This article on Ettore Checchi, by J. N. Churchyard, Research Officer at the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission was first published in Aqua, the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission Journal sometime between August 1956 and September 1958 and republished in Pioneers of Victorian Irrigation (pp. 20-21; SRWSC, 1976). Ettore Checchi, Pietro Baracchi and their friend Carlo Catani, arrived in Melbourne in September 1876.
Ettore Checchi (1853-1946 )
River Murray Agreement and River Gauging
by J.N. Churchyard.
In an era when this country is receiving record numbers of New Australians, it is particularly instructive to consider the life of Ettore Checchi (1), one of our Italian immigrants of 80 years ago. In fifty years of service to the State, Mr Checchi performed some monumental work, the effect of which will benefit Australia for all time. It symbolises the contribution which our New Australians can make to their adopted country today.
Ettore Checchi was born in 1853 in the town of Pisa, famous, of course for its “leaning tower”. The father of the family of 12 had died when young Ettore was five years old, leaving his family in some financial difficulty, but despite this severe setback early in his life, Ettore Checchi managed to obtain his engineering degree at Florence. However, realising that there were few good prospects in Italy, he decided to emigrate, and after a difficult six-months trip, landed in Melbourne in 1877*.
It is worth mentioning that two other Italians, Carlo Catani and Pietro Baracchi, both of whom also achieved notable positions in the Victorian Public Service, were on the same ship.
Of the three, Catani, who became Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department is probably the best known. From the Commission’s point of view, the most interesting work which he did was to drain the now-fertile Kooweerup Swamp, but he is also known for the development of St Kilda foreshore, where Catani Gardens was named in his honour, and for the beautification of Mount Buffalo National Park, where Lake Catani also bears his name. Less is known of Baracchi, but he was Victorian Government Astronomer for a number of years.
However, to take up the story of Ettore Checchi, he was first employed as an assistant engineer in the Department of Lands and Public Works, where, among other things, he was largely concerned with the design of buildings of Princes and Falls (Queen’s) Bridges. But Mr Checchi’s most notable work was done during 39 years of service from 1888 to 1927, first with the Victorian Water Supply Department, and later with the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission.
Ettore Checchi
In his first few years as an assistant engineer, Mr Checchi was employed on hydrographic work, where his organisation of systematic river gauging throughout the State, under the direction of Stuart Murray, attracted world-wide attention, and laid the foundation of a scientific water conservation policy in this State (2).
In 1894, after some years as Chief Assistant Engineer, Mr Checchi was appointed as Engineer in Charge of River Gaugings, Irrigation Trusts and the Coliban and Geelong Water Supply Systems. As might be imagined, these duties kept him extremely busy; in fact, records show that for one period of six years Mr Checchi averaged only one day’s leave per annum.
However, Ettore Checchi’s greatest contribution was to supply most of the technical data in regard to water resources required in connection with the harnessing of the waters of the River Murray, a problem which had proved highly contentious for half a century. As early as 1863, proposals had been made for developing the waters of the Murray and an interstate Royal Commission had reported on the subject in 1902. But it was not until 1914 that an Agreement on the subject based on the recommendations of an Interstate Conference of Engineers in 1913. It was this Agreement which led to the establishment of the River Murray Commission.
Commissioner J. S. Dethridge of the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission represented Victoria on the Conference. Ettore Checchi was the Chief Engineering Officer and was responsible for hydrographic investigations and the examination of storage sites along the Upper Murray, including one which was ultimately chosen for the Hume Reservoir. With his unique knowledge of stream conditions over a period of 25 years, Ettore Checchi was in a better position than any other man in Australia to advise on the distribution of water between the three States concerned.
The agreement of 1914 was the reward for his work, and at that stage, Mr Checchi might have been pardoned for thinking that his work had nearly ended, since he was then 57 years of age. However, he was by no means at the end of his working life for he did not retire until, at the age of 73 – and at his own request – he terminated what must be close to a record period of 50 years of service with the State. During his last 16 years with the Commission he was intimately associated with many of the major water conservation projects in this State, including the Hume and the first Eildon Reservoirs.
