National Committee

on
Automation Control and Instrumentation
(NCACI)

A History: 1986 to 2010

A quarter of a century of contribution to excellence
in the theory and practice of
Australian Automation, Control and Instrumentation

Michael Brisk
Published by The Institution of Engineers, Australia
May 2010

ISBN 978-0858259393

Printed by Blue Star Print A.C.T.

 Preface
“Control systems are concerned with the regulation of the behaviour of physical
or industrial processes in order that they meet specified objectives.”1 We control
processes to overcome the effects of disturbances, and the inherent variability
that occurs in all processing and manufacturing operations. By keeping processes
close to a steady state, or by ensuring they accurately follow desired trajectories,
we can achieve the key objectives2 of safer operation and reduced environmental
impact; more sustainable operation; and gains in efficiency, quality and agility,
leading to improved bottom line returns. We automate manufacturing operations
using a combination of instrumentation and control to achieve consistent quality,
coupled with increased productivity and reduced waste.

Looking back from a vantage point nearing the end of the first decade of the 21st
century with all today’s high technology resources, it is a sobering thought to
realise that although control techniques and devices evolved over several
millennia, a systematic study of control systems and their applications only
started less than one hundred years ago. In fact it took the advent of the computer
in the second half of the 20th century to provide the impetus and the means for the
rapid increases in control and automation applications which have led to the
levels we take for granted today.

It was also the computer, or more accurately, the vision of the potential
computing could offer control, which inspired a group of engineering academics
meeting in Sydney in 1975 to propose that The Institution of Engineers Australia,
through its College of Electrical Engineers, should provide the resources for an
activity to promote computers, their development and their applications to
control systems. The initiative led to the formation of a new National Committee
on Control and Computational Systems (NCCCS), which, although initially
focused on computing applications, particularly in electrical engineering,
progressively evolved to become in 1986 the National Committee for
Automation Control and Instrumentation (NCACI).

This brief history recounts the development of the NCACI, including its
predecessor the NCCCS, acknowledging the work of the many volunteer
members who have contributed over more than a quarter of a century to
promoting control, automation and instrumentation for the benefit of Australian
industry and the community.

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 Contents

Preface ..................................................................................................... 1
In the Beginning ….. there were “turf wars”….. ...................................... 4
A Committee is born …. with some pain ................................................. 5
The Activities of the NCCCS ................................................................... 9
The Birth of the NCACI ........................................................................ 11
The Activities of the NCACI ................................................................. 13
The ACI Newsletter ............................................................................... 13
Surveys, Mission Statements and Objectives ......................................... 15
Position Papers ...................................................................................... 17
Relationships with Other Groups ........................................................... 19
Courses and Conferences ....................................................................... 21
Awards and Prizes ................................................................................. 22
The Future for the NCACI? ................................................................... 25
Committee Members …. Some Key Contributors .................................. 26
Prof Derek Humpage (1976) ............................................................. 27
Dr Les Balzer (1981) ........................................................................ 28
Mr Peter Watt (1983) ........................................................................ 28
Prof Neville Rees (1986)................................................................... 29
Dr Brian Speedy (1987) .................................................................... 30
Prof Peter Sydenham (1988) ............................................................. 31
Mr Steve Lieblich (1989) .................................................................. 32
Dr Nigel Hancock (1990) .................................................................. 33
Prof Bob Bitmead (1990) .................................................................. 34
Mr Peter Stone (1992) ....................................................................... 34
Em. Prof Michael Brisk (1992) ......................................................... 35
Prof Ljubo Vlacic (1994) .................................................................. 37
Dr John Lear (1995) .......................................................................... 38
Dr Michael Evans (1996) .................................................................. 39
Prof Parisa Bahri (2002).................................................................... 39

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 Prof Iven Mareels (2002) .................................................................. 40
Mr Brandon Lee (2005) .................................................................... 41
Mr Michael Lees (2005).................................................................... 41
Appendix 1 NCACI & NCCCS Committee Members ........................... 43
Appendix 2 NCACI & NCCCS Committee Administrators .................. 45
Appendix 3 NCACI Newsletter Editors ................................................ 46
Appendix 4 Undergraduate Thesis Prizes .............................................. 47
Appendix 5 National Project Excellence Awards .................................. 51
Appendix 6 Conferences ....................................................................... 52
Appendix 7 Engineers Australia National Committees:
Purpose and Rules ............................................................. 54
References ............................................................................................. 56

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 In the Beginning ….. there were “turf wars”…..
In May 1972 the first Australian National Conference on Computers in Civil
Engineering was held in Brisbane. A proposal developed at this conference
recommended to the Institution of Engineers Australia (henceforth abbreviated to
EA representing the modern title of “Engineers Australia”) and to the Australian
Computer Society (ACS) – which had itself been formed six years earlier in 1966
– that they jointly sponsor a new Australian Engineering Computer Society.

The ACS did not support this proposal, but instead offered to set up a National
Special Interest Group for engineering computing within ACS. One of their
reasons was “It is a stated objective of the ACS to organise itself to represent the
entire professional computing community”.3 [This author’s emphasis.] The first
shot in the “turf war” had been fired. The Queensland Division of EA, unhappy
at this development, then formed a working party to consider the issue,
concluding that “…as the predominance of interest and activity in this field is by
professional engineers, it seems preferable that the Institution [that is EA] takes
the action to serve its members”4. In March 1973 it recommend that a National
Committee on Engineering Computing should be established within the “General
College” which was at that time planned as a unit in the then proposed new
College structure of EA. The Division had returned fire!

The Science and Practice of Engineering Committee of EA (SPEC) felt the need
to canvas the views of all the Divisions on this proposal with results which, seen
from today’s perspective, seem quite surprising. Canberra, Newcastle and
Western Australia Divisions did not support the proposal. Victoria Division also
rejected the proposal, and went on record as saying “…the committee views
engineering computing as a mathematical subroutine and not as a separate
science” !! The Division did redeem itself a little by saying that EA could have a
role in formulating standards for documentation of commercially available
computer programs.

South Australia Division viewed the proposal as “too narrow”, saying that
computing represents only a small part of the application of computers in
professional engineering practice, and it was a specialised field already
adequately covered by other societies. One assumes they interpreted the word
computing as referring only to software and excluding the hardware aspects.
Interestingly they did propose that EA undertake research on the “social issues
raised by the use of computers” 5. In that respect they were ahead of the times in
considering the societal impact of engineering.

4
Both Tasmania and Sydney Divisions supported the proposal. The latter
canvassed views from its discipline branches, Civil, Electrical and
Communications, Management and Industrial, and Mechanical. All the branches
were in favour of the proposal, but each expressed concern that the Queensland
Division working party did not adequately represent their discipline [this
author’s emphasis].

SPEC finally decided it was all too difficult, and in February 1974, nearly a year
after the original proposal, it decided to take no further action at that time.

Nonetheless computer applications in engineering continued to evolve at an

accelerating rate, and despite their negative response to the proposal for a
National Committee on Engineering Computing, the Western Australia Division
held a very successful Computers in Engineering Conference early in 1974.
Emboldened by that experience, in September 1974 the Division proposed a
further conference to be held in 1976, not just as a state event, but it was to be
“…. expanded into a National Conference to be sponsored by the Electrical
College Board with a local Organising Committee drawn from all engineering
specialisations in Western Australia.”6 [This author’s emphasis.] It seems
everyone wanted to keep control of computing related matters to themselves!

The College Board appears to have used this proposal to re-initiate the idea of a
National Committee, establishing a working party to consider “the setting up of a
National Committee in Computer Engineering”6. The working party was to be
chaired by Prof Hugo Messerle from Electrical Engineering at the University of
Sydney, and to include some significant early contributors to engineering
applications of computers: Prof Murray Allen, Dr David Wong, Captain F.F.
Lord, Mr J.R. Dixon-Hughes, and Mr J.A. Dembecki. Subsequent events proved
this was a well chosen group of people.

A Committee is born …. w ith some pain

The working party met early in 1975 and immediately widened its considerations
to include, in addition to computers in engineering, the need for a body to cater
for automatic control. At this early stage the seed had been planted which would,
over a decade later, germinate to become the NCACI.

The working party proposed that a national committee should be created under
the auspices of the Electrical College, but including representatives nominated by
the Chemical and Mechanical Colleges. It should be called “The National
Committee on Control and Computational Systems” (NCCCS), to cover

5
“automatic control, computer hardware and software engineering, and the design
of systems in these fields of interest”7.

It is perhaps a little strange that the working party did not suggest a
representative of the Civil College also be included. This omission initially upset
some people. Mr (later Professor) Lance Endersbee, a civil engineer then with the
Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Commission and also an EA Councillor (he
became EA President in 1980) seems to have been somewhat piqued. He
commented that “we do not need a National Committee on slide rules”, implying
there was no need for one on computers either. Like the earlier Victoria Division
view, computers appear to have been seen simply as a mathematical tool. The
civil engineers perhaps had reason to be a bit upset. It was noted that the 1974
Computers in Engineering conference had included 25 papers in the civil field
and only eight related to electrical engineering.

Despite these somewhat petty but very human sensitivities, the Electrical College
Board on 16th September 1975 approved the formation of the National
Committee on Control and Computational Systems. Thus was born the
predecessor of the NCACI. It would be ten years before the name would change
to the current one, but the role of the NCCCS would gradually evolve towards
that of the NCACI.

On 28th October the College Board Executive asked Mr J.A. Dembecki of the
Electricity Commission of NSW to convene a first meeting of the NCCCS. This
historic meeting was held on 23rd March 1976 in Science House, Sydney 8 with
eleven representatives covering electrical, mechanical and chemical engineering
disciplines, from both academia and public service utilities, but no civil engineer
as the Civil College had not yet decided to nominate someone. Appendix 1 lists
the names of the members of this historic group.

The Electrical College was clearly concerned about the discipline and also
geographic representation sensitivities (the initial Committee had representatives
from each state except South Australia and Queensland). The College was at
pains to describe the Committee as the “first Inter-College National Committee”
and to explain how members had been chosen to ensure links to as many other
relevant societies and institutions (eg. IREE, ACS, IEE, IEEE, CIGRE and
SIMSIG – Simulation Special Interest Group) as possible.9

However, as so often occurs when new bodies are formed with roles which
overlap with other groups, there was evidence of what perhaps could politely be
called professional concern – or more directly, jealous guarding of one’s own
turf! The Victoria Division of EA at that time was the only Division to have a
Control Engineering Branch. In July 1976 the Branch secretary wrote to the

6
newly formed National Committee stating its support for the creation of the new
body, but expressing some reservations. The letter noted that “The National
Committee was formed with very little input from the Victorian Control
Engineering Branch” ; “The Victorian Branch would have hoped to have some
influence on the composition of the National Committee” ; and “It is appreciated
that the National Committee embraces the two areas [ie., Control and
Computational Systems], whereas the Victorian Branch is concerned more
directly with just control engineering. The Victorian Branch feels that the
benefits of mixing the two areas in the one National Committee are somewhat
doubtful.”10 In the light of the subsequent impact of computers on the
development and application of control technology, this was a very short-sighted,
rather inward looking view!

