inductees/|archive-date=23 October 2018|url-status=dead|access-date=23 October 2018}}{{Cite web|url=http://leaders.slq.qld.gov.au/inductees/hornibrook/|title=Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame {{!}} Sir Manuel Hornibrook (1893 – 1970)|website=leaders.slq.qld.gov.au|language=en-US|access-date=10 February 2017}}
Family
Hornibrook married with Methodist forms Daphne Winifred Brunckhorst (9 March 1893-30 July 1978) on 27 November 1915 at her parents' home in Enoggera.{{Cite web |title=Marriage registration: Manuel Richard Hornibrook |url=https://www.familyhistory.bdm.qld.gov.au/details/c01b6682429691e1780852b17be96b542e4d3f2c54cd488d500013998ead5409 |access-date=2024-12-07 |website=Family history research |publisher=Queensland Government}} His eldest son was Reginald Leo Hornibrook (1917-1926). His second son Clement Manuel Hornibrook (5 April 1919-1 February 1990) married Pamala Jean Moses (31 December 1925-7 January 2009) of the Hordern family on 12 March 1948 and had 5 children, including Robin Lyn Hornibrook (1949-16 August 2013). His daughter was Betty Winifred Hornibrook MacDiarmid (6 May 1927-17 December 2015).
References
{{Reflist}}Australian Dictionary of Biography
Publications
- Queensland 150 Years of Achievement, 2009, Kay Saunders, {{ISBN|978-1-921156-45-8}}
Further reading
- {{cite book |title=Biography of builder M. R. Hornibrook |vauthors=((Browne, W.)) |date=1955 |publisher=the author}}
- {{cite book |title=A man of achievement : Sir Manuel Hornibrook, Kt, O.B.E., Hon. F.L.O.B., F.I.A.B., F.R.Hist.S.Q. / by Waveney Browne. |vauthors=((Browne, W.)) |date=1974 |publisher=P.E.P. Enterprises |isbn=0959816801}}
External links
{{Commons category|Manuel Hornibrook}}
- [http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A140563b.htm Sir Manuel Richard Hornibrook at Australian Dictionary of Biography]
- [http://www.baulderstone.com.au/index.php?page=home Baulderstone]
- [https://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/permalink/61SLQ_INST/tqqf2h/alma99183897020302061 Sir Manuel Hornibrook digital story and oral history: Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame 2016], State Library of Queensland
- [https://vimeo.com/200112065 2015 Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame Fellow: Julie Hornibrook]
- [https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/discover/exhibitions/hornibrook Hornibrook: building bridges connects Brisbane] - State Library of Queensland
- [https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/archives-reveal-more-history-hornibrook-innovation-building-sydney-opera-house Archives reveal more history of Hornibrook innovation in the building of Sydney Opera House.], 2021, Julie Hornibrook, John Oxley Library Blog, State Library of Queensland.
- [https://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/permalink/61SLQ_INST/tqqf2h/alma99183251520702061 Manuel Hornibrook Business and Family Photographs 1929-1975], State Library of Queensland
- [https://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/permalink/61SLQ_INST/tqqf2h/alma99197043402061 Hornibrook Group Collection 1950-1980], State Library of Queensland
- [https://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/permalink/61SLQ_INST/tqqf2h/alma99183596016702061 Hornibrook: Building Bridges Connects Brisbane: Legacy of Sir Manuel Hornibrook website archive], State Library of Queensland
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Category:Australian civil engineers
Category:Australian Knights Bachelor
Category:Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire