Aust. Historical Medals

Lot 942    SESSION 4 (4.30PM MONDAY 30TH AUGUST)    Aust. Historical Medals

Estimate $700
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $750

COMMONWEALTH CELEBRATIONS, Victoria, 1901, fob in voided gold (15ct; 6.38g; 19x25mm) (C.1901/11), no maker, scroll and ring top suspension, reverse inscribed, 'A. J. Arnot'. Very fine.

Arthur James Arnot was born on 26 August 1865 at Hamilton in Scotland. He was educated at Hutchisontown Grammar School and Haldane Academy in Glasgow and then attended Glasgow College of Science from 1881 before being appointed assistant engineer at Grosvenor Gallery power station. He arrived in Melbourne, Victoria in 1889 on a two year contract to erect a large alternating current plant for Union Electric Co and in the same year he patented the world's first electric drill. In 1891 he was appointed as the first electrical engineer of the Melbourne City Council.

While with the Council he managed the installation of a comprehensive system of street lighting in the city 1891-92, designed and managed Spencer Street power station 1894-1901, and helped draft the Victorian Electric Light and Power Act of 1896. He was a member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, London 1899-1906, president of the Electrical Association of New South Wales and president of the Victorian Institute of Electrical Engineers in 1899. He was also an examiner in electrical technology for Victorian technical schools and councillor for the Working Men's College 1897-1901. From 1901-1929 he was Australasian manager of Babcock & Wilcox Ltd, Sydney.

Arnot also was in the volunteer forces serving as Lieutenant with Submarine Company, Victorian Engineers from 1894 and with Australian Engineers, AMF from 1915 retiring in 1925 at the rank of Major. He retired from Babcock & Wilcox in 1929 and died on 15 October 1946 at Castle Hill, Sydney, New South Wales.