Matthew worked hard to pursue training and work experience as an electrical engineer. In 1914 he was appointed City Electrical Engineer in Dunedin where he was responsible for the Waipori hydro power scheme. He served as the New Zealand Institution of Engineers President in 1941/2.
Matthew Henderson
Family background
Matthew Cochrane Henderson was born at Milton Mill, Glencross, on the outskirts of Edinburgh, Scotland.
He was the son of Allan Henderson of Midlothan and Agnes Hunter of Ayrshire in Scotland. Allan Henderson emigrated to New Zealand in 1877 and Agnes followed him with their five children the following year. The family settled in Ravensbourne, Dunedin.
Allan first found employment with the New Zealand Railways but soon joined the Donald Reid Company, an eminent stock and station firm in Dunedin where he worked as an accountant for 44 years.
Education and overseas work experience
Matthew went to Ravensbourne District School, along with two of his brothers. He then attended Otago Boys High School from 1886 to 1889.
Matthew had always wanted to be an engineer, and as there were no openings in Dunedin, his father arranged for him to travel to Edinburgh. Matthew arrived in London at the Royal Albert Docks in June 1890.
For the next three years Matthew studied engineering three nights a week at Heriot-Watt College in Edinburgh and during the day worked at the pattern shop of Herbert and Company on Leith Walk. He began work at 8:30am each morning and worked a 54-hour week. In recognition of his studies, Matthew received the Class Medal and McLaren-Robertson Prize in 1892 for Theoretical Mechanics (Solids and Fluids). The Heriot-Watt College was founded by James Watt, the father of the industrial revolution in the U.K., and is the forerunner of what is today Heriot-Watt University.
Diagnosed with pleurisy, Matthew returned home to Dunedin, arriving in December 1893. He attended Otago University from February 1894 to December 1896 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts.
After his arts degree, Matthew decided he wanted to return to engineering. A family friend arranged a two-year apprenticeship for him in Melbourne and he attended classes in electrical engineering at the Working Men’s College in Melbourne.
On returning to Dunedin in July 1899, Matthew was employed for a brief period by A & T Burt Ltd, building a dredge, but wanting to further pursue an engineering career, he left for London on 9 September 1899. Matthew sailed on the Rangatira, travelling via Fremantle and Cape Town. He worked his passage as a greaser, keeping the ship’s machinery oiled.
In London, Matthew looked for a position that would help him to gain experience in electrical engineering. He applied at a number of firms, but opportunities were limited. He advertised in the newspaper and received a reply from the Preston Electrical Department. He was appointed Junior Shift Engineer, a role he filled for 18 months. Seeking more electrical experience he advertised again and received an interview with the Ayr Electrical Department. He was appointed Shift Engineer in November 1902 and was promoted to Chief Assistant in March 1903.
Marriage
On 22 June 1905 Matthew married Agnes Findlay. Agnes was from Taieri, near Dunedin, and the couple had first met while Matthew was studying for his B.A. at Otago University.
Return to Dunedin
Later that same year, Matthew was approached by the Town Clerk of the Dunedin City Council who asked him to join the Dunedin Electrical Department as Assistant Electrical Engineer, and to report at the earliest possible date. Matthew accepted the invitation and he and Agnes left Ayr in November 1905. They sailed from London to Dunedin via Gibraltar, Suez Canal, Colombo, Fremantle and Bluff. Matthew started work with the Dunedin City Electric Department in January 1907.
In April 1907 Matthew was offered the position of City Electrical Engineer for a term of six months to replace William G.T. Goodman, an employee of A.G. Noyes of Australia, who had been filling the position as a consultant. Matthew accepted the role, subject to an assistant being appointed. In the meantime, however, the Council received an application from Edgar Stark for the position of City Electrical Engineer and due to his greater experience, employed Stark in the role over Matthew. Matthew returned to his role as Assistant Electrical Engineer.
Waipori hydro scheme
In the early 1900s, the Dunedin City Council considered a number of options for electricity supply to the city and surrounding boroughs, and to run the city’s newly electrified trams. The steep gorge of the Waipori river was an attractive site for a hydro-scheme, and a power station there began operation on 29 April 1907.
From the time of his appointment to the Dunedin Electrical Department, Matthew was intimately involved with the development of both supply and reticulation of electricity to Dunedin and the Waipori scheme became a major part of his work.
