MS 854
Papers of W.G.R. Gilfillan
Scope and Content Note
Papers
1893-1981
1.63 m (12 boxes)
Available for reference
The papers were donated to the Library by Gilfillans wife in 1991,
after his death in 1990.
The papers consist mainly of secondary source material. They include
university lecture notes, handwritten notes, lecture notes for real estate
courses, various reports and papers prepared by the Snowy Mountains
Hydro-electric Authority, technical documents and journal articles on
explosives and notes on public speaking.
The lecture notes, mostly from Melbourne University have been arranged
in folders and neatly labelled by Gilfillan. They have been supplemented by
journal articles and hand written notes. The original folders and the
arrangement of material within the folders has been maintained by the Library.
The items in folders 54, 58, 62, 68 and 69 had been donated to the Library in
previous years (1963, 1974, 1989 and 1991). They have been amalgamated into
this consignment and re-numbered.
The W. G. R. Gilfillan Collection of maps is held in the Librarys
Map Collection. See also MS 861 for other papers on the development of the
Snowy Mountains region which were also donated by Gilfillan.
Series description
Melbourne University, Engineering School, Lecture
Notes
These papers consist mainly of prepared lecture notes and handwritten
notes. They have been arranged in folders and neatly labelled according to the
subject or unit being studied at the time by Gilfillan (1925-29). They have
been supplemented by journal articles, government reports, pamphlets and
product catalogues which relate to the subject. The original folders and the
arrangement of material within the folders has been maintained by the
Library.
Folder
1 Arches
2 Architecture
3 Beams
4 Bridges
5 Chemistry
6 Costing
7 Dams and weirs
8 Electricity
9 Exam papers
10 Foundations
11 Geology
12 Hydraulics
13 Hydroelectricity, Irrigation
14 Machinery, Materials and testing
15 Mathematics
16 Practical work, Pumps and turbines
17 Reports
18 Roads
19 Ropes, sanitation, sewerage
20 Specifications
21 Steelwork
22 Sundries, surveying
23 Town planning
24 Tramways and transport
Real Estate Courses; lecture notes
Gilfillan undertook a number of courses in real estate by correspondence
between 1956 and 1960. At this time he lived in Cooma and worked for the Snowy
Mountains Hydro-electric Authority. The courses were run by the Sydney
University Extension Board in conjunction with the Real Estate Institute of New
South Wales. Correspondence students were sent folders of lecture notes
covering the whole course. Some of the folders contain correspondence between
Gilfillan and the Real Estate Institute relating to enrolment details, exams
and future courses.
Folder
25 Valuation of Real Estate, Part I, 1956
26 Valuation of Real Estate, Part II, 1957
27 Real Estate and Valuation Practice, Part I, 1958
28 Real Estate and Valuation Practice, Part II, 1959
29 Real Estate and Valuation Practice, Part III, 1960
Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority
This material consists of reports and lecture notes which were produced
by the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority or by outside companies in
relation to tender contracts.
Folder
30 Snowy-Murray development: final report of committee on supply
routes for works on western side of mountains, June 1956
31 In-service training courses: 1. Inspectors (contract
supervision):
A.1. Basic course, lecture notes, March 1956
32 Developments in reinforced concrete and their relationship to
modern concrete codes, notes for post graduate course, 1959
33 Applied nuclear physics, notes for a lecture course
conducted by the Research School of Physical Sciences, Australian National
University, for the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority, 1960
34 Proposals for diverting the Snowy River to the Murray for the
generation of electricity, compiled by W.G. R. Gilfillan, Cooma, 1963
35 In-service training courses: 1. Inspectors (contract
supervision) welding lecture notes, May 1965
36 Tender for seven 56MVA single phase transformers and ancillary
equipment for T-1 power station, contract No 40,006, submitted by
Australian General electric Proprietary Limited (n.d.)
Explosives
The majority of this material consists of notes, papers and reports
prepared by the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority on explosives and
commercially prepared notes by private companies such as ICI. Gilfillan was
Safety Officer for the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority for 15 years
prior to his retirement in 1971.
Folder
37 Instructions for the care and use of explosives, Snowy
Mountains Hydro-electric Authority, September 1950 (2 copies)
38-39 Nobel Notes (Vol 1 No 1-Vol 20 No 1), 1953-72. These
information circulars contain technical updates on explosives and blasting (2
sets)
40 Handling and use of explosives, notes for a course, 13-14
May 1955, Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority, 1955
41 Handling and Use of Explosives Course, 13-14 May 1955: course notes,
internal memorandum and minutes relating to the course and a list of successful
candidates on completion of examinations held in October 1955
42 Lecture notes for training courses for inspectors at Snowy Mountains
Hydro-electric Authority, 1955
43 Improvements in explosive techniques, typescript notes
(n.d.)
