Charles Yelverton O'Connor

https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/oconnor-charles-yelverton-7874

NZ BDM Marriage 1874/6940, Susan Letitia Ness, to Charles Yelverton O'Connor .

Births of children in NZ to Charles Yelverton and Susan Letitia O'Connor:

1874/28021 Aileen O'Connor; m 1895 C Y Simpson.
1875/11836 George Francis O'Connor; died Melbourne 7/8/1932
1877/1883 Laetitia Kathleen O'Connor; Kate died 24/8/1968 Applecross WA.
1878/15422 Ena Drougsia O'Connor; Eva Dronghsia Odierna m 1898 (Sir) G A Julius. Died NSW 1972.
1880/2396 Charles Goring Yelouton O'Connor; died NZ 1880, 8 mths.
1881/9393 Roderick O'Connor; K.I.A. WW1.
1884/9196 Bridget Yelverton O'Connor; m 1910 Ernest A Lee Steere.
1888/17473 Murtagh Yelverton O'Connor; Death 1941/2384 Perth; O'Connor, Susan L.

WA BDM

Death 1902/1000 Fremantle; O'Connor, Charles Yelverton, aged 59, born Gravelmouth, County Meath, Ireland, son of John and Mary Elizabeth O'Keefe.

Death 1941/2384 Perth; O'Connor, Susan L.

Charles Yelverton O'Connor died 10/3/1902 Fremantle, aged 59, and is buried Fremantle Cemetery, Anglican, Mon A, 0251,
next to his wife in 0250, Susan Letitia O'Connor, who died 13/11/1941 West Perth, aged 93.

...

The West Australian (Perth WA) Wed 12 Mar 1902

THE FUNERAL. AN IMPOSING SPECTACLE.

The funeral of the late Mr. C. Y. O'Connor, C.M.G., took place yesterday afternoon. The spectacle along the route of the procession was an imposing one. Long before the time appointed crowds of people assembled in front of Mr. O'Connor's late residence, in Beach- street, and by 4 o'clock fully a thousand persons were in the immediate vicinity.

Over a hundred vehicles were ranged along Beach-street, opposite the railway line. Many of the wreaths were of unusual magnificence, and so numerous were they that they covered the hearse, and completely filled a second carriage.

The wreath sent by Sir Arthur and Lady Lawley was composed of tuberoses, carnations and hyacinths, interlaced with maidenhair ferns and white streamers. The coffin was a fine piece of workmanship, consisting of polished jarrah, with massive mouldings and gold gilt furnishings. On the coffin was the inscription, "Charles Yelverton O'Connor, died 10th March, 1902, aged 59 years," and it was embossed with an anchor and a cross, bearing the sign "Hope."

Messrs. Frank, Roderick, and Murtagh O'Connor (sons) and (sons-in-law)
Messrs. George Julius (Eva) and C. Y. Simpson (Aileen) were the chief mourners.

The pall-bearers were Messrs. E. E. Salter, James Thompson, A. Dillon Bell, R. Fairbairn, W. W. Dartnall, C. H. Rason, Sept. Burt, and W. Kingsmill. As the cortege moved off, the hearse was followed by the chief mourners, the pall-bearers, the Ministerial carriage, the Harbour Works carriage, and a body of about one hundred and fifty employees of the Fremantle Harbour Works and the Coolgardie Water Scheme, and other sympathisers; then came the long line of carriages, extending for nearly a mile in length.

It is estimated that about a thousand gentlemen followed the funeral procession, while several thousand members of the public were assembled along the route. Throughout the great throng, the universal feeling was of respect for the deceased gentleman's memory, honour for the services he had rendered his country, admiration for his abilities, and sorrow for his demise.

From the East Fremantle Station the cortege proceeded along Parry-street and High-street. over Monument Hill, thence to the new Fremantle Cemetery, which is about two miles and a half distant. The body was interred in the Church of England portion of the cemetery, near the summit of the little hill in that division, the Ven. Archdeacon Watkins conducting the services at the grave. Mr. A. E. Davies carried out the funeral arrangements.

