C. Y. O'Connor

O'Connor's life was both a triumph and a tragedy. He pulled himself up from disadvantaged beginnings in a famine-torn Ireland to become a master of his profession, inspired and inspiring to others. By his own energy, probity, vision and application, it could be written of him at his death that 'no engineer [had] done more than he for an individual colony'. Charles Yelverton O'Connor is a legendary figure in early colonial civil engineering. But the fame of his great works, particularly the Goldfields Pipeline Scheme, which brought water 560 kilometres to the desert Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia, has almost been matched by that of his enigmatic death. O'Connor's work, now revered and celebrated, was misunderstood and undervalued by many of his contemporaries. Wounding criticism of the Goldfields Pipeline and libellous newspaper reporting aimed directly at O'Connor contributed much to the final crisis of this proud, deep-thinking, private man. This new biography by Tony Evans introduces fresh research material in examining O'Connor's character, influences and background. Evans confirms his subject as a tragic genius whose works changed the face and fortunes of both New Zealand and Australia in the second half of the nineteenth century.