The new Committee itself had no such reservations about the range and scope of
the areas in which it would take an interest. In September 1976 it produced a list
of “Subject Areas of Committee Interest” which was truly an ambitious lexicon
of just about everything to do with control and computer hardware and software
known at that time, as the table on the following page shows.

If the attitude of the Victorian Control Engineering Branch was any guide, the list
selected was certain to put just about every other vaguely related technical
society’s blood pressure up! It is interesting to note the heavy coverage of aspects
related to computers as well as control whilst “automation” and
“instrumentation” each receive only a single specific reference. Time would
eventually change this balance.

7
 Subject Areas of Committee Interest 11
A s s e mb l e rs
Automation of manufacturing
processes
C o mp i l e r s
Computer system applications
Computer system peripherals
Computer system structures and
hardware
Computers as control elements
Continuous-signal, digital, switching,
modulated-carrier, sampled-data,
predictive, sequential, adaptive and
multi-level/hierarchical forms of
control
Control algorithms
Control and computational systems
content of undergraduate,
postgraduate and related courses.
Control systems
Control-signal transducers
Data acquisition and validation
Data structures and highways
Design/synthesis of single- and multi-
loop controllers
E d i t o rs
Electrical/electronic, mechanical,
hydraulic, pneumatic functional
stages of controllers
Engineering cybernetics
Filtering
Hardware and software reliability
Hybrid computing systems
Industrial applications of control
Instrumentation and displays related
to control
Interfacing peripherals to computers
L o a d e rs
Logic elements and arrays in
controllers
Machine tool control
Man/machine systems-control
ergonomics
Mathematical modelling and
simulation of controllers and
plant/system controlled
Memory systems
Minicomputers and microprocessors
Multi-processor networks
Numerical methods related to control
algorithms
On-line analysis and evaluation
Optimal control and optimum-seeking
methods
Parameter identification
Performance requirements and indices
Power amplifying technology
Programming and programming
languages
Quantitative aspects of control system
reliability
Reduced-scale modelling in control
system development
Sensitivity analysis
S ma l l c o mp u t e r simulation
Stability
State estimation
Statistical aspects of control and
control system analysis
Systems softw a r e
T r a ns l a t o rs
8
 The Activities of the NCCCS
The EA archives do not record any information on the Committee’s activities in
its first year of operation, other than the preparation of the list of subject areas
shown above. However, from 1977 onwards when Prof Derek Humpage from the
University of Western Australia became chairman the Committee seems to have
been quite active. The NCCCS defined its intended role very early on as:

x Sponsoring conferences, symposia, colloquia, short courses, study workshops,

summer schools, seminars and lectures in which control and computational
systems can be discussed, studied and advanced.
x Sponsoring the publication, through the Institution (EA) of books,
monographs, manuals, collections of papers in particular areas, and other
material helpful in the dissemination of knowledge relating to control and
computational systems.
x Undertaking work as a specialist or expert advisory body when requested or
commissioned to do so.
x Undertaking surveys for or on behalf of EA or other bodies relating to control
and computational systems.
x Providing a formal link between EA and other learned societies and
associations. Examples listed included IFAC, for which the Committee
assumed a significant liaison role on behalf of Australia, IEE, IMechE, ACS,
SIMSIG, ESAA and IICA. That last mentioned body (The Institute of
Instrumentation, Control and Automation Australia) is significant in view of
later developments, as we will see.

The Committee also struggled with the issue of a balanced membership: both
from the perspective of technical areas of expertise, and the view that all
Australian States should be represented in some relation to their population. To
complicate matters it was also suggested that a further balance between private
industry, public service and higher education representation might be needed.
The Committee structure was becoming an over-constrained problem and some
compromises were clearly necessary. The last consideration does not appear to
have been implemented, and the Committee remained dominated by academics
and public service personnel, with little or no private industry representation for
many years. The proposed structure of the Committee for 1978 called for a
maximum membership of 16, distributed by States and discipline areas of interest
as shown in the following table.

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 Planned structure of the NCCS 12

Geographical distribution Areas of expertise

State or Minimum Maximum Discipline Minimum Maximum
Territory members Members Area members Members
ACT 1 3 Electrical 6 10
Tasmania 1 3 Mechanical 2 4
South
1 3 Chemical 2 3
Australia
Western
1 3 Civil 1 3
Australia
Queensland 1 3 Other 1 3
Victoria 2 5
Maximum total membership to be
New South
2 5 16
Wales

The influence of the birth of the Committee from the Electrical College shows up
very clearly in the planned representation. In fact, as Appendix 1 shows, the 1978
Committee had only nine members, a decrease from the 12 in 1977. Over the
entire history of both the NCCCS and its successor the NCACI the highest
membership (excluding corresponding members) was 14 for the NCCCS in 1984.

For its first six years the Committee’s activities, under Prof Humpage’s
chairmanship, tended to follow a fairly well established pattern, with a major
emphasis on the coordination and organisation of a national conference program.
Some of the more significant conferences organised by Committee members on
behalf of the NCCCS are listed in Appendix 6. In all the Committee, by 1983,
had run a total of 15 conferences in three major series: Control Engineering,
Computers in/and Engineering and Microprocessor Systems.

It is noteworthy that the “Computers and Engineering” conferences were jointly

sponsored by the ACS. Despite that Society’s earlier aloofness, it seemed
prepared to accept the maxim “if you can’t beat them, join them”. The jointly
arranged biennial conferences were judged very successful.13

The current EA guidelines for the operation of National Committees (Appendix

7) require a formal review by the Board of its parent College every three years. It
seems the first review of the NCCCS occurred in 1983, after seven years of
operation. The sole outcome was a decision to modify the name slightly to the
National Committee on Control and Computer Systems. The change from

10
“Computational” to “Computer” was said to better reflect the Committee’s
activities. The acronym of course remained the same!

Shortly after the review the NCCCS recommended to EA Council that an

invitation from the International Federation of Automatic Control to submit an
application to host the 1993 World Congress of IFAC in Australia be accepted.
Professor Brian Anderson of the Australian National University was nominated
as an IFAC Vice President, and the IFAC General Assembly formally approved
Australia’s application and the nomination early in 1984. This was quite a coup
for the Committee, providing a recognition that Australia now was becoming
seen as a world player in control and automation.

Two other new activities which commenced in 1983 under Prof Humpage’s
successor as chairman, Mr B H Tritt, were a major thrust in the area of Software
Engineering with the establishment of a working group to investigate and report
on this rapidly emerging new, poorly understood discipline; and further
development of interest in the field of measurement and instrumentation. The
latter was to lead to significant changes in the role and then the name of the
Committee in a few years’ time.

The Birth of the NCACI

In 1985 Dr Les Balzer assumed the chairmanship of the NCCCS from Mr B H
Tritt. The Committee continued its responsibility for IFAC activities in Australia,
seeking to raise the IFAC profile in the lead up to the 1993 World Congress. It
also sponsored and assisted in the organisation of the 1986 Hobart conference in
the Computers in Engineering series, “Real Time Applications of Computers in
Engineering” and worked on planning for the 1986 Sydney Control Engineering
Conference (The Third Australian Control Conference), as well as an intended
1987 Brisbane conference in the Computers in Engineering series.

Despite its ongoing activity in computer related matters, the Committee

developed serious reservations about its role in this area. Before year end the
NCCCS had recommended to the Electrical College Board that it reduce its areas
of interest to automation, control and instrumentation, and change its name
accordingly.14 The College Board accepted the recommendation, and established
a new National Committee on Computer and Information Technology. This
Committee took over responsibility from the NCCCS for liaison with ACS and
ACADS, and also the planning and running of the 1987 Brisbane conference
which was renamed “Conference on Computing Systems and Information
Technology”, thus moving it away from the original on-line real time

11
applications emphasis that had been emerging in the Computers in Engineering
series.

The College Board also approved the change of name to the National Committee
on Automation, Control and Instrumentation. The NCACI was born! The Board
also approved the following areas of interest for the NCACI (in the original
document EA is called IEAust): 14

x Be responsible for International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC)

activities of EA.
x Provide liaison in areas of interest to the Committee between EA and:
o Standards Association of Australia (SAA)
o Institute of Instrumentation and Control Australia (IICA)
o Institute of Chemical Engineers, U.K. (IChemE)
o Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI)
o Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, USA (IEEE)
o Institution of Radio and Electronic Engineers (IREE)
o Institution of Electrical Engineers, U.K. (IEE)
o Simulation Society of Australia (SSA)
x Advise EA on professional engineering matters related to automation, control
and instrumentation.
x Organise technical activities such as conferences, seminars etc. and generally
promote technical activities in the theory and practice of:
o automatic control engineering
o instrumentation and measurement
o factory and process automation including aspects of robotics
o dynamic systems engineering
o simulation
o relevant mathematical and numerical techniques

Dr Les Balzer, still half way through his term as Chairman of the NCCCS, was
thus technically the inaugural Chairman of the NCACI which held its first
meeting under the new name in April 1986. However, at that meeting he asked
to stand down from this role due to pressure of his then new appointment as
Dean of Engineering at RMIT. Mr Peter Watt, an NCCCS member since 1983,
was appointed for the remainder of Dr Balzer’s term of office. Hence Mr Watt
became Chairman for 1986 – the first full year of operation of the Committee
under its new name. He remained Chairman until 1988.

It is interesting to reflect on the significance of the change in the nature of the

renamed Committee’s range of topics compared to the NCCCS. The change
essentially removed direct reference to computers, and highlighted control and
instrumentation as well as the then emerging areas of factory automation and

12
 robotics. In reality of course computer applications were still very much
present, but, to use a modern term, were embedded in the other technologies.
The Committee was only responding to the way in which computers and
computing had, even by the 1980s, become an integral part of control systems.
Indeed, the evolving scope of control and automation systems at the time was
only possible because of computer developments. To give but one example,
distributed control systems (DCS), which started to be adopted in Australia in
the late 1970s and increasingly into the 1980s to deliver improved control of
process plant, were in reality just sophisticated computer systems implementing
appropriate algorithms. The focus of “the theory and practice” of control which
the NCACI was to support was moving from computers themselves to control
theory, applications and, significantly, to measurement and instrumentation
without which the new systems could not deliver their promise.

The birth of the NCACI – in reality a re-birth of its predecessor – occurred in

the context of the evolution of automation, control and instrumentation
technologies at the time, reinforced by the way in which industry was
employing them.

The Activities of the NCACI

From 1986 until 2010 is nearly a quarter of a century. In this brief history it is
impossible to describe all the activities of the NCACI over this period. One must
be selective, and try to focus on those which were significant with respect to the
Committee’s role which itself evolved somewhat with time.

