Robert Edward McMillan A.O. (abt. 1903 - 1997)

Ancestors

Biography

Born approximately 1903 at Erskinville

Died: 21 May 1997 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Occupation: Engineer and Conservationist

Robert Edward McMillan was born in about 1903 in Erskineville in Sydney, New South Wales and moved to Marrickville as an infant with his parents Arthur and Ellen McMillan. From an interview Bob McMillan gave to Australian author and cartoonist Mick Joffe in about 1996. He tells of his father showing him Halley's Comet in the sky. This would have been April 1910... he remembers that this was the same night as his brother Arthur was born.

Robert Edward (Bob) McMillan patented a concrete-steel frame technique and was a pioneer in the design of welded rigid frames for large buildings. The Australian War Memorial in Canberra is one of his designs. He was also an avid campaigner for the protection of whales and the marine environment.

After completing engineering studies at the University of Sydney (1927), Robert Edward Patrick (Bob) McMillan worked in the public sector for two years. At some time between 1929 and 1931 he patented a construction method which involved concrete and steel frames and designed Wellington's (New Zealand) first two new earthquake-design-code compliant buildings. McMillan worked with the Standards Association of Australia to help compile standards codes for the construction industry. He was also the first chairman of the Wind Code Committee.

Bob tells of the his time in Darwin in World War II, where he supplied at least 5 reports to the Australian Government on the affects and aftermath of the Japanese' air raids. None of which were ever made public.

McMillan retired in 1976 and devoted his free time to marine conservation. He was Vice-President of Project Jonah, which campaigned for a national ban on whaling. In about 1984 he founded the Antarctic Society of Australia and was a member of Greenpeace, and Scientists Against Nuclear Arms. In 1995 his marine conservation efforts were formally recognised by his appointment as an Officer in the Order of Australia (AO).

Robert Edward McMillan married Mavis Alexander McDonald, known as Gai, in November 1937 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They were married at St Canice's Catholic Church, Elizabeth Bay, New South Wales.

Sources

• NSW BDM Birth Registration 5636/1904 (Reg. Newtown)

• NSW BDM Marriage Registration 17132/1937 (Reg. Sydney)

• ALL "MACS" IN THE BRIDAL PARTY from The Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954) of Wednesday 17 November 1937, Page 15. first accessed on TROVE on the 29th of December, 2023 at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/232015375?

• POINT LACE AND SATIN from The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1931 - 1954) of Friday 19 November 1937, Page 12. first accessed on TROVE on the 29th of December, 2023 at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/247327671?

• Engineer's Patent Extended from the Daily Mirror (Sydney, NSW : 1941 - 1955) of Wednesday 4 May 1949, Page 2. first accessed on TROVE on the 29th of December, 2023 at: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/274825654?

• Sydney Morning Herald Death Notice - May 23, 1997.

• McMillan, Robert Edward Patrick (Bob) (1903 - 1997) AO from the Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation. Retrieved 29th of December, 2023.

• Joffe, Mick, 2001, Living Relics of Australia: Volume 2, pps. 70-73, Mick and Phyl Joffe, Berowra Heights, N.S.W. (ISBN: 0957904908)