Winifred Davenport was a Brisbane girl, born February 18th, 1924. According to her cousin, Pamela Davenport, she had always had
a talent with mathematics which eventually led her to pursue a career in engineering.
Photo of Winifred Davenport, credit: Queensland Government Department of Transport & Main Roads
She began her career working as a cadet draughts woman at the Evans Deakin shipyards at Kangaroo Point whilst taking night classes in civil engineering and by 1942 she’d qualified as Australia’s first female engineer.
Photo of Evan’s Deakin Shipyard, credit: Queenslandplaces by the University of Queensland.
She became an associate engineer for the Harbours and Marine Department in 1950 and soon became a key figure in Australian maritime engineering and architecture, working on various projects all around Queensland. A most notable example would be the iconic Manly Boat Harbour in Brisbane.
Photo of Manly Boat Harbour, credit: Queensland Government.
She also designed and supervised construction of the hydrographic survey ship Trigla in the 1960s and became the Official Measurer in Queensland for Olympic Class Yachts.
Photo of a hydrographic survey ship, HMAS Leeuwin, credit: Royal Australian Navy.
She became the first female corporate member of the Institution of Engineers in 1951. Then in 1958, she became a member of the Royal Institute of Naval Architects.
Royal Institute of Naval Architects logo, credit: Royal Institute of Naval Architects.
She became an icon for professional women when she earned an executive position in Harbour and Marine engineering. She was a passionate and determined woman who put her all into her work.
Her colleague, cartographer Shirly Webb, described her as “a very calm and pleasant person, gentle-natured and understanding and down to earth. She put a lot into her work but was never strident about it.”
In a period where women were often stereotyped into household roles and, although able to get the same jobs as men, were often paid less, it was only quite late in her career that she began to face trials for being a woman in a male dominant service. “It was a job. I’ve run into more (discrimination) problems in the past 15 years than ever before and I never struck it at the docks,” she once said.
She may have started in engineering because of a love of maths, but it did not take long for her to fall in love with boats. She began to work on the bridge and in the engine rooms of pleasure vessels like the SS Koopa and MV Mirimar, earning her a Master Mariner’s Certificate.
Photo of SS Koopa in the Brisbane River in 1965, credit: Queensland Museum Network.
She retired not long after earner her Mariner’s Certificate and began working on a history of shipping in Brisbane beginning from 1845. Her book, The History of the Harbours and Marine Department, has been a great aid to historians and people tracing their family history.
Cover of Winifred’s book, credit: Abebooks.
In 1990 she was made a Member
of the Order of Australia for her services to engineering.
She passed away in 2003 after struggling with illness for a long time at Redland Hospital. She never married and had no children.
Member of the Order of Australia, credit: Queensland Government Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.