The ACI Newsletter

During 1988 the Committee, under Peter Watt’s chairmanship, floated the idea of
issuing a regular newsletter. The original aim appears to have been to focus on
lifting IFAC awareness amongst Australian engineers as part of the early
publicity for the 1993 World Congress already approved for Sydney. It was to be
named simply the “IFAC Newsletter”. However, the Chairman decided that it
would include articles on other areas of the Committee’s responsibility, and it
would be called the “ACI Newsletter”. 15

This produced an initial annoyed response from the Victorian Control and
Computer Systems Branch concerned that the title had been decided without
consultation with them. This was the same group, now re-named to include
computers, who had originally challenged the need for the NCCCS in 1976 on

13
the basis that control and computational systems probably should not co-exist in
one committee! “Turf wars” were still alive and well twelve years later.

Nonetheless, the first issue of the Newsletter was produced in

1989 and mailed out using the IFAC and Victorian Branch
mailing lists, so harmony appears to have been restored. The first
newsletter editor was Mr Peter Higgins from the Swinburne
Institute of Technology. Unfortunately there are no copies of the
early issues in the EA archives. The masthead shown at left is
from Issue 12, April 1993, but is the same design as that
developed for the 1989 issue. The background colour is light
grey, with the EA hexagon and the bands with ACI and the
words National Committee on Automation, Control and
Instrumentation in fire engine red, as are the words Electrical
College under the logo.

The intention had been to publish three Newsletters a year. Two

were published in 1989, but Issue 8 appeared in September 1991,
so the frequency was achieved, although subsequently it seems to
have settled down to two issues a year. This frequency has
generally been maintained to date with only a couple of missed
issues. The latest issue at the time of writing is number 38,
published in October 2009. The Newsletter masthead was
redesigned when Prof Ljubo Vlacic became editor in 1996, and
was used for the second (November) issue of that year as shown
below (although this issue omitted to show its publication date).
The same colour scheme was used and has been retained to date.

Over the years there have been at least six different newsletter editors (Appendix
3), so the style has varied somewhat, but the nature of the content has been fairly
consistent. The newsletters have presented details of conferences planned and
held; news about IFAC events; occasional articles on university research relevant
to AC&I; a few – sadly very few – articles on relevant industry activities; and,

14
from the 1990s onwards, profiles of Committee members and prominent
Australian researchers in the field. The newsletter has had, and still has quite a
large circulation. The current (2009) mailing list is about 450 people, a small
decrease from the 2002 and 2007 lists which each comprised almost 500 people.
A survey conducted through the newsletter in July 1991 received more than 500
responses.16 This survey is sufficiently significant for separate comment.

Surveys, Mission Statements and Objectives

Throughout the first five years of its existence, under the chairmanship of Dr
Brian Speedy, the NCACI meeting minutes indicate that the Committee spent a
lot of time wrestling with exactly what its role should be. This was increasingly
the case from 1988, following the University of Sydney’s Warren Centre for
Advanced Engineering project on Advanced Process Control, held in 1987.17
That project resulted in the creation of the Process Control Society (PCS),
launched as a Technical Society within EA’s Chemical College in August 1988.
The Committee grappled with the way in which it should relate to this new
society, which attracted a membership of 250 in its first year. Its deliberations
were exacerbated by debate within EA itself at that time on whether National
Committees should in fact be converted to Technical Societies – a proposed
change which eventually did not occur.

To help resolve these issues the Committee held a postal survey in July 1991 to
find out “What should NCACI be doing on behalf of members?”16 Interestingly,
nearly 70% of about 500 respondents said they would prefer an “integrated” ACI
society rather than separate societies focusing on only one or two of the three
fields, even if their personal interests lay in only one of the areas. This heartened
the Committee, but they also had to take note of responses which strongly
recommended establishing close relations with other existing groups, especially
the PCS and the IICA. This matter is discussed further below.

One outcome of the survey was a mission statement which sought once again to
define the Committee’s role, coupled with a set of strategies and an action plan.
Surprisingly, EA archives do not hold a final version of the document produced
at that time, but only a set of drafts, the latest being the third draft dated
November 1991. However, in July 1993 the then Committee, still under Brian
Speedy’s chairmanship but with some new members, published the identical
words as a definitive statement. The mission was stated as:

“The National Committee on Automation, Control and Instrumentation mission

is to contribute to the growth of the Australian economy, protection of the natural
environment and improvement in the quality of life in Australia by advancing

15
effectiveness and technical excellence in the theory and practice of Automation,
Control and Instrumentation through the development of a cohesive and well
represented particular interest group of the I.E.Aust.” 18

The reference to protection of the environment is notable and commendable,

reflecting the heightened awareness amongst engineers at that time of this issue,
something which did not receive a mention in any NCCCS documents. Nor did it
appear in any previous minutes of the NCACI, other than those of the November
1989 meeting where the Committee agreed it should address “The role of ACI in
the protection of the environment and safety”.19 However, no further explicit
action on this appears to have occurred.

One cannot help but feel that the reference to a group “of the I.E.Aust” [that is,
EA] was somewhat inward looking, and perpetuated the earlier parochial
attitudes we have seen in the various technical groups. Had the Committee
decided to say, for example, “……well represented particular interest group of
engineers” they may well have prevented later failures to establish really close
relations with other groups, the IICA in particular, which their constituency had
advocated in the survey.

The objectives, strategies and action plans are too long to reproduce here. Briefly
paraphrased, the six objectives were:18

1 Identify the “NCACI Constituency”.

2 Facilitate continuing education relevant to the constituency.
3 Promote improvements in ACI content of undergraduate engineering courses.
4 Promote government and industry policies to ensure only suitably trained and
qualified engineers practise ACI Engineering.
5 Promote research and development in ACI.
6 Promote the application of ACI to improve performance, protect the
environment and improve the quality of life in Australia.

A commendable but extremely challenging set of objectives for a group of about

a dozen engineers meeting a couple of times a year. That some aspects of these
were achieved over the following years is to the credit of the Committee
members that established the objectives, and those who succeeded them.

16
Position Papers
One way that the Committee felt it could address its aims was the production of
position papers. Interestingly, the earliest of these pre-dated the 1991 survey. In
March 1990 the Committee published a brief paper: “The Role of Automation,
Control and Instrumentation in Improving Quality in Processing and
Manufacturing Industries”.20 The main author was Mr Steve Lieblich, at the time
Marketing Manager with Honeywell in Western Australia.

The early 90s saw the whole issue of quality management assume major
importance in Australian industry which had finally realised it was operating in a
global market. The paper makes the point that “… ACI is an important and
generally underutilised tool in the management of quality in the Australian
processing and manufacturing industries.” 20 It’s not clear how widely the paper
was distributed, but even if it was read by many, the present author cannot avoid
noting that industry, whilst it has indeed adopted ACI technology to a reasonable
extent, can still be a slow learner, and he felt obliged to repeat the same message
a decade and a half later! 2

Another position paper, developed during 1996/97 but not issued until June 1998,
addressed “Year 2000 Issues in Automation, Control and Instrumentation”.21 The
paper concludes “It is the opinion of this Committee that there are many
computing devices in the Automation, Control and Instrumentation systems
around us that will fail due to Year 2000 problems.”21 The reality was rather
different, but nonetheless perhaps the paper did contribute to people doing
something about the issue at the eleventh hour. It is a fact that many public
utilities and commercial enterprises reacted during 1999 by simply replacing any
systems of unverifiable or unknown software content. Much to the benefit of IT
vendors, they had the ideal excuse to upgrade hardware as well as software!
Those who contributed to the position paper are not recorded, which perhaps
saved them from the later scathing criticisms of those sceptics who said, with the
benefit of hindsight, “we told you it was unwarranted alarmism”.

In 2004 the Committee, on the suggestion of the Chairman, Prof Ljubo Vlacic,
initiated an ambitious project to benchmark the application of control and
automation technology in Australian process and manufacturing industries.
Financial support was obtained from Rio Tinto; The Process Control Society;
The Centre for Complex Dynamic Systems and Control, University of
Newcastle; and The Cooperative Research Centre for Sensor Signal and
Information Processing, University of Melbourne. Other groups provided in-kind
support through access to mailing lists. Two surveys were prepared: Dr John
Edwards, then with Industrial Automation Services, Newcastle NSW, managed
the Manufacturing Industries survey and the present author looked after the

17
Process Industries survey, both of which were run during 2005, sharing the
common title: “Achieving the Benefits of Improved Control in Australian
Process and Manufacturing Industries”.

The response from industry was extremely disappointing. Despite a very

extensive mail out as well as conference and internet promotions of the surveys,
the manufacturing survey produced no usable replies, and the process industries
survey delivered fewer than 30 useful responses, half of which came from the
mineral processing industry. Despite this small response, the results did lead to
two credible conclusions:

x Australian process industries were achieving significant economic benefits

from the use of process control, with average reported savings of $1.9M pa in
dollars of the day.
x Yet disturbingly, control system performance at the basic regulatory loop
level was not good. An unacceptably high proportion of loops did not deliver
their design intent. Industry’s record in providing adequate resources to
support control systems, and in monitoring loop behaviour to ensure
sustained good performance, emerged as poor.

These conclusions, supported by the statistics from the limited survey results,
were incorporated in a position paper “The Health of Process Control Systems in
Australian Process Industries: A Report Card for 2005”22, an abbreviated version
of which was published in the EA journal Engineers Australia.

The Committee was certainly seeking to implement one of its objectives

“Promote the application of ACI to improve performance…”, but its
constituency, at least in industry, was not very receptive to assisting in this
endeavour.

Finally, it’s worth nothing another position paper which also pre-dated the 1991
survey. A ten page document, dated May 1990, entitled “The Professionalism of
Instrument Engineering”23 was released as a draft for internal discussion.
Although there is no file record of the author’s name, Professor Peter Sydenham,
then Committee Deputy Chairman and Head of the School of Electronic
Engineering at the South Australian Institute of Technology has confirmed that
he wrote the draft.24 Prof Sydenham was quoted in an article, “Instrumentation:
the Cinderella of Science” in the Australian newspaper in October 1989 as saying
“IEAust [ie., EA] is so concerned over the failure to recognise the pivotal role of
measurement technology in the economy that it has convened an international
conference on the subject …”.25 The position paper strongly reinforced his
quoted comments.

18
Strangely, despite the position paper having been well written and presenting
persuasive arguments about the importance of instrumentation to the Australian
economy, the Committee apparently did not publish it. One possible reason was
the very forthright comments it contained about the attitudes that the NCACI and
other instrument related groups adopted. It stated: “At present there are three
principal professional organisations representing instrumentation in Australia: the
Australian Scientific Industry Association (ASIA), the Institute of
Instrumentation and Control Australia (IICA), and the Institution of Engineers
Australia through the NCACI. Each can make significant claims to contribution
to instrument engineering and the instrument industry that at some time has put
Australian activity on the global map – but one claim that probably not one [of
them] can make is that they have worked closely with many others for the
national good.” “At present the role of each encourages only relatively isolated
action.”

