History of wireless telegraphy and broadcasting in Australia/Topical/Biographies/John Hesketh
John Hesketh was Australia's first Commonwealth Chief Electrical Engineer and held that role from appointment in 1903 until his untimely passing in 1917. He was born in 1868 in Lytham, Lancashire and took an interest in telegraphy from an early age. He was appointed, at age 14, as a telegraphist with the British Post Office and following a similar path to his mentor Oliver Heaviside, self-educated and was eventually engaged as electrical engineer to the Blackpool Corporation in the early 1890s. He quickly developed a reputation as a competent engineer. In 1896 he applied for, and was appointed to, the newly created position of Chief Electrical Engineer with the colonial Queensland Government. His achievements in that role were extensive, oversighting development of the colony's extensive telegraph and telephone system. In his ancillary role as Captain and Lieutenant in the Queensland Defence Forces (land), he both rendered aid to, and participated in the circa 1900 wireless experiments in Moreton Bay by William Rooke Creswell of the QDF naval arm. Following federation several senior Qld PMGD officials, including Hesketh, transitioned to even more senior Commonwealth roles (eg Justinian Oxenham, Robert Townley Scott). Hesketh was appointed as Chief Electrical Engineer with the Commonwealth PMGD. In that role he had considerable contact with other early interstate wireless experimenters Henry Walter Jenvey, John Yates Nelson and Charles Todd. However, in line with departmental thinking at the time, focussed his work on the profitable telegraph and telephone systems. Hesketh was involved in the appointment of expatriate Queenslander John Graeme Balsillie as Commonwealth Wireless Expert to implement Australia's coastal wireless network. Hesketh left a legacy particularly in respect of development of automatic telephone systems in Australia. His passing, from anaemia in 1917 at age 49 years, left a gap in the Department which took years to fully absorb.
A summary biography has not yet been prepared however the following resources have been assembled in preparation:
- Transcriptions and Notes - John Hesketh - More than 60 transcriptions and notes
- Photos, QSL cards and other graphics - John Hesketh - Nothing uploaded as yet (excellent photos on NAA and in newspaper articles)
A quite detailed biography was published in 1918 by the IEE and a transcription can be found here: [1]
An excellent article on "Early Automatic Telephony in Australia" by J. F. Moynihan can be found here: [2]