13 Facts About Ron Fitch

Ronald John Fitch was an Australian railway executive and railway engineer.

Ronald John Fitch was born on 8 June 1910 in Melbourne, Victoria and was brought up in a railway family in the Perth suburb of Subiaco.

However, Ron Fitch was transferred to Kalgoorlie in 1931 and took up the role of Engineering Assistant.

Ron Fitch spent the next four years as engineer in charge of design work for the Western Australian railway gauge standardisation report.

In late 1947, Ron Fitch gave a course of lectures on Railway Civil Engineering at the University of Western Australia and during this time proposed to the Faculty of Engineering that he would submit a thesis for the degree of Master of Engineering.

Ron Fitch's thesis was duly accepted and in 1949 he gained his Degree in Master of Engineering.

In May 1949, Ron Fitch left the WAGR after 22 years service and relocated with his family to Port Augusta in South Australia to commence work for the Commonwealth Railways.

Ron Fitch formally became the CR Chief Civil Engineer responsible for the Trans-Australian Railway, Central Australia Railway and the North Australia Railway.

Ron Fitch tendered his resignation on 8 February 1954 and was then appointed Assistant to the Railways Commissioner the South Australian Railways.

The SAR planned to hold events at Port Pirie and Peterborough in recognition of those who worked on the project, however these events coincided with industrial action by the Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Enginemen, and Ron Fitch canceled the celebrations at short notice.

In 1973, after 46 years of service, Ron Fitch retired from the railways.

Ron Fitch was believed to be the oldest PhD recipient in the world at the time.

Ron Fitch was inducted into the Engineers Australia Hall of Fame in 2008.