A tribute to Ivan Anderson Gaggin (1929 - 2016)
Ivan Anderson Gaggin was born in Bulimba, a riverside suburb of Brisbane on the 12 February 1929. Ivan attended the Bulimba Primary School and then went on to the local High School, finishing Grade 12 at age 15. His initial application for university was rejected because of his age. He stayed back a year but went on to top the Chemistry Class and Dux of the School. He was awarded a scholarship to study engineering at the University of Queensland and after graduating he began work with a Brisbane engineering firm at age 19.
After some three years in engineering design, Ivan felt the need to learn more about engineering construction and moved to Victoria to work on the Eildon Dam, returning to Brisbane two years later.
He married his childhood sweetheart, Edith in 1957 and in 1958 their first child, Karen was born. In the same year, the family of three moved to the township of Cooma where Ivan joined the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority and working there for ten years. During this period the family grew to six with the addition of three boys, Stephen, Peter and Andrew.
Ivan made many lifetime friends among the differing cultures and nationalities that worked on the “Snowy” in that major post-war project. From that began Ivan’s lifelong appreciation for Mediterranean food, with lunch often including raw garlic, salami, cabana and olives.
In addition to his day job Ivan became involved in the Cooma Methodist Church, where he was Superintendant of the Sunday school, a local preacher and church leader. Ivan also assisted in the formation of the Snowy Christian Fellowship, which encouraged good speakers and missionaries from Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne to visit Cooma and attend Fellowship meetings and conventions.
Then in 1968 came the move from Cooma to Hobart and within six months the Gaggin family had settled in and bought a house in Bedford Street that remains their family home to this day.
Ivan joined the Bridge Design Section of the Department of Public Works (PWD), which became the Department of Main Roads in 1974 and finally the Department of Roads and Transport. He was among many Mainland engineers that joined the PWD to assist with major road and bridge infrastructure projects.
Some of his bridge design projects included the Devonport rail underpass structures on the eastern approach to Victoria Bridge and the Appledore St Underpass on the western approach, which were part of the new Devonport Bypass. The Appledore St Underpass introduced the post-tensioned flange I-beam to Tasmania.
Other projects of note were his involvement in the disposal of the old Hobart Bridge floating arch segments, development of the Lutana casting yard and pre-tensioning bed, and the introduction of metric conversion in the Department. He was involved in dealing with the 1975 Tasman Bridge Disaster, surveying the damage and working on an appropriate response, including the construction of the Bailey Bridge at Dowsing’s point. Ivan was promoted to Division Engineer Bridges in the early 70s and retired in 1993 after rising to the position of Program Manager National Roads.
In service and in retirement Ivan took a great interest in Vincents Rivulet Bridge, a small structure on Browns Road south of Hobart. It is the first ‘composite construction’ bridge in Australia, developed by a young Allan Knight (later Sir Allan, of Hydro-Electric Commission fame) working as a demonstrator in the University of Tasmania Engineering Faculty in 1931. When nearby construction of Hobart’s Southern Outlet was imminent in 1985, Ivan was keen to ensure that the bridge was not affected.
Later Ivan contributed to the successful nomination by Engineering Heritage Tasmania for the bridge to receive an Historic Engineering Marker in 1999. He followed that with a paper presented to the 2001 National Conference on Engineering Heritage in Canberra: Vincent’s Rivulet Bridge, Tasmania: A Small Bridge with an Interesting History.
In addition to his engineering activities in Tasmania, Ivan was actively involved in tennis, hockey and the Presbyterian Church.
Prepared by Ian Cooper FIEAust CPEng(Ret)
Image: Ivan Gaggin c1968, courtesy of the Gaggin family