Ross McIntyre

Chartered member of Engineers Australia
Position:
- Civil Engineer
Area:
- Civil (Primary)

Since graduating from the University of Sydney in 1943, Ross has had a long and exciting engineering career.

Fresh from university, he was posted to the RAAF; and he applied his engineering knowledge to various projects during the war - which took him to Papua New Guinea and the East Indies.

From the many projects and stories he was involved in during this time, he recalls one that demonstrated the ingenuity that engineers applied with limited resources during the war. They were building a bomber airstrip at Kornasorem, which had to be 6000 feet long to accommodate the Liberator aircraft in the hot conditions. It was constructed on a coconut plantation; and the windward side trees - which grew taller - were particularly difficult to push over. Ross' team had to build a ramp of sand up to each tree, to get the bulldozer high enough to provide the leverage necessary to uproot it.

Following the war, Ross returned to a career in engineering. He became Chairman of the Canberra Division of the Institution of Engineers Australia in 1972; and has been recognised with many honours since then.

He was involved in many significant projects that have left their mark on the Australian landscape - from the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric scheme to many regional aerodromes. In the late 1970s, he was promoted to Director of Works in the ACT, and spent the remaining 17 years of his career with the Department.