Death Of The Week: Sir John Holland

Look, John Holland's achievements really do overshadow his failures.

Dearly Departed: Australian engineer and construction magnate Sir Clifton Vaughan ‘John’ Holland, AC, 1914-2009.

Cause Of Death: Only described as “a long illness.”

Greatest Achievement: Holland’s construction company was involved in iconic Australian projects: the Snowy Mountains Scheme, the West Gate Bridge, the Sydney Entertainment Centre, and the “new” Parliament House.

John Holland returned to civil engineering after a stint in the Middle East, Greece and the Pacific during World War II, forming his construction company in 1949. His first major contract was to build a shed for £200. The shed was to be built on the property of a farmer called Malcolm Fraser. Almost twenty years later, now Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser commissioned the John Holland Construction Group again, this time to help build the new Parliament House in Canberra.

The John Holland Construction Group was involved in some of the most important projects and recognisable structures in the country. They helped divert the Snowy River for the Snowy Mountains Scheme, one of the most involved hydroelectric engineering feats in history. They built the Sydney Entertainment Centre. They built the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne. They rebuilt Hobart’s Tasman Bridge and played a major role in rebuilding Darwin after Cyclone Tracy. Tragically, they had to rebuild Melbourne’s West Gate Bridge after the 1970 collapse that killed 35 workers (and were held responsible in the subsequent Royal Commission). They’ve also been contracted for recent strengthening work on the bridge.

John Holland Holdings, now subsumed into Leighton Holdings Limited, hasn’t avoided controversy. Even to this day they are battling unions and dealing with the fallout from the eternally troublesome EastLink project. Yet the man himself was renowned not only as one of Australia’s most distinguished engineers but also as a tireless philanthropist who encouraged his employees to contribute to society by his own example.

He was on the board of the Royal Melbourne Hospital, the Bone Marrow Foundation, the Voluntary Euthanasia Society, was a co-founder of the National Stroke Foundation and a patron of the Children First Foundation.

Holland was knighted in 1973 for services to engineering and received Australia’s highest civilian honour, the Companion of the Order of Australia, in 1988 for his community service. Holland didn’t just win awards; there is also one named for him. Since 1999, Engineers Australia have been honouring their finest with the Sir John Holland Award for Civil Engineer of the Year.

He will be missed.

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