Bourne, John

BOURNE, John jnr (1820–1875), contractor, was born at Coolattin, County Wicklow, Ireland, the son of John Bourne. He was a civil engineering contractor in Ireland but not related to the English civil engineer John Bourne (1811–74) of Durham and Northumberland. From work in Ireland or otherwise, Bourne had access to considerable capital before in 1853 he migrated to Australia where he commenced contracting in Melbourne, sometimes in ill-defined and later litigated partnerships with Francis Bell (1820–1879), John Musson (1828–1893) and Robert Huckson (1825–1902) when Huckson was contractor for JJ CLARK’s Treasury Building. Bourne’s contracts included a railway bridge in North Melbourne (1856), the Melbourne to Williamstown Railway (1857) the Hawthorne Railway bridge (1860) and portion of the Sandhurst to Echuca railway (1863). In 1864 he moved to Brisbane as contractor to the Municipal Council for both William COOTE’s Town Hall (£19,329) and ROBINSON & L’ANSON’s Brisbane River Bridge (£52,569). Under the Brisbane Bridge Act (1861) the cost was to be recouped by the sale of land in South Brisbane only transferred to Council after the bridge was completed. After the bridge contract was accepted on 6^th January 1864 for completion in two years, construction was delayed while changes suggested by the Council’s Inspecting Engineer, Thomas OLDHAM held up fabrication in England by Robinson & L’Anson. Construction commenced on 9^th May 1864 with staging for the bridge intended to serve also as a temporary bridge which opened on 24^th June 1865 when Bourne’s tender for the Dalby extension of the S&W Railway was so much below the preferred contractor PETO BRASSEY & BETTS, that Bourne was also awarded that contract (£149,117). By then the Town Hall approached completion. The contracts for the hall and the bridge were problematic with variations causing prolongation and unforeseen repercussions. William Coote also contributed to Bourne’s problems through his substitution of a heavier solid plaster ceiling in lieu of timber with papier mâché mouldings, causing the town hall’s completed roof to spread requiring rectification recommended by RG SUTER and George McLAGAN. Further delays with the bridge occurred when the Colonial Government belatedly requested that the swing span be increased. Shortly after the Government negotiated a loan of £1,171,450 with the Agra & Masterman’s Bank to fund its capital works, construction of the permanent bridge commenced in July 1866, about when it was to have been completed, and with a cost now estimated at £70,000. But less than three weeks later news was received of the earlier failure in London of the banker Overend Gurney & Co which precipitated a commercial crisis. Among early failures in London was the Agra & Masterman’s Bank who suspended payment. For Bourne the financial crash was the last straw. By October 1866, he was already pressed. The Municipal Council was unable to make an overdue progress payment until payment of a further £20,000 advance was paid in London to the Council by the Bank of Queensland, but only if paid before news was received there that the Bank was effectively insolvent. The partly built bridge was in a precarious state and without the intervention of the Colonial Government who were substantially responsible for the delays it could not be completed. The delays extended the anticipated life span of the temporary bridge leading to its partial collapse after the piles were attacked by cobra, the marine borer. The additional cost of $20,000 and delays “ultimately ended in disaster and ruin to Bourne”. The bridge was later completed by PETO BRASSEY & BETTS. After the collapse in the Government’s finances in July 1866, construction of the Dalby Railway slowed and despite Bourne. having received a delayed payment under that contract but owed money on the other two, was unable to pay wages for which he was imprisoned and his contract was cancelled on 1^st July 1867. Bourne spent the next five years seeking compensation for all three contracts. His premature death in July 1875 was barely reported.