2011 Chairman's Award - Wayne McDonald

Each year, the Chairman of the IRSE Australasian Section recognises an individual who has made a significant contribution to the rail industry.

Steve Boshier presented this year's award to Wayne McDonald at the 2011 AusRail Gala Dinner in Brisbane in front of a capacity crowd of industry participants.

Steve went on to explain why Wayne was a worthy candidate and had been selected to receive this prestige's award.

It recognises the enormous amount of work, dedication, impact and change that the individual has made to the Rail Systems industry.

He is someone who has:-

• Designed and implemented new signalling technologies across Australia, New Zealand and other countries.

• Trained hundreds of signalling engineers, technicians, managers (young & old) along with other interested parties in railway signalling & control equipment & systems.

• He has presented at numerous conferences, written technical papers (just Google and you will see) and is someone who always finds a way to come up with a solution to a problem.

• Setup & maintained the original IRSE web site for many years

• He has a detailed knowledge of many signalling systems and is always willing to go the extra mile in order to get things done.

For more than 40 years Wayne has been serving other engineers through his involvement in the rail industry.

Steve congratulated Wayne on his demonstrated commitment to others and presented him with the 2011 IRSE Chairman's Award.

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2010 Chairman's Award - Les Brearley

Each year, the Chairman of the IRSE Australasian Section recognises an individual that has made a significant contribution to the rail industry.  Chairman Steve Boshier presented this year’s award to Les Brearley at the 2010 AusRail Gala Dinner in Perth in front of 1,000 industry participants.

Steve went on to explain why Les was a worthy candidate and had been selected to receive this prestige’s award.  He said that a number of engineers seek to serve their peers through professional organisations, with the IRSE being one of those organisations.  For more than 36 years Les Brearley has been serving other engineers through his involvement in the rail industry and in that time has made a significant contribution through his work in three key areas:-

Safety management

Whilst at Queensland Rail, Les was the Manager Safe Working and oversaw the rewriting of the Book of Rules into operational procedures and he also introduced steps to improve the safety culture of QR.

During that time he was an industry representative on the working party that developed the intergovernmental agreement on rail safety, he was on the Standards Australia Technical committee that prepared the AS4292 suite of Railway Safety Management and was on the drafting committee for the head standard  - Railway Safety management – general requirements.

Contribution through the IRSE

Les has been an active member of the IRSE for over 34 years.  He joined the IRSE as a student and successfully completed the IRSE professional exam.  He has served on the Australasian committee for over 17 years, and helped organise numerous technical meetings & conferences.  Les was the Vice Chairman in 2000, and then Australasian Chairman in 2001 and 2002.

The training of future signal and telecommunications engineers

Les saw a need for professional development of railway signal and telecommunications engineers and in 2002 participated in the original industry workshop for the Rail CRC which decided that the development of post graduate courses on railway engineering was a priority.

He managed the development of the six courses making up the Diploma course.

The development of the course required over three man years of effort and required much encouragement, persistence and a little bit of nagging of volunteer writers to get to the stage where the initial course was run in 2004.  He has continued to be involved in the course as chairman of the Professional Education Committee and updating the course material.

To date there have been over 100 engineers who have successfully completed the Diploma and over 40 who have successfully completed the Certificate.  This year it is anticipated that there will be an additional 50 engineers to complete the Diploma.  

Les has made and is continuing to make a significant contribution to the rail industry.

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2009 Chairman's Award - Ken Kwong

Associate Professor Ken Kwong is the 2009 winner of the IRSE Australasia Chairman's Award.  The award was presented at the AusRail Plus 2009 Gala Dinner.

The IRSE Australasia Chairman, John Aitken, said:

Of the best leaders;
when their task is accomplished, their work is done; 
the people all remark: “we have done it ourselves”.

Lao-Tzu BC 600

"It was Rockhampton, July 2005.  The launch of the Postgraduate Diploma in Railway Signalling.   The culmination of several years of discussion and development in the first Rail CRC. 

"Some very driven members of the IRSE had met with a person from Central Queensland University who was to become one of the most influential people in the railway industry in this country.  And one of the least known.  A leader who sees success when the people all remark 'we have done it ourselves'.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Associate Professsor Ken Kwong is that leader.  A dedicated academic and teacher: one who goes the extra mile in every area.  A person who really cares about teaching and about learning.