His Excellency the Governor was represented by his Private Secretary, Mr. Gerald Parker, and among those also present were:—The President of the Legislative Council, Sir George Shepton; the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Sir J. G. LeeSteere; the Acting-Premier, Mr. W. Kingsmill, M.L.A.; the Colonial Treasurer, Mr. F. Illingworth, M.L.A.; the Minister for Public Works, Mr. C. H. Rason, M.L.A.; the Minister for Lands, Dr. A. Jameson. M.L.C.; Mr. E. M. Clarke, M.L.C.; the Mayor of Perth, Mr. W. T. Loton; the Mayor of Fremantle, Mr. L. Alexander; the Mayor of East Fremantle, Mr. F. McDonald, M.L.A.; the Mayor of North Fremantle, Mr. D. K. Congdon; the Ven. Archdeacon D. H. Griffith, representing the Bishop of Perth; the Rev. Father Ryan, O.M.I., the Rev. T. Bird, President of the Methodist Conference; the Rev. G. O'Halloran, Mr. G. Randell, M.L.C.; Mr. H. Briggs, M.L.C.; Mr. A. B. Kidson, M.L.C.; Captain Laurie, M.L.C.; Mr. J. T. Glowrey, M.L.C.; Mr. J. R. Richardson, M.L.C.; Mr. C. E. Dempster, M.L.C.; Mr. F. H. Piesse, M.L.A.; Mr. T. F. Quinlan, M.L.A.; Mr. G. Throssell, M.L.A.; Mr. J. J. Holmes, M.L.A.; Mr. J. J.Higham, M.L.A.; Mr. A. J. Diamond, M.L.A.; Mr. D. J. Doherty, M.L.A.; Mr. F. Connor, M.L.A.; Mr. C. Harper, M.L.A.; Mr. W. J. George, M.L.A.; Mr. W. M. Purkiss, M.L.A.; Sir Edward Wittenoom: Mr. A. S. Roe, P.M.; Mr. R. Fairbairn, R.M.; Mr. Sept. Burt, K.C.; Mr. A. R. Richardson; the Commissioner for Police, Captain Hare; Inspector McKenna; Mr. J. T. Short, Acting General Manager of Railways: (snip; most of the Government heads of the day)

THE WREATHS.

Wreaths were sent by the following:— Wife, sons and daughters of deceased, Mr. Frank O'Connor, His Excellency the Governor and Lady Lawley, officers of the Coolgardie Water Scheme Branch, officers of the main camp laying and join- ting branch, C. W. M. Northam, officers of Roads and Bridges, General Water Supply, Metropolitan Sewerage and Wa- ter Supply Branches of the Public Works Department, Chief Accountants' Branch of Public Works Department, Acting- Under-Secretary, officers of Public Works Department, Workshops Staff and Em- ployees, Midland Junction; Chief Engi- neer for Existing Lines Branch, W.A. G.R.; Engineer-in-Chief's Office, officers of the Engineering Surveys Branch, officers of the Architectural Division, Mr. and Miss C. Y. Simpson, Mr. and Mrs. G. Julius, Workshop Foreman of Locomotive Department, W.A.G.R.; officers and men at Rocky Bay Quarry, officers and men North Quay wharf construction, Fremantlh Harbour Works; officers and crew dredge Fremantle, office staff Fremantle Harbour Works, officers and crew of dredge Governor, foreman and employees W.A.G. Railways, Workshop Foreman Loco. Department, W.A.G.R.; employees of Fremantle Workshops, Fremantle Water Supply, officers and crew of dredge Parmelia, P. and O. S.N. Co., Capt. and Mrs. Russell, officers and crew of dredge Parmelia, Treasury Department, Perth; (snip many, many more).

...

Western Mail (Perth WA) Sat 15 Mar 1902

SKETCH OF MR. O'CONNOR'S CAREER.

Charles Yelverton O'Connor has had a distinguished career. He was born at Gravelmouth, Ireland, in 1843, and was consequently 58 years of age at the time of his death. His early education was obtained at the Waterford Endowed School. In 1859 he was apprenticed to Mr. John Chaloner Smith, M. Inst. C. E., with whom he continued until 1862, Mr. Smith being during that time resident engineer to the Waterford and Limerick Railway, while Mr. G. W. Hemans, afterwards a vice-president of the Institute of Civil Engineers, was the engineer-in-chief.