These comments would perhaps have raised sensitivities in EA and the Electrical
College in particular. In fact the whole issue of the NCACI’s interaction with
other groups is worth reviewing.

Relationships with Other Groups

We have seen that when the NCCCS was formed there was a declared objective
of liaising with other societies and groups with related interests. However, apart
from keeping other groups informed of conference plans, and some conference
co-sponsorship, there is no documented evidence of other interactions. The
NCACI retained this objective as a specific aspect of its remit as approved by the
Electrical College. However, in the early days there does not appear to have been
much effort devoted to this, with the exception of links to IFAC which were very
strongly supported.

The advent of the PCS in 1988 brought the issue to the fore again. Prof Neville
Rees was then on the Committee and was also involved with the interim PCS
Board, thus providing a communications channel. At the end of 1989 Dr Bob
Newell, at that time the Secretary of the interim PCS Board, was invited to join
the Committee. However, the stated reason for his presence was his role as
Chairman of the organising committee for the 1990 Control Engineering
Conference,19 rather than a PCS link. Nonetheless the minutes of the first
meeting he attended note that “…interested bodies including the IICA and the
PCS….” should be invited to suggest topics for a workshop which the NCACI
was to organise in conjunction with the AIM92 instrumentation conference being
hosted by the Institution of Professional Engineers, New Zealand.19

19
Dr Newell left the Committee after Control 90, leaving Prof Rees to continue the
link, but he was no longer involved with the PCS Board. In 1992 the present
author, having retired the previous year from the chairmanship of the PCS, but
still on its Board, was appointed to the NCACI as the Chemical College
representative, providing a direct link back to the PCS Board. He was succeeded,
in 1995, by Dr John Lear who was also then the PCS Chairman. John continues
to serve on the Committee to this day and retains his PCS involvement, thus
ensuring ongoing collaboration between the two bodies, although the PCS is
currently not a particularly active group.

Sadly, the same cannot be said for relations with the IICA which is a very active
body indeed. This institute was created in 1966 from the earlier Society of
Instrument Technology Australia, itself dating back to the 1940s. The original
body was the Institute of Instrumentation and Control Australia. In July 2003,
recognising the other interests of many of its members, it was renamed Institute
of Instrumentation, Control and Automation Australia Inc., but retained the IICA
acronym. With a federal structure with divisions and branches across Australia,
the IICA caters very effectively for both technicians and professionals working in
the ACI fields.

When Peter Stone joined the NCACI in 1992 he sought to establish a working
relationship with the IICA. In his own words: “I also attempted to bring about a
union of sorts with the IICA at the time, since it was clear that the IICA had over
the years fostered a large support base amongst industrial practitioners of ACI -
principally via their annual forum and exhibition, whereas the NCACI was more
a creature of academics and high-level careerists with ambition to contribute to
their profession. The ideal ACI representative body would be one combining the
best of the IICA and the NCACI/EA (industry, professional practitioners, and
academics all sharing the same vision). Despite a lot of effort on my part,
including sitting in on a number of IICA committee meetings as an observer, I
was not successful in getting the IICA management to consider that a change
might be for the better for them. I believe that this might remain an unresolved
matter, and something worthy of further endeavour by the committee. Clearly,
an improved profile for the committee amongst ACI practitioners is still a worthy
goal, and in fact a gap.”38

Peter Stone is correct that the issue does remain “unresolved”. Thus in fact the
only significant group with which the NCACI has had a strong relationship over
the years is IFAC.

20
Courses and Conferences
Shortly after Brian Speedy took the Committee chair in 1989 a suggestion came
from the Electrical College Board that the Committee consider arranging relevant
courses for industry practitioners. This was simply a proposal based on the
second objective of the NCACI: “Facilitate continuing education relevant to the
constituency”. The May 1989 meeting discussed this, and later in that year the
Newcastle Division of EA undertook to organise the first Residential School on
Industrial Control. This had been made possible by strong support from Prof
Graham Goodwin’s Centre for Industrial Control Science (CICS) at the
University of Newcastle, and BHP in Newcastle. It’s not clear who liaised with
Newcastle, but Prof Bob Betz from that University was a Committee member at
the time, and eventually was a speaker at the course.

The first School for Modern Industrial Control was held from 30th September to
4th October 1991 under the banner of the NCACI and EA’s Newcastle Division
Electrical Branch, together with CICS. Speakers included, in addition to the
world class control academics in CICS, amongst them Profs Graham Goodwin,
Rob Evans and David Hill, three people from industry: John Edwards from
Industrial Automation Pty Ltd, Noel Godfrey from BHP Engineering, and the
author, at that time with ICI Australia Engineering. It attracted a full complement
of 30 registrants whose feedback was extremely positive. A planned second
school for 1992 was deferred for a year because of pressure on Newcastle
personnel in preparing for the IFAC 1993 Sydney World Congress. The School
was, however, held in 1993 after the Congress and again in 1995. It’s pleasing to
note that, although the NCACI is no longer directly involved, the School has
continued to be run over the years, more recently by the ARC Centre for
Complex Dynamic Systems and Control at Newcastle with attendances at the
2007 and 2008 events of about 10 people.

Conference sponsorship, co-sponsorship and, on occasions, actual conference

organisation have been the major activities of both the NCCCS and the NCACI.
Appendix 6 lists some of the more important conferences with which the
committees have been involved, but those shown represent probably fewer than
50% of all conferences and symposia with which the committees were
associated.

Perhaps the most successful of these in terms of meeting the objective of

promoting issues of ACI to a wide Australian audience were the six Control XX
series, from the first in 1979 to the last one held in 1997. Whilst a number of
IFAC events have been held in Australia under the NCACI’s sponsorship on
behalf of EA which is the National Member Organisation for IFAC, their
attendance has been dominated by academics and researchers, with most coming

21
from overseas. The Control series did succeed in attracting some Australian
industry input and attendees, contributing something towards bridging the gap
between control theory and control application. The Committee did explore
possibilities for a further conference in the series in 2001 and again in 2003, but
these were not held. However, after a gap of some years, the Committee is again
working on reviving the series of Australian control conferences. A Steering
Committee has been established and planning is currently (2009) underway for a
control conference in 2011.

If one uses as a metric for importance and success the number of words in the
NCACI minutes and other file documents devoted to referring to it, the 1993
IFAC World Congress held in Sydney stands as the peak conference activity of
the Committee. Successful it undoubtedly was, in terms of attendance (more than
1200 delegates) and scope of content (more than 1000 papers). But most
significantly, in terms of providing the Committee with the means to further its
objectives, the Congress produced surplus funds for EA, enabling the NCACI to
access funding to undertake new initiatives.

Awards and Prizes

During 1994 the Committee canvassed ideas for ways to use the surplus IFAC
funds, although this was a little difficult since the amount available was not yet
known. In the event it was not until August 1995 that the accounting was
finalised, and the Committee was given to understand that it had control over
approximately $49,000. It proposed to establish four new initiatives, with funds
to be allocated for the first year as follows: 26

Undergraduate ACI thesis prize $5,000

Development and support of a web-based
compendium of ACI courses $7,500
ACI industrial project excellence award $10,000
IFAC congress travel award $2,000

The remaining $24,500 together with unspent monies from the initial allocation
was to be invested with the interest earned used to support the initiatives after
their first one or two years.

Although work was undertaken on the compendium of courses, it did not

eventuate, at least partly because Engineers Education Australia introduced a
more comprehensive web site covering continuing education courses including
many related to ACI.

22
The IFAC congress travel award was intended to provide travel assistance for a
young postgraduate student working in ACI at an Australian institution to attend
the triennial IFAC World Congress to present a paper. It was awarded in 1996 for
the San Francisco congress to Mr Ali Safavi for the paper “Application of
wavelets to density estimation for process monitoring”, but does not appear to
have been continued for later IFAC congresses. The other two initiatives were
implemented and continue today.

The annually awarded NCACI Undergraduate Thesis Prize recognises excellence

in undergraduate project work in ACI engineering. The award comprises a
medal, a certificate and a cheque (initially $1000, increased to $2000 from 2002).
Highly commended submissions receive a certificate of commendation.

Presentation of Undergraduate Thesis Awards for 1996

L to R: Prof Brisk, Chris Leigh-Lancaster, Kim Bentley, Dr Hancock, NCACI

Originally established to recognise individual project work only, the regulations

were amended in 200627 to permit team project work, but all winners to date have
been individuals. Appendix 4 lists the winners and the highly commended entries
since the first award was made in 1995. Usually presented at EA’s M A Sargent
medal dinner held in June each year, the 1996 award, with two joint winners, was
presented at the Control 97 conference to raise awareness of the prize and of the
NCACI itself to a larger and more varied audience.

The Institution of Engineers Australia National Project Excellence Award in

Automation, Control and Instrumentation is a biennial award to “reward
achievement; promote better engineering; show the community how good

23
engineering creates wealth and improves living standards; encourage the best
young people to join the profession; and encourage applications in ACI, which
are cost effective, commercially viable and provide demonstrable economic,
environmental, safety, social or other benefits to Australia.” 28

The award does allow for two categories: the main award for major projects in
ACI; and an award for smaller projects undertaken by individuals or small
organisations with fewer than ten staff. Each award comprises a medal and
certificate. All the award winners to date (see Appendix 5) have been main award
recipients.
The inaugural award winners in 1996 were Process Control Technology, Perth
for Stage 1 of the ERA Uranium Plant Upgrade, and BHP Engineering and BHP
Coated Steel, jointly, for the Springhill Coil Packaging and Handling Project,
Port Kembla. The award was presented at Control 97 by Dr Michael Evans,
Chairman of the award sub-committee.

Presentation of Project Awards for 1996

L to R: Bruce Phillips, Process Control Technology, Michael Comensoli,
BHP Coated Steel, Stephen Roch, BHP Engineering, Dr Evans, NCACI

24
 The Future for the NCACI?
During 1995/96 EA re-opened the decade-old issue of converting National
Committees to Technical Societies. This prompted the Committee to open a
dialogue with the PCS to explore the idea of the two groups merging to form an
ACI Society within EA. These discussions reached an advanced stage over the
next couple of years, and were supported by a survey of readers of both the
NCACI and PCS newsletters. Only 72 responses were received but they were
uniformly enthusiastic for a merger. This outcome led to a formal proposal in
October 1988, signed by both Dr Hancock as NCACI Chair and Dr Lear as PCS
Board Chair, for the NCACI and the PCS to reform as a new merged
Automation, Control and Instrumentation Society.29

The benefits were said to be that “enhanced continuous professional development

services could be delivered to members, and there would be better accountability
to ACI engineers for their professional representation and promotion of the
discipline.” It was also said that the PCS had “indicated an interest in the
broadening of their activities beyond process control and chemical engineering”.

