Person

Kathleen Butler

Not who you're looking for? Others named Kathleen Butler: English scholar of Italian (1883-1950), Mistress of Girton · British screenwriter

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Overview

Kathleen M. Butler (27 February 1891 – 19 July 1972) was nicknamed the "Godmother of Sydney Harbour Bridge" and also known as the "Bridge Girl". As the first person appointed to Chief Engineer J.J.C, Bradfield's team, as his Confidential Secretary, (a role which today would be called a technical adviser or project manager), she managed the international tendering process and oversaw the development of the technical plans, travelling to London in 1924 to supervise the project in the offices of Dornan's, the company which won the tender. At the time it was built, Sydney Harbour Bridge was the largest arch bridge in the world, with the build expected to take six years to complete. Her unusual role garnered much interest in the press in Australia and Britain. Early life Kathleen Muriel Butler was born on 27 February 1891 in Lithgow, New South Wales, one of seven children. She grew up in the Blue Mountains and attended school in Mount Victoria, where her father, William Henry Butler, was stationmaster, and she later studied at Mount St. Mary's Convent in Katoomba. Butler later attributed her engineering ability to her mother Annie Butler (née Gaffney) "who was remarkably clever at drawing plans of houses and supervising buildings". Career On leaving school, sometime before 1910, Butler was appointed as a clerk and typist to Mr W.F Burrow, chief officer of the New South Wales (NSW) government testing office in Lithgow, set up to monitor the quality of output from the local ironworks. At this point she had no technical qualifications. On 10 December 1910 (aged 19) she was transferred to the NSW Department of Public Works in Sydney. She joined the staff of the Chief Engineer of metropolitan railway construction, when the branch was established in 1912 to deal with Sydney's transit problems. This was the beginning of her long professional association with J. J. C. Bradfield, working as his Confidential Secretary. During the following decade she "mastered all sorts of intricate technical matters of engineering" to become a highly skilled technical project manager.

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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Not who you're looking for? Others named Kathleen Butler: English scholar of Italian (1883-1950), Mistress of Girton · British screenwriter

Overview

Kathleen M. Butler (27 February 1891 – 19 July 1972) was nicknamed the "Godmother of Sydney Harbour Bridge" and also known as the "Bridge Girl". As the first person appointed to Chief Engineer J.J.C, Bradfield's team, as his Confidential Secretary, (a role which today would be called a technical adviser or project manager), she managed the international tendering process and oversaw the development of the technical plans, travelling to London in 1924 to supervise the project in the offices of Dornan's, the company which won the tender. At the time it was built, Sydney Harbour Bridge was the largest arch bridge in the world, with the build expected to take six years to complete. Her unusual role garnered much interest in the press in Australia and Britain. Early life Kathleen Muriel Butler was born on 27 February 1891 in Lithgow, New South Wales, one of seven children. She grew up in the Blue Mountains and attended school in Mount Victoria, where her father, William Henry Butler, was stationmaster, and she later studied at Mount St. Mary's Convent in Katoomba. Butler later attributed her engineering ability to her mother Annie Butler (née Gaffney) "who was remarkably clever at drawing plans of houses and supervising buildings". Career On leaving school, sometime before 1910, Butler was appointed as a clerk and typist to Mr W.F Burrow, chief officer of the New South Wales (NSW) government testing office in Lithgow, set up to monitor the quality of output from the local ironworks. At this point she had no technical qualifications. On 10 December 1910 (aged 19) she was transferred to the NSW Department of Public Works in Sydney. She joined the staff of the Chief Engineer of metropolitan railway construction, when the branch was established in 1912 to deal with Sydney's transit problems. This was the beginning of her long professional association with J. J. C. Bradfield, working as his Confidential Secretary. During the following decade she "mastered all sorts of intricate technical matters of engineering" to become a highly skilled technical project manager.

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).