From the termination of his apprenticeship in 1862 to the year 1865 Mr. O'Connor was employed on the Roseneath to Birdhill, the Bambridge to Drumballyrooney, and other railways in Ireland. In the last-mentioned year, when 22 years of age, he emigrated to New Zealand, and was first employed in that colony as assistant-engineer for the construction of the coach road from Christchurch through the Otira gorge to the Hokitika goldfields. He was promoted from time to time. He was assistant-engineer in the province of Canterbury from 1866 to 1870. At that time the west portion of Canterbury was constituted a separate county, and Mr. O'Connor was appointed its engineer.

Subsequently he was district engineer, under the central Government of New Zealand, for the county of Westland, and later for the Canterbury provincial district. In 1874 he re- ceived the appointment of district engineer for the combined Nelson and Westland districts, a position which he retained until 1880. He also acted, by permission of the Government, as consulting engineer for the county of Westland and the Hokitika Harbour Board.

During the same year Mr. O'Connor was appointed inspecting engineer for the whole of the Middle Island of New Zealand, and he retained that office until November 1883, when he became Under-secretary of Public Works of New Zealand. He acted in that capacity until May, 1890, when he was appointed marine engineer for the whole of the island colony.

In April, 1891, Mr. O'Connor accepted the appointment of Engineer-in-Chief of Western Australia, a position which carried with it the acting-general managership of railways. Mr. O'Connor carried out the duties appertaining to the latter office until 1896, when, at his own request, he was relieved of the railways management, in order that he might devote the whole of his attention to the great engineering schemes that were engaging the attention of the world.

It was in 1891, that Mr. O'Connor published his scheme for the construction of the magnificent harbour works that now exist inside the river at Fremantle. The scheme met with great opposition by reason of the fact that other experts, including Sir John Coode, had given it as their opinion that the harbour would have to be constructed outside the bar. By his powerful influence and determination, however, Mr. O'Connor succeeded in convincing the Government and the legislature of the day, of the practicability of his scheme; and it may be predicted that the result achieved will stand as a memorial to him so long as Fremantle exists.

As the originator of the Coolgardie Water Scheme, Mr. O'Connor was known throughout the world, and it is a source of profound regret that he did not live to see the completion of that great undertaking. Mr. O'Connor was associated with many other important public works in Western Australia, and by his death the State has lost a man who, after Sir John Forrest, was, it will be generally conceded, foremost in its development.

Mr. O'Connor was admitted as a member of the Institute of Civil Engineers in 1880; and a Companionship of the Order of St. Michael and St. George was conferred upon him in 1897. It will be remembered that in January, 1897, he went to London in connection with the Coolgardie Water Scheme, and returned in September, 1897. On that occasion he was specially commissioned to visit the old country to confer with and supply data with reference to the water scheme to the board of engineering experts appointed to deal with the scheme.

Further, he was instructed by the Government of the day to visit the principal engineering of establishments, harbour works, docks, light railway systems etc., in England and on the Continent of Europe, with a view to gain up-to-date information as to the best means of handling cargo in harbours and in building harbours and appliances.

It is also but a few days ago that he returned from Adelaide, South Australia, where he had been engaged with two other experts— Mr. C. Napier Bell, and Mr. Keele—in reporting on the proposed outer harbour scheme, his services having been lent to the South Australian Government by our local Government.

In 1875 he married Miss Ness, daughter of Mr. Wm. Ness, of Christchurch, New Zealand, who, with seven children, most of whom are married, survive him.

https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/oconnor-charles-yelverton-7874

O'Connor, Charles Yelverton (1843 - 1902)

Birth: 11 January 1843, Castletown, Meath, Ireland
Death: 10 March 1902, Fremantle, Western Australia.
Cultural Heritage: Irish
Religious Influence: Anglican
Occupation: hydraulic engineer public servant rail/tramways engineer railways commissioner

O'CONNOR, CHARLES YELVERTON (1843-1902), engineer, was born on 11 January 1843 at Gravelmount, Castletown, Meath, Ireland, third and youngest son and fourth child of John O'Connor, farmer and company secretary, and his wife Mary Elizabeth, née O'Keefe. Educated first at his aunt's home, then at Waterford Endowed School (Bishop Foy's School), O'Connor was 'almost brought up on railways'. He was articled to John Chaloner Smith, engineer to the Waterford-Kilkenny line, and gained experience in constructing railways in the south and west of Ireland, and water-control works in the north.