Nothing further appears to have happened until June 1999 when it became
apparent that there was no longer overt pressure within EA for national
committees to convert to technical societies. Another new development was the
proposal that there could be an increased number of colleges in EA, including –
tantalisingly – even an ACI College. At this time the NCACI appears to have
reversed its view and resiled from the idea of a merger with the PCS. The latter’s
view is not recorded, but there is a reference to some PCS members being
concerned about a loss of focus despite the claim of an interest in broadening!

Thus the final outcome of nearly three years of discussion and negotiation was
simply the status quo. Who said engineers are not conservative!

So how might the NCACI develop in the future? The author asked current (2009)
Committee members for their views. Some simply ignored the request! One
member – who shall not be identified – was honest enough to say “Too hard; I
find it difficult to see what needs to change for the future of the NCACI beyond
what we do at present, and I am uncomfortable with this.”

Others were more forthcoming. One member expressed the view that the
Committee should take a role in ensuring that developments in automation
continue in a professional manner, following appropriate standards, and are
executed by people with the right training. Some reinforced the author’s view
that it would be valuable to resume the “Control” series conferences in Australia,

25
and it is pleasing to note that this is planned to occur in 2011. There was also a
suggestion that the NCACI might become a standalone college within Engineers
Australia, a view held by the Committee in 1999, but EA development did not
lead in that direction.

Perhaps the issue central to the difficulty in envisaging future developments was
best summed up by a past Committee Chairman, Prof Vlacic,40 who notes: “At
present NCACI is mainly looked upon as the Electrical College Board’s
committee; it has extremely weak links with other EA College Boards and it does
not contribute to the engineering program accreditation process.”

He goes on to say “Being interdisciplinary in nature, control systems theory and

engineering empower scientists and practitioners to deal with a variety of
systems, including biological and economic in addition to engineering ones,
since all of them involve variables to be kept constant or given varying target
values. To reflect this, NCACI should position itself at the crossing of all these
disciplines and obtain adequate recognition within EA circles accordingly.”

These thoughts were echoed by another past Chairman, Prof Mareels,30 who
would like to see “… control practice embrace and being embraced in the field
of “smart infrastructure”… hence broadening the impact and connections of
NCACI as a subcommittee that all engineers regardless of their college find
important. [That is] control/systems engineering coming of age as a fundamental
discipline that plays a role in all engineering”. Of course a separate College
identity for ACI would assist in achieving these visions. Who knows, perhaps in
the next decade EA may decide again to increase the number of Colleges?

In the meantime the NCACI, one of EA’s longest standing National Committees,
will no doubt continue promoting control, automation and instrumentation for the
benefit of the Australian industry and the community.

Committee Members …. Some Key Contributors

This section profiles some of the many volunteer members who have contributed
to the development and activities of the NCACI and its predecessor the NCCCS,
presented in chronological order of the date they joined the Committees. In a few
cases it includes some thoughts and recollections written by the members
themselves.

It has not been possible to include all who participated in the committees. Their
names are listed in Appendix 1. The contributions of those not mentioned here

26
are nonetheless gratefully acknowledged, including of course the work of the
staff members of EA National Office who served as Committee Administrators
over the years (Appendix 2).

Prof Derek Humpage (1976)

Prof Humpage was a founding member of the NCCCS in 1976,
and assumed the chairmanship in 1977, serving in that role for
three successive two-year terms until 1982. He then remained on
the Committee until 1984. Under his chairmanship the
Committee defined and shaped its role and became the
significant driving force for promoting both computers and
control in Australia through the many conferences it organised
or jointly sponsored.

Professor Derek Humpage was born in England in 1934. He graduated with first
class Honours in Electrical Engineering in 1959 from the University of Durham
from which University he later gained his PhD. He began his professorial career
in the University of Western Australia School of Electrical and Electronic and
Computer Engineering in 1974 after 12 years with the Faculty of Technology of
the University of Manchester. Described as an outstanding educator, his research
matched his teaching prowess, with international publications receiving wide
acclaim. His contribution to his field of electrical engineering was recognised by
a Doctorate of Science in 1986. Professor Humpage was Head of Department
from 1975 to 1979 and still continued to publish widely. He was invited to run
many specialist courses for industry and did so not only in WA but all over the
world, from Venezuela to China.

He was Chairman of the College of Electrical Engineers for two successive two-
year terms in the period 1983-1987 and a member of the Council of EA from
1982-1987. In 1993 he was awarded the M A Sargent Medal for his outstanding
contribution to electrical engineering. The medal is still the highest award of the
Electrical College Board and Professor Humpage was the first West Australian to
receive it.

Prof Humpage passed away in October 2003. His Western Power colleague, Eric
Goddard, said, “If you see the stars shining a little brighter in the future, I am
sure it will be Derek fixing up God’s power system!” [Adapted from 31,32]

27
Dr Les Balzer (1981)

Dr Balzer joined the NCCCS in 1981, becoming Chairman in

1985. It was under his leadership that the Committee sought to
redefine its role, being granted a name change to the NCACI by
the Electrical College Board at the end of 1985 and meeting, still
under his chairmanship, but for the first time under the new
name, in April 1986. Hence he was in fact the first Chairman of
the NCACI.

Dr Balzer, an Engineering graduate from the University of New South Wales and
a Fellow of EA, became Dean of Engineering at RMIT, Melbourne in 1985.
After the first NCACI meeting in 1986 he resigned from the Committee to devote
more time to his academic responsibilities.

His subsequent career was certainly not typical for an engineer, as he moved into
the world of corporate finance and investment in 1986, becoming Professor of
Finance in the School of Banking & Finance, University of New South Wales in
2003. It would seem he applied his engineering mathematical and analytical
skills to the finance world because, in 1998, he was the only practising
investment manager in the world invited to the Isaac Newton Institute for
Mathematical Sciences, Cambridge for a two week Nonlinear Econometric &
Financial Time Series Workshop. 33

Mr Peter Watt (1983)

Peter Watt joined the NCCCS in 1983, and took over from Dr Les
Balzer as Chairman of the NCACI in 1986, the first full year of
operation of the Committee under its new name. He continued as
Chairman until 1988. Two of the key activities during his tenure
as Chairman was the lobbying for Professor Brian Anderson (then
Head of Systems Engineering at ANU) to become President of
IFAC, and to convince IFAC to hold a world congress in Sydney.
Both objectives were successfully achieved.

An electrical engineer, Peter has spent almost all his career with the University of
Tasmania, with six years as Head of the Department of Electrical and Electronic
Engineering during the time he served on the EA committees (including three
years on the Electrical College Board). His research interests have included
instrumentation, measurement, embedded microprocessor systems, borehole
survey systems, seismic instrumentation, condition monitoring and remote

28
sensing. He has also had extensive interests in engineering education, including
curriculum development, especially related to computer systems engineering. 34

He is currently (2009) a Research Fellow and part time lecturer at the University
of Tasmania.

Emeritus Prof Neville Rees (1986)

Prof Rees was a foundation member of the NCACI when it was
born in 1986. At that time he was Head of the School of Electrical
Engineering & Computer Science in the University of NSW.
Although a mechanical engineer by training, Neville Rees had a
passionate interest in applications of modelling and control to
areas involved with or closely related to process control, and
brought to the foundation Committee a wider perspective than
control just related to electrical systems.

He was a Project Fellow in the 1987 Warren Centre Advanced Process Control
Project, and acted as a initial liaison person between the NCACI and the PCS
when the latter was formed following the Warren Centre Project. He also was a
key contributor to the Committee’s IFAC activities, and was the Conference
Chairman for IFAC 1993 Congress in Sydney. He remained on the Committee
until 1994.

Neville Rees gained a BSc and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the
University of Wales. He then worked for the National Physical Laboratory in
London as a Senior Research Scientist, followed by a position as an Assistant
Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles and then a period with the
U.S. Navy in China Lake, California. He was Head of the CSIRO Melbourne
process control section for two years prior to joining UNSW in 1972 as Head of
the Department of Systems and Control in the Faculty of Engineering.

A major research interest has been in power plant control using advanced control
techniques applied to superheater temperature control and total automation of
power plant, as well as mill control and load control. Another major interest has
been simulation and modelling, including development of the tools of simulation,
modular simulation man-machine interfaces, simulation toolkits and off-line
CAD control

29
Dr Brian Speedy (1987)
Dr Charles Brian Speedy joined the NCACI in 1987, its second
fully operational year, and chaired the Committee for six years
from 1989 to 1994 when he left the Committee, but continued
his strong interest and association as a corresponding member
for several years afterwards.

Regarded as one of the leading control engineers in Australia,

his enthusiasm for the disciplines of automation, control and
instrumentation was infectious. His enormous breadth of experience and talent in
both technical and business areas was an inspiration to those who worked with
him. To NCACI members, he was an endless source of a stimulation and belief in
the importance of control engineering and its application across all engineering
disciplines. Under his chairmanship the Committee established many of its
initiatives including the Newsletter, a Modern Industrial Control Course, an
Undergraduate Thesis Prize, a National Project Excellence Award, a Congress
Travel Award and a Compendium of Control Courses.

Brian Speedy was well known within the Australian Engineering fraternity. He
originally came to Australia from New Zealand where he studied Electrical
Engineering, graduating with Honours in 1949. He then became Australia’s first
ever Ph.D. student in Electrical Engineering, graduating from the University of
Sydney in 1953. On finishing his Ph.D. he took up an ICI Post Doctoral Research
Fellowship at Imperial College, London, where he worked with Professor Dennis
Gabor (Nobel Laureate).

Brian joined the Gresham-Lion group in the U.K. and invented and patented a
new method for precession construction of multitrack magnetic tape recording
heads. This enabled the company to eventually become one of the largest
manufactures of computer peripherals in Western Europe. Brian returned to
academia in 1962 at which time he became Professor and Head of the
Department of Control Engineering at the University of New South Wales. Brian
saw the potential for computer based control in industry and initiated a visionary
programme of research in this area.

In 1971 Brian returned to industry in the U.K. as a consultant to Gresham-Lion

Electronics Ltd. In the 1980s he returned to Australia and became Superintendent
for Control and Technical Computing with Nabalco Ltd in the Northern
Territory. Here he again displayed his capacity for technical innovation and led
the introduction of computer based control in the alumina refinery at Gove.

30
After leaving Nabalco, Brian had a brief period of retirement before helping
establish a spin-off company, CICS Automation Pty Ltd, at the University of
Newcastle. He eventually retired (for a second time) to Coffs Harbour where he
enjoyed a much earned rest. A much-respected member of the Australian control
engineering community, he sadly passed away on 13th February 2005. [Adapted
fro m 3 5 , 3 6 ]

Prof Peter Sydenham (1988)

Prof Sydenham joined the NCACI in 1988 bringing expertise in
measurement and instrumentation to the Committee. He was
Deputy Chairman from 1989 to 1994, and left the Committee in
1995. He provided a link between the NCACI and IMEKO, the
International Measurement Confederation, a sister federation of
IFAC, and chaired the 1989 Australasian Instrumentation and
Measurement Conference (AIM89) held in Adelaide.

