Essington Lewis, C.H., died on 2nd October, 1961, at the age of 80.
Mr. Lewis was born at Burra, South Australia. After leaving St. Peter’s College, Adelaide, he graduated in law at Adelaide University but, deciding that mining offered more opportunity than law, studied mining engineering at the South Australia School of Mines, and gained the Diploma and Associateship of the School. During his vacations he had worked underground at Broken Hill, New South Wales, and Mount Lyell, Tasmania.
In 1904 Mr. Lewis rejoined Broken Hill Proprietary Co., Ltd., as a mining engineer, and worked underground for a year before his appointment as foreman of the sulphuric acid and zinc plants. Between 1905 and 1915 he held the posts of metallurgist and assistant manager at the Broken Hill lead smelting works at Port Pirie.
In 1910 the company decided to enter the field of iron and steel production at Newcastle, N.S.W., and this entailed the further development of the iron-ore deposits at Iron Knob Tramway and Ironstone quarries. In addition to his other duties Mr. Lewis managed the quarrying operations, opening up the Iron Monarch reserves, and reconstructing the railway system to Hummocky Hill (now Whyalla), and providing facilities for the preparation and shipment of the ore to Newcastle. The development work completed, Mr. Lewis was transferred to Newcastle in 1915 and made responsible for construction at the steelworks there, until 1918 also being manager of Broken Hill Proprietary Munitions Co., Ltd. He was then transferred to the company’s head office in Melbourne to the positions of chief assistant to the general manager and technical manager, and in 1921 was promoted general manager, the chief executive position of the company.
Five years later, in 1926, he was appointed managing director, embracing the whole of the activities of the company, including its various subsidiaries. Subsequently, when Australian Iron and Steel, Ltd., was merged with Broken Hill Proprietary Co., Ltd., in 1933, he became managing director of that company also. In 1938 Mr. Lewis was made chief general manager of the whole organization; in 1950 he became chairman of the company and, with one or two exceptions, of all the subsidiary companies of the group, holding at the same time the chairmanships of Stewarts and Lloyds (Aust.) Pty., Ltd., and of British Tube Mills (Aust.) Pty., Ltd. In 1952 he relinquished the position of chairman of the parent company for the less arduous position of deputy chairman, which he retained until his death.
For his service to the nation, both in peace and in war, he was made a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour of the Sovereign in 1943, one of the few Australians to receive this honour. He had served on many government committees and organizations, including the Advisory Panel on Industrial Organization (in 1938), the Defence Board of Business Administration (in 1939), of both of which he was chairman; and, from 1940 to 1945, as Director-General of Munitions and Director-General of Aircraft Production, and, from 1942 to 1945, Chairman of the Aircraft Advisory Committee. Mr. Lewis was also consultant to the Commonwealth Government Immigration Planning Council. In 1957 he accepted invitations to become the first chairman of the Australian Council of ‘Industrial Design and first chairman of the Australian Administrative Staff College.
Mr. Lewis was elected to Membership of the Institution in 1918. He was awarded the Gold Medal of the Institution for 1953 ‘in recognition of his long and distinguished services to the mining and metallurgical industries of Australia’. He was President of the Fifth Empire Mining and Metallurgical Congress held in Australia in 1953. During the course of his career Mr. Lewis gained many awards and distinctions: the Bronze Medal of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 1940; Honorary Memberships of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers in 1942, of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 1943, and of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 1948; the Kernot Medal for 1943 of the University of Melbourne; the Iron and Steel Institute Bessemer Gold Medal for 1944; in 1949 he received the Florence M. Taylor Bronze Medal for 1948 from the Australasian Institute of Metals; and in 1952 the degree of Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) of the University of Sydney. He was President of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy in 1935.
Mr. Lewis had published several technical papers in Commonwealth journals and three books on the Australian iron and steel industry. He was author of a section of the paper entitled ‘An outline of mining and metallurgical practice in Australasia’, published in the Transactions of the Institution (vol. 342 (2), 1924-25).
Vol. 72, Trans IMM 1962-63, pp.143-4