In 1865 O'Connor migrated to New Zealand. He joined Rowland Campion Long in undertaking a survey contract at Ngahinapouri, Waipa River area, North Island. In September O'Connor joined the staff of Edward Dobson, head of the Department of Works of Canterbury province, which embraced the west-coast region with its many gold-mining centres. Here he worked initially on the locating and survey of a route for the first dray and coach road across the Southern Alps. In 1867 he was the surveyor of the proposed Greymouth-Hokitika-Christchurch railway. Next August he was appointed assistant engineer, lands and works, for the Westland area; in 1870 he became county engineer. These appointments threw all responsibility for decision-making upon O'Connor. In 1872 he became district engineer for Canterbury province. On 5 March 1874, at Christchurch, he married Susan Laetitia Ness; they had eight children.

O'Connor's work included the provision of controlled supplies of water for the pumping and sluicing needs of the goldminers, locating tracks and roads, building bridges, and improving harbour facilities. During the 1870s he knew engineers of international repute: John Carruthers, engineer-in-chief in the colony in 1871-79, and Sir John Coode. O'Connor went to Dunedin in 1880 to become inspecting engineer for the South Island. That year he was elected to the Institution of Civil Engineers, London. O'Connor's west-coast experience had proved his capacity for initiative and leadership and toughened him physically. By the early 1880s his views on the effective construction and operation of colonial railways became widely known, as did his work in improving harbours. In 1883-90 he was under-secretary for public works. In 1890, however, following reorganization, he unexpectedly was appointed not departmental head but, instead, marine engineer for the whole colony. He began examining employment prospects elsewhere.

In April 1891 (Sir) John Forrest, premier of Western Australia, offered O'Connor the position of engineer-in-chief. In reply to his inquiry as to whether his responsibilities would cover railways or harbours or roads, Forrest cabled 'Everything'. O'Connor, with his eldest daughter Aileen, travelled via Victoria where he presented to the government a report on its railways. In June he met Forrest. Both were big men, O'Connor, lithe and athletic; at over six feet (185 cm), he was slightly the taller. Both had known the toughening experience of surveyors working in unexplored places. O'Connor was the more sensitive, with wide and cultivated tastes and a passionate sense of justice for men of all degree. For the next ten years they worked closely together.

O'Connor found that he was also to act as general manager of government railways. He carried this dual responsibility for the next five and a half years. Forrest's first demand was a harbour at Fremantle to accommodate the royal mail contractors, the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co. and the Orient Steam Navigation Co., whose vessels were the largest steamers coming to Australia. Forrest and some of his influential peers had decided on the harbour they wanted and where it should be sited. They had accepted plans elaborated in 1887 by Sir John Coode who had found that the Swan River's entrance was obstructed by a bar of rock exposed at low water in an estuary, with little difference between high and low water. Some local people believed the region was menaced by serious littoral sand travel. So Coode designed an outer harbour. Though his estimates were higher than Forrest could accept in 1891, the premier supported his plan.

O'Connor doubted whether evidence had been tested. With characteristic independence and thoroughness he examined all the data, and collected more: he had observations and soundings made; and he consulted everyone who handled ships and knew the area's seas, currents and winds. This convinced him that there was no serious littoral sand travel. He considered it would be practical and economical to remove the obstructing bar, deepen the area within the river mouth, and to keep it clear by dredging. An extensive sheltered harbour, further protected by a north and south mole stretching seawards from Rous Head and Arthur Head, could be created within the estuary to satisfy Forrest's demand, and at a cost consistent with available resources.

Before the end of the year O'Connor completed plans and estimates for an inner harbour for all vessels drawing 30 feet (9 m) at low water, and sufficient to meet the port's demands for the foreseeable future. He calculated that the more extensive of his two schemes would cost £800,000, and could be completed in eight years. Forrest was convinced by the clarity of O'Connor's presentation and by parliament's acceptance of the findings of a select committee inquiring into the competing plans for the works.

O'Connor settled in Fremantle at Park Bungalow in Quarry Street, overlooking the river. In 1900 the family moved to Beach Street; most of them easily adapted to the West.