In his own words24 Peter says: “It was probably destined that Dr Peter Sydenham
would one day contribute to the NCACI. In his school days making
electromechanical devices from batteries, globes, wires and bells was a top
interest. That path led to his electrical apprenticeship in Adelaide in the 1950s.
Success at the theory aspects resulted in his cadetship with the Postmaster
General’s Department (now Telstra) to complete a BE Hons in Electronic
Engineering at the University of Adelaide in 1965. His honours project was to
create Machina Octoculis, an eight-eyed following robot that incorporated
electrics, mechanics and optical sensing using the new transistor circuitry. It was
right up to date!

This project reinforced his maturing interest in multidisciplinary feedback

systems. However, it was then becoming clear his skills and interests were not
suited to a telecoms career. He was allowed to complete a MEng in
instrumentation where he designed and built a position measuring system for
controlling machining in a 10x10m area. This project assisted him find support
from English Electric to carry out extension of this work for a PhD in
Engineering at Warwick University, UK - completed in 1968.

An off-shoot of that applied research was the invention and use of an inexpensive
method for measuring the solid rock tides caused by the varying attraction of the
moon. Also the truly academic surroundings at Warwick University nurtured an
interest to move outward from devices to the more general philosophy of
Measurement and Instrumentation (M&I).”

31
On return to Adelaide in 1969 he worked at the Weapons Research Establishment
(now DSTO) on sensitive detection systems. After a year he was invited to move
to the University of New England, NSW as the lecturer in geophysics to develop
courses and to establish the Cooney Geophysical Observatory, becoming an
Associate Professor in 1979.

He returned to Adelaide in 1979 as the Inaugural Professor and Head of the

School of Engineering at the South Australian Institute of Technology (SAIT),
now part of the University of South Australia. He was Head for some 17 years
before he resigned that role to concentrate on developing the Measurement and
Instrumentation Systems Centre at SAIT. This evolved into the Systems
Engineering and Evaluation Centre. He semi-retired in 1998 to follow up the
modernisation of the Wiley reference work “Handbook of Measurement and
Control” which he had edited in 1982, with the “Handbook of Measurement
Systems Design” in both hard copy and on-line versions.

In recognition of his long term contributions to the M&I discipline he was

awarded a DSc in engineering at Warwick University in 1986. He was also
awarded the R G Cross Medal of the US based International Test and Evaluation
Association.

Peter now says:24 “His interests in bells and buzzers and what came out of that
had all but burned out by 2004. He retired fully from academic life to spend his
time on the manual arts and crafts, his main interest being in the design and
making of highly decorative wrought iron.”

Mr Steve Lieblich (1989)

Steve Lieblich joined the NCACI in 1989, served as Chairman in
1996 and Deputy Chairman in 1997 before ending his nine years
of service. Amongst his roles was the responsibility for drafting
the Committee’s mission statement adopted in 1991, and the
writing of the first position paper published by the Committee
back in May 1990.

He graduated with first class honours in electrical engineering

from the University of Western Australia in 1971, and later completed an MSc in
Electrical Engineering at the Technion in Israel, majoring in microelectronics. He
has had 30 years experience in electrical engineering, industrial process control,
automation, building services and information technology. He worked for BHP
and for Fluor Daniel, as well as Honeywell, where he progressed from Sales
Engineer to West Australian Marketing and Branch Manager. From 1996 he was

32
Business Development Manager for Motherwell Systems Pty Ltd responsible for
sales and marketing in the Asia Pacific region, before deciding to dedicate his
efforts to his own company, Lieblich & Associates from May 2000. Steve is now
an active director of innovative technology companies and a dispute-resolution
service provider.

Dr Nigel Hancock (1990)

The longest serving member of the NCACI by a substantial
margin, Dr Nigel Hancock joined the Committee in 1990, was
Chair from 1998 to 2000, Deputy Chair in 2001, and finally
moved to corresponding member status in 2009 after 20 years of
service. Among his many roles in the Committee, for some years
he coordinated the undergraduate thesis prize awards.

Nigel Hancock brought to the Committee a strong measurement

and instrumentation perspective relevant to the “I” aspects of the NCACI, with a
clear view of the importance of instrumentation to achieving automation and
control. He became a member of the Committee because, in his own words 37: “I
consider the A plus C plus I integration critical (in contrast to the (apparent)
academic viewpoint which essentially recognizes only control).” He also
perceives the Committee provided “… opportunity to develop, and especially to
ensure the relevance of my ideas for a more appropriate treatment of I&M
matters in undergraduate engineering degrees.”
His view of the Committee’s role is to “represent ACI engineering as a
profession – as opposed to a trade – that is as frequently requiring custom design
and analysis (rather than simply off-the-shelf solutions) to achieve optimum
performance in all those areas for which ACI is a central aspect … in
mechanical and chemical engineering in particular, but of course much more
generally also, hence the need for proactive engagement with several EA
Colleges.”

Dr Hancock graduated with Honours in Physics from the University of

Manchester, UK and worked in military avionics at Marconi Space and Defence
Systems Ltd., before completing his PhD in environmental physics
(instrumentation for micrometeorology) at the University of Strathclyde,
Scotland, in 1979. He emigrated to Australia in 1981 and joined the University of
Southern Queensland (USQ) with a developing academic interest in general
‘I&M’. He is currently Associate Professor in Instrumentation and Measurement
at USQ.

33
In addition to contributing to the development of I&M education, Dr Hancock’s
contributions to I&M research have been mainly concerned with instrumentation
for agriculture and food industries. Projects undertaken and supervised span
agricultural machinery performance in the broadacre, sugar cane and horticultural
industries, erosion control, soil moisture assessment, evaporation estimation and
mitigation, feedlot and piggery odour assessment, abattoir automation and dairy
process instrumentation.

In recent years his research and research supervision roles have increased; and he
also currently holds the positions of Principal Scientist, Agricultural and
Biosystems Engineering within the National Centre for Engineering in
Agriculture (NCEA) at USQ, and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Computers and
Electronics in Agriculture. [Adapted from 37]

Prof Bob Bitmead (1990)

Bob Bitmead, an Electrical Engineering PhD from the
University of Newcastle, Australia, joined the NCACI in 1990
when he was Professor of Systems Engineering at the
Australian National University, Institute of Advanced Studies,
Canberra. As one of Australia’s leading researchers in control
theory with a strong interest in industrial applications of control
he brought a strong technical orientation to the Committee, and
contributed to the progressive refinement of its mission
statement which was developed during the early 1990s. He also acted as a key
liaison person with IFAC and led NCACI’s IFAC sub-committee.

Professor Bitmead remained an active member until early 1996, when he

transferred to corresponding member status. In June 1999 he took up a position at
the University of California at San Diego heading the Dynamic Systems and
Control Group of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

Mr Peter Stone (1992)

Mr Peter Stone joined the NCACI in 1992 and chaired the
Committee in 1995 and 1997, transferring to corresponding
membership in 1999. His presence gave the 1992 Committee
an improved “balance” with five academics and five industry
members. One of Peter’s initiatives was to attempt to forge
links between the Committee and the IICA. As noted earlier,
this did not achieve a successful outcome, though not for want
of his trying.

34
In his own words 38 he recalls that “The major challenges of my time in the
NCACI was to create and embed initiatives which would over time generate
enough profile to attract the attention of both industrial and academic
practitioners. The initiatives of substance, including the ACI National Project
Excellence Awards and the UG Student Thesis Award, were set in motion by
Brian Speedy, and during my tenure we attempted to give these momentum and
profile in the broader engineering community. I think that these have been
enduring initiatives that achieve their purpose.”

Peter also notes that a couple of the highlights of his tenure as Chair were the
Control 95 and Control 97 conferences.

Peter Stone qualified as a Mechanical Engineer in 1980 and has since obtained
graduate qualifications in computer science and applied finance. He has been
employed by BHP Billiton for his whole career, working in the area of applied
research and development. Currently [2009] he is Manager Optimization R&D
at BHP Billiton, leading a group of engineers, scientists and mathematicians in
developing in-house mine planning and business optimization software for
planners in the Company's diverse mining operations in Base Metals, Iron-Ore,
Nickel, Uranium and Aluminium. Previously, in the late 1990s he was recruited
to the team which developed and deployed a world-first geophysical exploration
instrument - the FALCON airborne gravity gradiometer. Before that, he
established and led the Advanced Process Control group within BHP Research
which developed model-based control algorithms for BHP’s steel operations.
Way back in the early to mid 1980s, he was a member of BHP’s Railroad
Technology group, developing and implementing strategies to minimize wheel
and rail wear on the Mt Newman line.38

Emeritus Prof Michael Brisk (1992)

Michael Brisk joined the NCACI in 1992 as a representative of
the Chemical College, also providing a close link to the PCS of
which he was then the Immediate Past Chairman. He remained
on the Committee until 1995, continuing as a corresponding
member until 2000. During his time on the Committee he was a
member of the organising committee for the Control 95
conference; a member of the International Program Committee
for the First Asian Control Conference, Kyoto, Japan in 1994;
and a plenary speaker at the 1993 IFAC World Congress in Sydney. He initiated
the suggestions for utilising the IFAC surplus funds which led to the
Undergraduate ACI thesis prize and the ACI industrial project excellence award,

35
and developed a detailed proposal for the IFAC congress travel award which had
been suggested by others.

A chemical engineer with a forty year professional career divided between

industry and academia, Mike Brisk has specialised in process control. After
completing a PhD at the University of Sydney he spent six years with ICI Central
Instrument Laboratories in the UK, working under the direction of the legendary
A J Young, an early pioneer of computer control in the process industry. He
returned to Australia in 1971 as a senior lecturer in Chemical Engineering in the
University of Sydney. During the 70s and early 80s he held various roles in the
NSW Group and the Australian National Committee of IChemE, chairing the
NSW Group from 1984 to 1986.

In 1983 he joined ICI Australia, initially managing process engineering research

at the Botany site in Sydney. Stimulated by his experiences as a member of the
team coordinating the 1987 Warren Centre project on Advanced Process Control,
Mike transferred to ICI Australia Engineering in Melbourne in 1988 to establish
the Company’s Advanced Process Control Group. The Warren Centre project
also saw the birth of the Process Control Society within EA’s Chemical College,
with Mike as the foundation Chairman. In 1991 he was appointed International
Technology Leader, Advanced Process Control, working on the development of
process control strategy for the ICI Group worldwide.

In 1993 he was awarded the IEAust/IChemE/RACI Award of Excellence in

Applied Chemical Engineering for contributions to Process Control, and in 1994
elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and
Engineering. He left ICI to join Monash University in March 1995 as Dean of
Engineering, retiring from that position at the end of 2002 as an Emeritus
Professor. In 2004 he received the Australian and New Zealand Federation of
Chemical Engineers CHEMECA Medal for outstanding service and contribution
to Chemical Engineering. Since his retirement he chaired EA’s Accreditation
Board for four years and remains a part-time Accreditation Visit Manager.