"Associate Professor Ken Kwong has worked in the electronics and control industry and has moved from that practical base to teaching and leadership roles in universities. Ken has lectured extensively and has led the development and delivery of RailCRC postgraduate courses.

"Through Ken's influence I became the principal author of the communications course (CPD7).  It was only through that experience that I came to understand Ken’s dedication and the magnitude of his contribution.

"Encouragement.  Mentoring.  Discipline.  Enthusiasm.

"In this room tonight there are graduates who have been encouraged, nagged, inspired and enlightened by Ken.  There are current students in the course who have not yet realised quite what is happening to them.  Twenty years from now we will see the full fruits of his labour.

"The postgraduate diplomas and degrees from Central Queensland University stem from Ken’s unstinting work and sustained enthusiasm.  Certainly many other people have been involved but they have been lead by this invisible leader, even when they thought they were leading themselves.

"Tonight let us honour and thank Associate Professor Ken Kwong for his contribution to the railway industry in Australia."

Photo of Ken Kwong courtesy of RailGallery

Malcolm Menadue wins 2008 Chairman's Award

Malcolm Menadue was presented with the IRSE Chairman's Award at the AusRail 2008 Gala Dinner. The IRSE Chairman, John Aitken, said in presenting the award:

For over forty years Malcolm Menadue has been performing engineering work of excellence, quietly and effectively.
Malcolm has brought his skill to bear on telemetry and control projects for most, if not all, of the railways in Australia. Through Menadue and Associates, he has improved and developed the communications technology used by Pacific National across the country. I have had the privilege of knowing Malcolm and working on projects with him for about half that period. I have developed the highest regard and respect for his engineering knowledge, his ability and his thoroughness.

But that is not why we are here tonight. There are many competent and effective engineers - many in this room.

Just a few of those engineers seek to serve their peers through professional organisations. Serve their peers with generosity of time and effort. Serve their peers without monetary reward; indeed, at some cost to themselves.
 

For more than 30 years Malcolm has been serving other engineers through his involvement in the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers and the Institution of Engineers. He is a membership reviewer for the college of Electrical Engineers of the Institution of Engineers. He is a past chairman of the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers.

Many of you will remember the very successful CORE in Darwin - a conference that Malcolm helped organise. This is but one, as he has been responsible for organising eight major conferences for the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers - each of them a great success. Each of them an opportunity to share knowledge and build relationships.

Why is this so important? The IRSE believes that engineering knowledge and skill is something that should be shared. The IRSE believes younger engineers should benefit from the experience of those who have been in the industry longer. That we should mentor and encourage each other. That information should be freely available and that we should take the time and give the effort required to make these beliefs reality.

In every organisation there are quiet achievers. Competent and effective people who do their job without fuss or fanfare. Who do it without expecting reward or acknowledgement. Malcolm Menadue is one of those people. Tonight we recognise and honour his achievements. It gives me great pleasure to present Mr Malcolm Menadue with the IRSE Chairman's Award.

Howard Revell wins 2007 IRSE Australasia Chairman's Award

Howard Revell was presented with the 2007 IRSE Australasia Chairman's Award by Chairman Richard Stepniewski at the AusRail Plus Gala Dinner in Sydney.

Howard started his railway signalling career in York in UK in 1960.  In Howard’s 47 years in the industry, including 31 years in Australia, he has covered all aspects of signal engineering. In Australia, he has worked for DML, Westinghouse, Ventura, US&S and now Ansaldo STS and is currently their Director of Engineering.

Throughout his career Howard has not been afraid to get involved in difficult projects, lead from the front by getting involved, help others and put in the effort needed to achieve the required results.

He has been instrumental in the widespread acceptance of Microlok in Australia and for the introduction of Microtrax in NSW.

Howard always takes the time to explain the technology and the reasons behind practices to younger engineers.  His mentoring and advice has assisted many engineers in their development in railway signalling. He has contributed as an author to the Railway Signalling Diploma program and is responsible for maintaining one of the diploma courses.

Howard has actively supported the IRSE throughout his career.  He joined as a Student in 1969, became a full member in 1974 and a Fellow in 2004.  He has been on the Australasian section committee for the last eight years.

Howard is a very professional engineer, a thorough gentleman and has truly made a significant contribution to our industry over this long period of time.