A talk by Bill Phippen
Saturday 27 April 10 for 10.30 am
Marrickville Library and Pavilion, Patyegarang Place, Marrickville Road, Marrickville.
The tunnel boring machine for the Metro railway under the harbour was named ‘Kathleen’. Few in Sydney now would know who Kathleen was, but in the early 1920s everyone knew Kathleen Muriel Butler, Confidential Secretary to John Bradfield during the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Source: British Women’s Engineering Society, The Vote, 1924 British Newspaper Archive
A remarkable young woman, the more so for her times, Butler played a vital role in the bridge construction both in Sydney and in London where she was sent to represent Bradfield and the NSW government in their dealings with Dorman Long and Co., the British contractors for the work.
On 20 November 2023 it was announced that a Blue Plaque would be erected to mark the contribution of Kathleen Butler to New South Wales.
Image: NSW State Archives
Civil engineer Bill Phippen OAM is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia and an active volunteer guide at the Australian National Maritime Museum.
His books include The Hawkesbury River Railway Bridges (2018) which received the 2019 Colin Crisp Award from Engineers Australia for documentation of engineering heritage and By Muscle of Man & Horse – building the railway under Sydney 1916-1932 (2018); in relation to which he spoke to the Society in February 2023. His current research is the centenary of the Sydney Harbour Bridge whose construction began in 1922.
Marrickville Heritage Society 