Prof Brisk has retained close links with the NCACI, co-authoring the booklet “A
History of Control Engineering Education in Australia”39 published in 2000;
managing the process industries “Benefits of Improved Control” survey
commenced in 2005 and writing the “report card” 22; and in 2009 undertaking the
interesting task of writing this history.

36
Prof Ljubo Vlacic (1994)
Professor Ljubo Vlacic joined the NCACI in 1994. He was the
Newsletter editor from 1996 to mid-2003, and Chairman from
then until 2006. He remains a member in 2009, completing the
second longest service on the Committee.

As Newsletter editor he started the practice of printing articles

acknowledging contributions of the Australian ACI engineers,
both educators and practising professionals, and profiling
Committee members. Whilst Chairman he introduced a number of initiatives,
including the 2005 survey on achieving the benefits of improved control in
Australian process and manufacturing industries. He also established a formal
link with the Asian Control Professors’ Association. In conjunction with the
IFAC/IEEE symposium on Advances in Control Education (ACE 2000) held in
Australia in December 2000, which he chaired, he initiated the production of a
booklet “A History of Control Engineering Education in Australia”.39

Dr Ljubo Vlacic is a Professor with Griffith University's School of Engineering

and Director of their Intelligent Control Systems Laboratory. Throughout his
career he has held a number of influential roles in both industry and academia,
including Institute Technical Director, Project Director, Program Director and
Head of School. His research activities include control systems, decision theory,
and intelligent vehicles and transport systems.

In recognition of his achievements he has received numerous awards including

the 2004 IEE Achievement Medal (from IEE in the United Kingdom), the 2004
Sir Lionel Hooke Award, (from IEE Australia) and was named the 2003
Queensland Professional Engineer of the Year by Engineers Australia. From
2002 to 2008 he was the Chair of the IFAC Technical Committee on Control
Education, the co-Chair of the IEEE-CSS Technical Committee on Education
and the Chair of the Harold Chestnut Control Engineering Textbook Prize
Selection Committee.

He views the Committee’s role as including “… a mission to strive for excellence

in education, research and development and engineering projects as we are in
rapidly advancing field, and a mission to continue promoting its A, C & I
disciplines to students, other engineering disciplines and society.” 40

37
Dr John Lear (1995)
John Lear joined the NCACI in 1995, representing both the PCS,
of which he was then the Chairman, and the Chemical College of
EA. He was instrumental in organising the Australasian
MOD300 Users’ Group and the SPEEDUP Users’ Group
meetings in Australia. He was also an organiser of Control 97
and the Chair of the Organising Committee for Chemeca 2004 in
Sydney. He remains on the NCACI in 2009, another long serving
member. In his own words: “As automation becomes an
increasingly integral part of our society, it is essential that professionalism is
maintained and developed. The NCACI exists to facilitate the development of
professionals working in this field – through encouraging excellence in education
and execution, linking Australia with international bodies and by fostering the
participation in the wider engineering community. I want to contribute to this.”
John has a BE in Chemical Engineering with first class honours and the
University Medal from the University of Sydney. He completed a PhD in
Advanced Process Control from the same university. Early in his career he held a
chemical engineering traineeship with BHP at Port Kembla, and then joined ICI
Australia in Sydney. He is currently with its successor, Orica, where he is the
Process Development Manager leading the development of new process
technology for the mining services business unit. Prior to this, he was the Project
Technical Manager for Orica’s Groundwater Treatment Plant – a $70m high
profile project built to protect the environment around the Botany Industrial Park.

He is also Orica’s Control and Modelling Specialist, providing specialist

consulting services across the Orica Group internationally in the areas of process
control, process modelling and automation safety. He has devoted many of his
efforts to improving the safety and operability of processes, developing, with
others, the CHAZOP review technique for assessing control systems. In 1993
John was recognised internationally within the ICI Group with the Functional
Excellence Award for Innovation Creativity and Engineering Excellence for
Advanced Distillation Control.

John is currently a director of The Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering at

the University of Sydney. Previously he was President of the Sydney University
Chemical Engineering Association, and from 1999 to 2001 was a member of the
Executive of the Chemical Engineering Foundation.

38
Dr Michael Evans (1996)
Michael Evans joined the NCACI in 1996, was Deputy
Chairman in 2000, Chairman in 2001 and 2002, and continues
as a member at the time of writing (2009), a total of 14 years
service to his credit. When he joined the Committee he
furthered the development of the Project Excellence Award
prior to the first recipient being selected in 1997.

A mechanical engineering graduate from the University of Queensland, he holds

M.S., M.Phil and PhD degrees in control from Yale University. After a period in
the Department of Mechanical Engineering in the University of Western
Australia with interests in the theoretical aspects of control, as well as control
system design for a submersible vehicle, he joined the Weapons System Division
of the Defence Science and Technology Organisation in Salisbury, South
Australia. His work has included aspects of missile and unmanned airborne
vehicle guidance and control. He was the foundation Chairman of the Control,
Aerospace and Electronics Systems Chapter of the IEEE Control Society.

Prof Parisa Bahri (2002)

Parisa Bahri joined the NCACI in 2002 and immediately set a
precedent: she was the first female member of either the NCCCS
or the NCACI. At the time of writing (2009/2010) she remains the
only female to have been a member of the Committee. She served
as Newsletter editor for two years and undergraduate thesis prize
coordinator for one year.

Parisa is a chemical engineer, with a PhD from the University of Sydney on the
topic of “Operability Analysis and Design of Optimising Control Schemes for
Chemical Plants”. In her career she has set other precedents for a woman in the
field of automation and control in Australia. When she joined the Committee she
was a Senior lecturer in the School of Electrical, Energy and Process
Engineering, Murdoch University, Western Australia. She was promoted to
Associate Professor in 2005, to Professor in 2007, holding the Engineering
Program Chair in the School of Engineering Science, and became Dean of the
School of Engineering and Energy at Murdoch in February 2007.

She joined the Committee because in her own words: 41 “Traditionally the area
of Instrumentation and Control has not been well presented within the
Engineering profession. The engineers from different established disciplines
(such as chemical, electrical and mechanical) have moved into this area and

39
therefore there has not been much public knowledge of the contributions that
Australian industries received from this discipline. NCACI has played an
important role to showcase the activities of this discipline but there is much more
to be done to achieve this goal.”

She feels so strongly about the importance of these technologies that she would
like to see the NCACI eventually “ … become a standalone college within
Engineers Australia”.

Prof Iven Mareels (2002)

Prof Mareels joined the NCACI in 2002, became Deputy

Chairman in 2003, and chaired the Committee from mid-2006 to
mid-2009. He remains on the 2009 Committee as Immediate
Past Chairman and an active member. In his own words he does
so “because I believe that control in Australia has an important
contribution to make in the country as well as on the
international scene. Most of the top proponents in Australia do
play almost exclusively on the international scene, and have
done so for a very long time. Links with industry, links with
other professionals are important to maintain a healthy community of both
theoreticians as well as practitioners. NCACI can play a role in bridging the gap
that exists in control between the esoteric and the mundane in control (and both
extreme aspects have to co-exist to make an engineering field healthy and to
provide it with a future).”

Iven holds a Master of Electromechanical Engineering from Gent University,

Belgium, and a PhD in Systems Engineering from the Australian National
University (ANU), Canberra. Since 1996 a Professor in the Department of
Electrical and Electronic Engineering, the University of Melbourne, he has been
the Head of the Department, and at the time of writing is Dean of the Melbourne
School of Engineering. Previously he was a Reader at ANU (1990-1996), and
held positions at the University of Newcastle and the University of Gent. In 1994
he was the recipient of the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching
at ANU and has received several awards for his research work including the
2008, Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering Clunies Ross Award
for his work on Smart Irrigation Systems. He was a co-editor in chief of the
international journal Systems & Control Letters until December 2007.

Prof Mareels is Vice-Chair of the Asian Control Professors Association, and was
a member of the Board of Governors of the Control Systems Society of IEEE
from 2002 to 2005. He was the Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Control

40
Systems Society for 2004-2005 and is also on the IFAC Publication Committee.
His research interests are in adaptive and learning systems, nonlinear control and
modelling. He has more recently applied his knowledge to the modelling and
control of environmental systems with applications to natural resource
management.

Mr Brandon Lee (2005)

Brandon Lee joined the NCACI in 2005, and looked after the
portfolio responsible for organising the National Project
Excellence Awards. He was appointed to the Committee
Chairman’s role in June 2009, almost certainly the youngest
person to have held this position in the history of the NCACI.

Brandon graduated from the University of Western Australia in

2002 with a combined degree in Electrical & Electronic
Engineering (majoring in Power & Control) and Commerce (majoring in
Accounting & Finance). Upon graduation, he took up employment with the
Water Corporation of Western Australia, the major water utility servicing the
state. More recently he worked as the primary designer of the instrumentation
and control systems for the Perth Seawater Desalination Plant, and then as a
project engineer responsible for delivering the implementation of the control
system he had previously designed.

He has been an active member of EA for several years through Young Engineers
Australia and has been Chairperson of the Young Engineers Australia National
Committee. Brandon was named on EA’s list of the top ten most influential
young Engineers for 2006.

Mr Michael Lees (2005)

Michael Lees joined the NCACI late in 2005, and took over the
Newsletter editorship early in 2006, a role he retains at the time
of writing (2009).

He graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering

(electrical/electronics) in 1994 and went on to complete a Master
of Engineering by research (on the hardware implementation of
high-performance fuzzy logic processors) at La Trobe University.
He is currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Melbourne (part-time).
Michael is the automation manager at Foster’s Yatala brewery in Queensland,

41
having worked with the company since late 1997. He is responsible for the
plant’s automation and production information systems and is also the project
manager for the plant’s G2 real-time intelligent utilities management system.