In November 1892 the inauguration ceremony of the harbour works took place. In 1897 Lady Forrest opened the harbour, and in 1900 the mail station was altered from Albany to Fremantle. The official seal of success was set when on 12 September R.M.S. Himalaya, the P. & O. mail carrier outward bound from London, entered the inner harbour and berthed. The harbour of 1900 was larger than that O'Connor had detailed in his first meticulous plans and was capable of extension.

O'Connor effected striking improvements in building and operating the government railways. In his first loan bill (£1,336,000) Forrest had earmarked practically two-thirds for railway construction. Succeeding budgets provided additional funds. By June 1896 new lines had been built: the Yilgarn, extending from Northam to Southern Cross; the South-West, including the Donnybrook and Vasse branches; and the Northern, with the Walkaway and Mullewa branches. By the end of the year the Yilgarn railway had been extended to Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie; and the government arranged to buy the Great Southern Railway from the West Australian Land Co., linking Albany with Beverley. Until December his double responsibility as engineer-in-chief and acting general manager of railways enabled O'Connor to influence railway policy. He insisted that the existing lines be upgraded and that new lines appropriate for colonial conditions be planned and constructed. Though he encountered criticism and obstruction to his proposals to re-route and upgrade the key line of the future, the Eastern line (from Fremantle, Perth and Guildford to Spencer's Brook, with spur lines to Newcastle (Toodyay), Northam and Beverley), he succeeded in making these changes by more competent surveys, improved routes and gradients, and a better road-bed, laid with heavier rails. He demanded more and better rolling stock suitable for Western Australia.

O'Connor insisted that the basis of more efficient and economic government railways was well-sited, well-equipped locomotive, maintenance and repair workshops. Though he immediately improved the layout, staffing and equipping of the cramped Fremantle workshops, it took another twelve years for governments to implement his proposals for modern shops on a better site. O'Connor fostered the well-being of the railway workers. In his last report as acting general manager he wrote that they were overworked, underpaid and endured poor working conditions; he demanded better education, recruitment and training of cadets. His management of the railways yielded results: for the first time, they paid their way.

The steam railways were handicapped by scarcity of water, more acute the further inland the lines penetrated. In 1891 and 1892 John W. James, a hydraulic expert, examined the water resources of the Avon Valley, the Darling Range and the watershed of the Swan River, and reported on the possibilities of water conservation. In 1892 on a journey to Southern Cross, a new gold-mining centre, O'Connor saw for himself the arid, riverless country through which the new railway line from Northam must pass. He saw the wells and bores put down, the ground tanks made, and the condensers built to treat heavily mineralized water where it could be found. He initiated the first systematic search for water along the route of the Northam-Southern Cross line, selecting the young assistant engineer William Herbert Shields as surveyor. As a result, several rock catchments were used and ground-water tanks constructed to provide water for the railway.

With the rush following the discovery of rich gold at Coolgardie (1892) and Kalgoorlie (1893), the lack of water became more serious. In November 1893 responsibility for water-supplies on the goldfields passed permanently to the Department of Public Works: O'Connor established the goldfields water-supply branch. Its engineers were remarkable men using every possible device to conserve water, even though it might be no more than a gallon (4.5 litres) or less a day, a pitiably small amount in an area of high temperatures and dust.

Just when O'Connor began work on a plan to provide an abundant, permanent supply of fresh water for the Coolgardie goldfields is not known, but by mid-1895 his plans were under way. Details had still to be clarified: costs; the latest evidence of appropriate equipment; the supply price of pumps and materials from overseas landed in the colony; records of rainfall; evaporation rates; and estimates of potential water consumption. O'Connor's scheme would provide water for the men and the mines, for the railway, and for the townships Forrest expected to grow along the Yilgarn line.

With limited resources but with the enthusiasm of his staff, O'Connor made plans. By the end of October 1895, designs and estimates—showing alternative materials, pipes of varying dimensions, three different quantities of water—were ready for Forrest. The scheme was imaginative and dramatic; simple but bold. Water would be stored on the wet western slope of the Darling Range. From there it would be lifted a thousand feet (304 m) over the escarpment and pumped 328 miles (528 km) across the plateau to a reservoir at Coolgardie. Through 21 steel mains, 30 inches (762 mm) in diameter, 5 million gallons (22.7m litres) of water would be delivered daily to Coolgardie for 3s. 6d. per 1000 gallons (4546 litres). The scheme could be completed in three years and was estimated to cost £2½ million. Forrest accepted it but he had to convince parliament, and persuade it to support the raising of a London loan.

