KEN W HOSE FIEAust (1939-2015)
Ken Hose was a former Deputy City Engineer in Launceston and a stalwart of Engineers Australia’s Northern Group. He was also Manager of Engineering Infrastructure with the City of Greater Geelong.
Colleagues are celebrating his career after his death earlier this year.
His career is notable for engineering achievement, and as a role model of professional excellence.
Ken was born in Geelong in 1939 and his early life of austerity was common in that era. Possibly those beginnings were formative of his later ability to deal on equal terms with people at all levels in the work place and the community, a trait which is remembered with gratitude particularly by the emerging professionals and technical staff whom he nurtured.
He started a career path with an apprenticeship in fitting & turning but a trades teacher soon recognised his abilities and encouraged him to consider engineering. Ken graduated in 1961 from Gordon Institute of Technology (now Deakin University).
After graduation Ken worked for eight years with Melbourne consultants Garlick & Stewart, who deployed him on municipal projects throughout Victoria, with stints in Canberra and Tasmania.
In 1969, he embarked on the obligatory European sojourn and worked with London consultants JD & DM Watson for a further two years, then married and, shortly after, returned to his old job in Melbourne.
A family lifestyle decision saw his arrival to work for Launceston City Council at the beginning of 1974.
Ken’s contribution to the hydraulic services and hydrology of Launceston in the next 22 years was enormous. Initially faced with a water supply blamed for the contemporary loss of several buildings to major fires, Ken implemented an upgrade strategy over several years to produce the functioning system which remains today.
He turned his attention to Launceston’s famous “combined” sewerage and drainage system which under the combined influence of catchment events with tidal and flood levels in the river outfalls would inundate lower areas of the City, not just with stormwater but with raw sewage as well.
The next upgrade strategy involved a quantum leap in asset management. A drainage system first built in the 1830s was assessed for condition and capability, with extraordinary funds procured to repair and upgrade the combined system, and install dedicated stormwater drains in chronic flood-prone locations.
Municipal amalgamation came to Launceston in 1985, increasing the area of the city from about 12km2 to 1600.
Ken was noted as one of the few senior staff to remain as a steadying influence through the consequent turmoil, taking on responsibility for rationalisation of hydraulic infrastructure but also inheriting further flooding problems such as the Kings Meadows Rivulet. Through that time, it is evident that his strategic approach did not waver as one of the largest initiatives came to fruition with installation of pressurised stormwater drains in the Margaret Street catchment, and construction of the $10 million Margaret Street Pumping Station to eject that water against high river levels.
In 1991, Ken was awarded the IE Aust (EA) National Local Government Medal for Engineering Excellence for design & management of that project. By this time he was already Deputy City Engineer and carried that strategic support role for many years too.
In the early nineties, Ken focussed greater attention on the contentious Launceston Flood Protection Scheme, having directed its maintenance and operation for decades. Again there was much investigation of asset condition and capability, directed by Ken from his position on the joint Government/LCC steering committee. Although his strategy did not bring immediate funding or results, his legacy was the recent upgrade of the infrastructure under the Launceston Flood Authority.
Ken was lured back to his birthplace for a four-year stint as Manager of Engineering Infrastructure with the City of Greater Geelong in 1996. In the wake of their 1994 municipal amalgamation, he brought his proven techniques to bear through strategic planning and financing, exemplary engineering and management.
But upon retirement, Ken returned to the city which he loved most and continued to contribute as an in-house consultant with LCC as needed. He wrote the nomination for the Engineering Heritage award for Launceston’s Water Supply scheme, on which he had worked for so long.
Ken’s generosity and inspiration extended well beyond his work and family commitments. He was a staunch contributor to EA activities in Northern Tasmania, had a local coordination role in SES and avid interests in geology, astronomy, classical music, cricket and sailing. For several years was District Commissioner Launceston Esk for Scouts Australia.
Obituary Author: Stuart Barwick