NEW GRAVING DOCK AT SYDNEY

Southland Times, Issue 25668, 10 May 1945, Page 2

NEW GRAVING DOCK AT SYDNEY

Former Invercargill Man Supervised Work The man responsible for the successful completion of the new graving dock at Sydney, Mr M. W. Mehaffey. was born and educated in Invercargill. His father was the late Mr W. G. Mehaffey, a former headmaster of the Middle School and one of the leaders of the teaching profession in Southland. As Deputy Director of Allied Works, Mr Mehaffey was entrusted with the job of supervising the building of the dock, which is big enough to take the largest naval vessel afloat. He also had to co-ordinate the many aspects of constructional activity which have gone into the making of this great national asset. Mr Mehaffey, says an Australian writer, has been nautical most, of his life, and looks it. His complexion, naturally dark, is well sun-tanned. He has the forward set of shoulders of a seaman, and a forward set of chin. He combines a smart appearance with easy naturalness and a sense of humour which can be whimsical. His voice has a remarkable quality of tone, and although his hair is fairly grey, he does not nearly look his age. SOUTHLAND OLD BOY After attending the Middle School and the Southland Boys’ High School, where he was a pupil in 1899-1900, Mr Mehaffey worked for five years in the Southland Engineering Company’s works in Invercargill. Next followed five years at Canterbury College, where he graduated Bachelor of Engineering, spent two years as lecturer, and in 1910 was appointed assistant engineer to the Auckland Harbour Board. A year later a quest for wider horizons took him to Australia, where he joined the Harbours and Rivers Department of Queensland, and in 1914 became resident engineer dt Bowen, In 1915 he enlisted in the AIF, but after 300 days’ service the Federal Government withdrew him to go building lighthouses, some two dozen of which he constructed along the Great Barrier Reef. He married Miss Alma Frances Le Neveu in 1917. Despite her name she is an Australian. They have two sons and one daughter. The eldest son, Maurice, is with the A.I.F. in New Guinea, and was through the Middle East, including Tobruk and El Alamein. In due course, still in the Commonwealth Service, Mr Mehaffey became Director and Engineer in Chief of Lighthouses, made a report on Darwin Harbour in 1924, and accompanied Sir George Buchanan on an ispection of all ports of Australia. OVERSEAS VISIT During 1933 he attended the International Conference on Signalling at Paris, inspected French and British ports, including the great Southampton Dock, and in 1939 became Assistant-Director-General of Public Works and, later, was transferred to his present position. When it was decided to build Sydney dock, he was appointed to his present position, and has since worked in association with the representative of Sir Alexander Gibb and Partners, who designed the dock, and with high officials of the Water Board, Maritime Service, Ports and Harbours Department, City Council, and others, all of whom contributed importantly to the great work.