After his retirement Mr Checchi lived for a further 20 years until his death in 1946 at the age of 93 years. It is recorded by A.S. Kenyon that he was still “in fine form” and the age of 87, no doubt largely because of the great strength for which he was renowned. Indeed, Kenyon described him in a newspaper article as “possibly the strongest man in this world”.
The same source refers to Ettore Checchi as “first of all a gentleman in the fullest Continental sense of the word”, but more than that, “a great mathematician and a sound designing engineer”. The former tribute maybe endorsed only by those who knew Mr Checchi personally, but the latter claim is obvious from the work he did, which has provided such a sound basis for the development of water conservation not only in the State of Victoria, but in New South Wales and South Australia as well.
1.The Commission is indebted for much information in this article to Dr Checchi of Willaura, a son of the late Ettore Checchi, and to a daughter, Mrs N. Muddle of Hampton.
2. See article on Stuart Murray, “Aqua” November 1956.
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* Ettore Checchi, Carlo Catani and Pietro Baracchi actually arrived in Melbourne in September 1876.
Family information
Ettore Checchi married Rebecca Rodgers, of Attunga, near Tamworth on November 13, 1889. They had four children, all the births were registered in Caulfield - Leo, Cyril, Nancy and Norman Rodger. Rebecca died on November 24, 1944, aged 74 and Ettore died July 19, 1946. They were both cremated at Springvale.
Leo, born 1891, married Gwladys Williams , in Wales, in 1933. They had two sons John Rodger - born in 1936, married June Davies in 1962 and died in 1999; Howell Rodger, born 1941, married Glenys Ewans in 1972. Leo died April 14, 1972 and Gwladys July 30, 1972. All events took place in Wales.
Cyril, born July 24, 1892, married Frances Suddaby 'Fanny' Wilson at the Elsternwick Presbyterian Church on September 19, 1916. They had a son David Alwyn born November 2, 1920. David, joined the RAAF and died in a training flight in South Australia on May 13, 1942. Their daughter, Pauline, was born in September 1922. Frances died 1984, aged 88 and Cyril died at 104 years of age, May 14, 1997. They are buried at Willaura Cemetery. Cyril was a Doctor and practised at Willaura from 1920 to 1986. He was the subject of a book, The Greatest Joy of all: the story of Dr Cyril Checchi by Paul McLoughlin (Bob Meredith, 1995). The title The Greatest Joy of all, refers to the birth of babies.
Nancy, born February 24, 1895, married Hubert Roy Muddle, December 14, 1916. Hubert died at the age of 28 on June 17, 1919, in NSW. Their son, William Beaumont Muddle was born in 1917 in Victoria and died in NSW in 1959. Nancy died May 23, 1978, her Executor was Irene Nora Checchi. Nancy was cremated at Springvale.
Norman Rodger was born January 5, 1901. He married Irene Nora Morrison in 1927. Leo died May 13, 1987; Irene died October 30, 1988. They were both cremated at Springvale.
The family information comes from the Indexes to Victorian and NSW Birth, Death and Marriages; personal notices in Trove and newspapers.com; records on Ancestry and Springvale Cemetery records.
You can read Ettore Checchi's Australian Dictionary of Biography entry, written by Ronald East, here. It is partly based on Mr Churchyard's article. Lewis Ronald East, was an engineer with and later Chairman of the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission.
Italian Links with Kitchener's Hundred by John C. Trinca looks at the life and war service of Alfred John Trinca, Cyril Checchi and Leo Checchi. It is published in the Newsletter of the Italian Historical Society CO AS IT, v. 2, n. 3 July-September 1991 http://coasit.com.au/IHS/journals/IHS%20Journal007.pdf
In another post I have transcribed Ettore Checchi's entry from the 1903 Cyclopedia of Victoria, read it here.
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