Keith Murley

Keith Murley was born in Bendigo in 1929 and educated at Bendigo High School to the Matric level in 1945. He was awarded a Dafyyd Lewis Scholarship in 1946 to study Engineering at Melbourne University, graduating in 1949.Keith joined the Vic State Rivers & Water Supply Commission in Jan 1950 in the Irrigation and Drainage design section to work on the big expansion of irrigation in Victoria after WW2. He transferred to the Commissioners Department in 1951 as a Personal Technical Assistant to Chairman, L R East and held that to 1953, with a brief period in the field on the Big Eildon Dam Project, transferring back to Designs in 1953.During 1954 – 1955 on leave without pay to Europe, he attended an ICID Congress in North Africa & France on the way. Keith gained construction experience with Geo Wimpey in the UK, on factory buildings. During this time he attended a Hydraulic conference in Grenoble. Keith was advised to finish in the UK to accompany the SRWSC Chief Construction Engineer in 1955 on a study tour of dams & prestressed concrete in UK & Europe, including an ICOLD Congress in France, & then USA. Keith’s career then went forward to include;

Back to Irrigation & Drainage designs from 1955 to 1969, then to Dams Section from 1969 to 1971.

From 1971 – 1973 Senior Designing Engineer, Main Urban Branch. Designs & contracts for Urban systems. Then in 1973 back to Dams Design Section with involvement with ANCOLD.
Attended ICOLD Congress in Mexico in 1976 and after a study tour in USA following up on Dam Safety procedures.

Appointed Chief Designing Engineer in 1980, mainly dams but also irrigation & drainage works including co-ordination & support for field design team, AIDAB Bah Bolon Scheme, irrigation and flood protection project, North Sumatra with a visit to the site.

Active with ANCOLD & ICOLD for many years. Convener of the ANCOLD Committee which prepared the 1986 Guidelines on Design Floods for Dams, and subsequent revision. Attended ICOLD Meetings, Mexico -1976; Italy -1980; Holland & UK – 1984; Indonesia – 1986. Was ANCOLD representative on ICOLD Committee on Dams & Floods (from 1995 to July 2000).
In retirement Keith was appointed one of the two IEAust. Nominees on the NSW Dams Safety Committee in June 1989 and served on that Committee, with continuing ANCOLD and ICOLD involvements until retired in 2000. He was an invited Expert on Panels at the ICOLD Congress, San Francisco, 1988 and ICOLD Symposium on Dams & Extreme Floods, Granada, 1992.