44 Various issues of Explosives Bulletin and Better
Blasting and miscellaneous journal articles on blasting and explosives,
1953-56
45 Miscellaneous notes, journal articles and legislation relating to
explosives, 1950-69
46 Lecture notes for Small Scale Explosive Course, Part II, Diffusion
Blasting held at Cooma Technical College, 1971 and miscellaneous issues of
Nobel Notes, 1972-73
Other material
These miscellaneous papers relate to Gilfillans employment with
the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority, his interest in public speaking,
and material collected while living in Cooma and later on his retirement in
Canberra, where he was a voluntary guide for Questacon. The items in folders
54, 58, 62, 68 and 69 had been donated to the Library in previous years (1963,
1974, 1989 and 1991). They have been amalgamated into this consignment and
renumbered.
Folder
47 Personal diary, July 1893-January 1894 (author unknown)
48 Duplicate copy of an agreement for the purchase of a brewery business
by George Robert Gilfillan in 1894
49 New South Wales Public Works Department Professional Officers
Association data sheets (various, 1913-1926)
50 Three letters (1929, 1971, 1972) relating to requests for product
information and copies of technical notes
51 Peakhurst Training Society, notes on public speaking , 1950-56
52 Notes, newscuttings and pamphlets on civil defence, 1951-64
53 Pamphlet Water and Power from the Snowy Mountains Scheme.
Attached to this pamphlet are six letters of acceptance to attend the
official opening of the Guthega Hydro-Electric Project on 23 April 1955. They
include letters from the Prime Minister and Dame Patty Menzies, Mr and Mrs John
McEwen and Sir William and Lady McKell. Four letters expressing an inability to
attend are also attached
54 Snowy Mountains and Monaro Horticultural Society Account Book,
1957-1964
55 Photocopy of Biographical memoirs of Claude Cavendish
Inglish, Fellow of the Royal Society (Great Britain) by A. Rylands Thomas
and Sir Angus Paton and a copy of The United Nations Flag Code and
Regulations (1958)
56 Test report on lightweight aggregate carried out by the School of
Civil Engineering, New South Wales Institute of Technology, 1958 and a journal
article by G. B. Welch, Expanded shale lightweight aggregate
reprinted from Constructional Review, November 1958
57 Speechcraft: notes on the techniques of public speaking,
prepared by L. K. Burgess, President, ACT Dais, Australian Rostrum, Canberra,
1959
58 Program for a revue Top heavy produced by the students of
Canberra University College in 1959. There are also typescript notes of the
various productions
59 Notes relating to Australia Day celebrations and correspondence with
the Australia Day Council (NSW), January 1960, seeking information for
activities to celebrate Australia Day
60 Notes on speed reading and Strine language, 1962-74
61 Address given by Professor C. H. Munro at the annual meeting of
Men of the Land Society, 12 March 1963
62 St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Cooma, Minutes of the Committee
of Management Meetings, 1966-67, order of service sheets, miscellaneous church
notices and typescript sheets of sketches for revue Top heavy (see
also folder 58)
63 Draft notes for biographical memoir of Sir William Hudson
(1896-1978), Commissioner of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority,
1949-67, prepared in 1979 and an obituary notice, 1978
64 Questacon lectures 1981, the fifth series of Questacon
lectures held at the Australian National University, 1981
65 Notes and papers produced to complement a 1981 Questacon lecture
series and as an aid for Questacon explainers
66 Information on the Canning Stock Route in Western Australia prepared
by Mark de Graaf, Head of Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Darwin and
Alice Springs Community Colleges (n.d.)
67 Two notebooks containing notes by Gilfillan on road systems and their
construction in various American states (n.d.)
68 Typescript: The plastic behaviour and design of welded steel
structures
69 School and university notes belonging to Rosemary Gilfillan. She was
a student at Monaro High School, Cooma and later studied at the University of
New South Wales
Box List
| Box
|
Series
|
Folder/Piece |
| 1 |
|
1-8 |
| 2 |
|
9-16 |
| 3 |
|
17-21 |
| 4 |
|
22-27 |
| 5 |
|
28-33 |
| 6 |
|
34-38 |
| 7 |
|
39-44 |
| 8 |
|
45-50 |
| 9 |
|
51-57 |
| 10 |
|
58-63 |
| 11 |
|
64-68 |
| 12 |
|
69 |
August 1999 |