Graduates 2002

Rodney Deacon - Engineer, Loy Yang Power

“Upon graduation I was employed as a 'Design Engineer' by 'Wimmera Mallee Water'(WMW), a rural water authority based in Horsham in Victoria's Wimmera region. Due to the limited engineering resources experienced by the work was quite varied from being involved with survey work, to preliminary investigation and detailed design work through to contract and project management on projects associated with the rehabilitation and/or replacement of water infrastructure assets. Key projects I was involved with at WMW were the Lake Bellfield Upgrade Project, the Horsham District Longerenong Rd bridge replacement (design and construct project) and the Rocklands Outlet Channel Flume Rehabilitation Program.

“The Lake Bellfield Upgrade Project, a $3 million two stage project, involved the deepening of the sandstone spillway as part of Stage 1, and the raising of the main embankment by approximately 2 metres using earth and rockfill materials topped by a precast concrete parapet wall as part of Stage 2 such as to bring the dam up to current safety standards.

“The Horsham District Bridge Replacement Project involved the replacement of a deteriorated prestressed concrete road bridge over a major supply channel. I was in charge of the design and construction of the bridge.

“The Rocklands Outlet Channel Flume Rehabilitation Program involved establishing a 5 years maintenance program to rehabilitate the ageing reinforced concrete structure. The flume being a reinforced concrete structure approximately 3.5 kilometres long, comprising of a number of 'bench' sections and which was constructed in the early 1950's was showing signs of significant deterioration.

“After 18 months with WMW I gained employment with Loy Yang Power to whom I am still employed. Loy Yang Power is a power generation company, located in Gippsland's Latrobe Valley operating Australia's largest open cut coal mine and responsible for the generation of approximately 40% of Victoria's total electricity.

“The most significant project which I have been involved with to date has been the construction of a $1.2 million fire service ring main extension which will provide increased supply capacity to the dredger systems as the mine continues its development. As project manager I was in charge of the procurement of materials, the monitoring of cost, quality and time, provision of supervision and direction to contractors, the planning of key tasks with the wider mining operations, undertaking of weekly site meetings and liaisoning with the design consultant.