O'Connor suggested that the scheme be submitted in 1897 to a commission of experts: he visited London where three British engineers commended the plan as entirely practical, the greatest undertaking of its kind yet constructed. But nothing stilled the local opposition, criticism and attack. That year O'Connor was appointed C.M.G.

Two years passed, from his own initial approval of the plans, before Forrest obtained the parliamentary support for the Coolgardie Water Supply Scheme that he sought. Even then, delays occurred. It was October 1898 before the government signed contracts with Mephan Ferguson of Melbourne and the Hoskins brothers of Sydney, to manufacture steel pipes for the water main. Steel plate would not be shipped from the United States of America and Germany for another six months. Meanwhile in the valley of the Helena River excavations began for the great reservoir at Mundaring; surveys were made of the pipe-line route to Coolgardie.

Forrest and his friend (Sir) John Winthrop Hackett, editor of the West Australian, commended the plan. Both Forrest and O'Connor saw it in a wider context, as part of a related plan to enhance the colony's development: a harbour at Fremantle; railways and communications; water for railways, potential settlements, goldminers; and, later, the western link of an Australian transcontinental railway.

In February 1901 when Forrest withdrew from the State government to enter the first Federal parliament, the realization of that link seemed near. As Federal minister for defence, he requested O'Connor in April to report on an Australian transcontinental line, to connect the terminal at Kalgoorlie to Port Augusta, South Australia. On 19 May O'Connor presented plans and estimates.

In Western Australia Forrest's dominance was not repeated. Short-lived, unstable governments left the Coolgardie water scheme and O'Connor vulnerable. Work was well advanced, but at a crucial stage. His decision to use on the water main a novel, electric caulking machine provoked a storm. In 1902 while he was in South Australia advising its government on an outer harbour for Adelaide, harassment intensified. In parliament much criticism was uninformed, malicious and unbridled. Eventually O'Connor submitted a detailed memorandum, rebutting a long list of criticisms aired in both Houses.

The Sunday Times was vicious and defamatory. These attacks, and the silence of the minister and the government, wounded him. Depressed, affected by neuralgia and insomnia intensified by overwork and nervous exhaustion, O'Connor needed a respite not controversy. Unfortunately, the under-secretary Martin Jull, a friend and colleague of administrative skill who would have recommended the appropriate ministerial action, had left the State for a year.

O'Connor's confidence in his scheme was vindicated on 8 March 1902 by a successful preliminary pumping test of six miles (9.6 km) of the water main over the most difficult part of the route. That evening one small leak was discovered near Chidlow's Well. He arranged to accompany the engineer in charge of construction to the site on Monday. That morning, 10 March 1902, he prepared for his customary early ride but his usual companion, his youngest daughter, was unwell. He rode alone along the Fremantle beach past the new harbour, then south to Robb Jetty, where he rode his horse into the sea. His deft revolver shot ended his life.

He had left a note: 'The Coolgardie Scheme is alright and I could finish it if I got a chance and protection from misrepresentation but there is no hope of that now and it is better that it should be given to some entirely new man to do who will be untrammelled by prior responsibility'.

O'Connor had been a man of strong personality, initiative and imagination. He was compassionate, forward looking and seemed to many contemporaries a genius. With his varied interests and quick wit he was a delightful host, and a man of strong family feeling.

On 12 March a vast congregation followed his body to the Anglican portion of the new cemetery at Fremantle, the grave to be marked by a great Celtic cross erected by his staff. His wife, three sons and four daughters survived him. Two of the sons were engineers; two of the daughters married engineers, one of them being (Sir) George Julius; another daughter Kathleen (Kate) became a distinguished artist. A bronze statue of O'Connor by Pietro Porcelli was later erected at Fremantle.

By the end of 1902, as planned, the work was completed for the estimated cost: the great reservoir was ready, the pumps installed, the main laid to Coolgardie and extended another twenty-five miles (40 km) to Kalgoorlie. The water had completed its carefully regulated flow begun eight months before in the Helena River valley at Mundaring. On 24 January 1903, amid great rejoicing, Forrest turned on the water at Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie. He praised O'Connor, 'the great builder of this work … to bring happiness and comfort to the people of the goldfields for all time'.