The Waipori hydro scheme, still in operation, sits on the Waipori River, approximately 60 kilometres southwest of Dunedin. In the first iteration of the scheme, water was diverted by a timber crib dam into 2.8 kilometres of timber fluming along one side of the Waipori River Gorge. The water flowed to a concrete penstock leading to the electricity generation station. The station had two Pelton wheels, operating on a head of almost 200 metres, driving two generators. The scheme had a 2,000-kW capacity. By 1911 the capacity had been increased to 4,000 kW, and there were 1,107 consumers.
In 1914 Edgar Stark retired and Matthew was appointed City Electrical Engineer. He held this position for 24 years until his retirement in October 1938. During Matthew’s tenure in the role of City Electrical Engineer he oversaw the expansion and development of the Waipori Scheme from 6,000kW to 19,375 kW. The number of consumers increased from 3,955 to 28,472, the kWs connected from 10,951 to 86,000, and the number of units sold from 10,999,608 to 67,433,000.
Matthew dealt with issues of flooding, failure of fluming, and loss of continuity of supply, often for extended periods. He oversaw the increased generation capability and managed the construction of new dams and tunnels. He was also engaged with evolving technology; the Department was the first supplier in NZ to install 33kW transmission lines.
Managing all this work took commitment and perseverance. Upon his retirement the Otago Daily Times said that Matthew’s best testimonial was Waipori itself.
New Zealand Institution of Engineers
Matthew was an active member of the New Zealand Society of Civil Engineers and was an inaugural member of the Otago Branch when it was established in 1934. He served as Chairman of the Branch in 1936 and as New Zealand Institution of Engineers President in 1941-42. His Presidential Address, delivered in absentia due to ill health, was titled “A Brief History of Waipori Hydro-Electric Development”.
Matthew was also a Member of Institute of Electrical Engineers London, Institute of New Zealand Electrical Engineers and the New Zealand Electrical Supply Authorities.
Community involvement
On his retirement in 1938, Matthew was elected to the Dunedin City Council and served two terms. In the first term he was a member of the Trading Committee and Chairman of the General Committee. In his second term he became Chairman of the Transport Committee and served on the Finance Committee.
He was a foundation member of the Rotary Club of Dunedin when it was established in 1924 and remained a member for many years. He was a director of the YMCA and an Elder of the St Andrews Presbyterian Church in Dunedin for over 50 years.
He maintained an active interest in a number of other organisations and was a keen lawn bowler.
Children
Matthew and his wife Agnes had five children - Elizabeth, Allan, Lindsay, Roland, and John.
The eldest, Elizabeth, was born in Dunedin on 10 October 1907 and became a teacher at Otago Girls High School. Allan took up farming in Southland and represented the Federated Farmers on the Lincoln College Council for 20 years; Lindsay was a librarian at University of Otago; Roland qualified as a vet in Australia but was killed while serving in World War II; and John (known as Jack) followed his father’s footsteps to become a civil engineer.
Matthew Henderson, centre front, at the Waipori Falls Power Station. Dunedin Public Libraries, https://dunedin.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/202325
References
“Civic Servant Honoured. Mr M C Henderson’s Retirement,” Dunedin Evening Star, April 1, 1938, 15. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19380401.2.152
M. Henderson, "Brief History of the Waipori Hydro-Electric Development." New Zealand Institute of Engineers, Presidential address. Proceedings of the New Zealand Institution of Engineers, vol 28, no.1 (April, 1942): 35-67.
K.C. McDonald, City of Dunedin: a century of civic enterprise (Dunedin: Dunedin City Corporation, 1965).
“Merited Recognition,” Otago Daily Times, April 2, 1938, 14. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19380402.2.81
W.L. Newnham, Learning, Service Achievement: Fifty Years of engineering in New Zealand, ed. F.N. Stace (Wellington: New Zealand Institution of Engineers, 1971).
R. Pairman, “A History of the Dunedin City Corporation Electricity Department and Waipori Fall Hydro-Electric Scheme,” New Zealand Electrical Journal 24, no. 11 (November 1951).
Paul Sorrell ed., The cyclopedia of Otago & Southland (Dunedin: Dunedin City Council, 1999), Vol 1, 305.
“The city electrical department,” Otago Daily Times, June 7, 1907, 4. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19070607.2.25
Biography by William John Henderson
Page last updated 16 April 2021