Michael joined the Committee because, in his words: “I have an interest in

automation and control from both industry and academic research perspectives.”
He notes that he has “found membership of the NCACI to be an effective way to
continue involvement in this area and to contribute on a broader/national
basis.”42

He would like to see the Committee organise the return of regular local/national
conferences in the style of Control’95 and Control’97; “promote an
understanding and acknowledgement of the economic impact of ACI”; and
“provide academia with ‘real world’ industry based problems (hopefully
problems where the solutions have a positive impact on the economy). It could
potentially direct some of the nation’s research effort [in ACI] towards solving
practical industry issues.”42

42
Appendix 1 NCACI & NCCCS Committee Members
[C] = Chair [DC] = Deputy Chair (Corresponding members are not included)

YEAR NAME YEAR NAME YEAR NAME

Mr Brandon Lee [C] Mr Steve Lieblich [C] Mr B Tritt [C]
Prof I Mareels Prof E Betz Prof I Milroy
Mr A Gouge Dr S Crisafulli Dr L Balzer
Mr M Lees NCACI Dr M Evans Mr J Dixon Hughes
NCACI Prof L Vlacic 1996 Dr N Hancock Mr C Stapleton
2009 Prof Parisa Bahri Dr J Lear Dr D Robson
Prof D Hill Dr I Milroy NCCCS Mr R Cearns
Dr M Evans Dr L Vlacic 1984 Mr P Benyon
Dr N Hancock Mr Peter Stone [C] Mr P Watt
Dr J Lear Prof M Brisk Dr J Blair
Prof Iven Mareels [C] Dr S Crusafulli Mr F Nicolsoi
Mr B Lee Dr N Hancock Prof D Humpage
Prof L Vlacic Dr C Guy Mr I McKensey
NCACI
Dr N Hancock Dr J Lear Dr M Rehn
1995
NCACI Mr M Lees Mr S Lieblich Mr B Tritt [C]
2008 Prof Parisa Bahri Dr L Vlacic Dr L Balzer
Dr M Evans Prof E Betz Mr J Dixon Hughes
Prof D Hill Prof P Sydenham Dr D Robson
Dr J Lear Prof R Bitmead Mr R Cearns
NCCCS
Mr A Gouge Dr C Brian Speedy [C] Mr P Benyon
1983
Prof Iven Mareels [C] Prof P Sydenham [DC] Mr P Watt
Prof L Vlacic Dr N Hancock Dr J Blair
Dr N Hancock Dr M Brisk Prof D Humpage
Mr B Lee Mr P Stone Mr I McKensey
NCACI NCACI
Mr M Lees Prof E Betz Prof R Prince
2007 1994
Prof Parisa Bahri Prof R Bitmead Prof D Humpage [C]
Dr M Evans Dr C Guy Mr R Cearns
Prof D Hill Dr L Vlacic Mr P Benyon
Dr J Lear Mr S Lieblich NCCCS Dr L Balzer
Prof Iven Mareels [C] Prof N Rees 1982 Mr B Tritt
Prof L Vlacic Dr C Brian Speedy [C] Mr F Nicolsoi
Mr B Lee Prof P Sydenham [DC] A/Prof C Stapleton
Dr Parisa Bahri Dr N Hancock Mr G The
NCACI
Dr M Evans Dr M Brisk Prof D Humpage [C]
2006
Dr N Hancock NCACI Mr P Stone Mr R Cearns
Dr J Lear 1993 Prof E Betz Mr P Benyon
Mr M Lees Prof R Bitmead Dr L Balzer
Prof D Hill Dr C Guy Mr B Tritt
Prof Ljubo Vlacic [C] Prof N Rees NCCCS Mr F Nicolsoi
Prof I Mareels [DC] Mr S Lieblich 1981 A/Prof C Stapleton
Dr Parisa Bahri Dr C Brian Speedy [C] Mr G The
NCACI
Dr N Hancock Prof P Sydenham [DC] Prof R Prince
2005
Mr B Lee Dr N Hancock Dr J Blair
Dr J Lear Dr M Brisk Dr I Milroy
Dr M Evans NCACI Mr P Stone Mr J Dixon Hughes
Prof Ljubo Vlacic [C] 1992 Prof E Betz
Prof I Mareels [DC] Prof R Bitmead
NCACI Dr N Hancock Dr C Guy
2004 Dr Parisa Bahri Prof N Rees
Dr J Lear Mr S Lieblich
Dr M Evans

43
 NCACI & NCCCS Committee Members (cont)
[C] = Chair [DC] = Deputy Chair (Corresponding members are not included)

YEAR NAME YEAR NAME YEAR NAME

Dr Ljubo Vlacic [C] Dr C Brian Speedy [C] Prof D Humpage [C]
Dr Iven Mareels [DC] Prof P Sydenham [DC] Mr J Dixon Hughes
Dr M Evans Dr N Hancock Dr I Milroy
NCACI Dr N Hancock A/Prof C Stapleton
NCACI Prof N Rees
2003 NCCCS
Dr J Lear 1991 Prof E Betz Prof N Rees
1980
Dr Parisa Bahri Prof R Bitmead Mr I Bates
Dr R Middleton Mr P Higgins Prof H Messerle
Dr Michael Evans [C] Mr S Lieblich Mr G The
Mr M Lucas [DC] Dr C Brian Speedy [C] Dr D Wong
Dr Ljubo Vlacic Prof P Sydenham [DC] Prof D Humpage [C]
NCACI Dr Nigel Hancock Dr N Hancock Prof N Rees
2002 Dr J Lear Prof N Rees A/Prof C Stapleton
NCACI
Dr Parisa Bahri Prof E Betz Dr D Wong
1990
Dr I Mareels Prof R Bitmead Mr I Bates
Dr R Middleton Mr P Higgins Mr O Billinghurst
NCCCS
Dr Michael Evans [C] Dr R Newell 1979 Mr E Hayman
Dr Nigel Hancock [DC] Mr S Lieblich Mr K Fitzsimmons
Dr L Vlacic Dr C Brian Speedy [C] Mr P Gilbert
NCACI Dr J Lear Prof P Sydenham [DC] A/Prof P Dransfield
2001 Mr M Lucas Prof N Rees Dr B Smith
NCACI
Mr G Munday Prof E Betz Mr M MacAuley
1989
Dr S Crisafulli Mr P Higgins Mr J Dixon Hughes
Dr R Middleton Mr P Watt Prof D Humpage [C]
Dr Nigel Hancock [C] Mr S Lieblich Mr J Dixon Hughes
Dr Michael Evans [DC] Mr Peter Watt [C] A/Prof P Dransfield
Dr S Cr isaf ulli Dr C Speedy Mr K Fitzsimmons
NCCCS
NCACI Mr G Munday Prof P Sydenham Mr E Hayman
1978
2000 Dr L Vlacic Prof N Rees Mr M MacAuley
NCACI
Dr J Lear Prof E Betz Prof R Prince
1988
Mr M Lucas Mr P Higgins Mr C Stapleton
Dr A Telford Mr M Kenyon Dr D Wong
Dr Nigel Hancock [C] Mr I McKensey Prof D Humpage [C]
Dr Ljubo Vlacic [DC] Mr A Nicolosi Mr J Brodie
Dr S Crisafulli Mr Peter Watt [C] Mr K Connelly
Dr J Lear Dr C Speedy Mr W Fitzsimmons
NCACI Dr A Telford NCACI Mr M Kenyon Mr P Gilbert
1998-99
Mr P Campbell 1987 Mr I McKensey NCCCS Mr T Hayman
Dr M Evans Dr J Blair 1977 Mr M MacAuley
Mr G Munday Prof N Rees Prof N Rees
Mr P Stone First Mr Peter Watt [C] Dr B Smith
Mr Peter Stone [C] year of Dr J Blair Dr D Wong
Mr Steve Lieblich [DC] NCACI Mr A Nicolosi Mr O Billingshurst
Dr S Crisafulli Prof N Rees A/Prof C Stapleton
Dr M Evans 1986 Mr B Tritt Mr J Dembecki [C]
NCACI
Dr N Hancock Dr Les Balzer [C] Mr J Brodie
1997
Dr J Lear Dr J Blair Mr K Connelly
First
Dr L Vlacic Mr J Dixon Hughes A/Prof P Dransfield
Last year of
Prof E Betz Mr M Holland Mr P Gilbert
year of NCCCS
Dr I Milroy Prof I Milroy Prof D Humpage
NCCCS
Mr A Nicolosi Mr M Macaulay
1985 Capt C Skinner 1976 Prof H Messerle
Mr B Tritt Prof R Prince
Mr P Watt A/Prof C Stapleton
A/Prof C Stapleton Dr D Wong

44
 Appendix 2 NCACI & NCCCS Committee
Administrators
The National Committees have always been supported by a permanent member
of EA’s staff, based in the national headquarters in Canberra, who attended
meetings as the minute secretary and advisor on EA procedures, and dealt with
all administrative matters. In the early days of the NCCCS and the NCACI the
administrator was also the Electrical College Secretary, later titled Executive
Officer of the College. In recent years the administrator has changed frequently.

The table below is believed to be correct, but may contain inaccuracies.

Period or
Committee Commencing Administrator
Dates
Mr R D Henderson supported
1976 – 1983
by Mr B R (Bruce) Ramage
NCCCS
1984 – 1985 Mr R A (Robert) Breen

1986 – 1994 Mr R A (Robert) Breen

1995 – 2000 Ms Trish Grice

March 2001 Ms Melanie Williams

Sept 2001 – 2005 Ms Martine (Bayly) Griffiths

June 2006 Ms Melanie Lindner

Oct 2006 Ms Kay Nielsen

NCACI
2007 Ms Aylwen Gardiner-Garden

2008 Ms Rachele Dews

October 2008 Ms Krista Schmeling

April 2009 to date Ms Pearl Ansley

45
 Appendix 3 NCACI Newsletter Editors
With the exception of 1995, the Newsletter editor has always been a member of
the Committee, frequently assisted by the Committee Administrator or another
member of EA staff.

Dates Editors

1989 - 1991 Peter Higgins

1991 – 1994 Peter Stone

1995 Trish Grice

1996 - 2000 Ljubo Vlacic & Trish Grice

2001 Ljubo Vlacic & Julie Armstrong

2002 - 2003 Ljubo Vlacic & Martine (Bayly) Griffiths

2003 Parisa Bahri

2004 - 2005 Parisa Bahri & Martine Griffiths

2006 - 2007 Michael Lees & Aylwen Gardiner-Garden

Michael Lees, Rachele Dews & Krista

2008
Schmeling

2009 Michael Lees & Pearl Ansley

46
 Appendix 4 Undergraduate Thesis Prizes
The NCACI Undergraduate Thesis Prize recognises excellence in undergraduate
project work in ACI engineering. The award aims to:

x Encourage undergraduate interest in ACI Engineering;

x Enhance student knowledge and application of ACI Engineering
disciplines, and particularly the integrated application of A, C and I;
x Encourage academic participation in ACI Engineering as part of
undergraduate education;
x Encourage a high quality of reporting of undergraduate project work.

The winner receives $2000 ($1000 prior to 2002) and a framed certificate
presented at the M A Sargent Medal dinner in May/June of each year. Other high
quality entries receive a certificate of commendation.

Thesis prize winners since the inaugural award in 1995

Year Award Winner Institution Thesis Title

Mr Patrick University of
1995 Self-Tuning Controllers
Fordyce Queensland
Microcontroller-based Spark
University of New
Kim Bentley Ignition System Design and
South Wales
Implementation
1996
A Laser Tracking System to
Chris Leigh- Measure the Position and
Monash University
Lancaster Orientation of Robot End
Effectors under Motion
University of
1997 James Welsh Auto Tuner for PID Controllers
Newcastle
The Development of a Semi
Curtin University of Automatic Control for Explosive
1998 Nigel Bennett
Technology Charging in Underground
Mining Operations
Automation of Hydroacoustic
University of Western
1999 Ozan Perinek Transducer Calibration and
Australia
Characterisation
Universal Reefer Refrigeration
2000 Shane Spiteri Victoria University
Controller
Feedback Design for a Servo-
2001 Paul Mason Deakin University
pneumatic System
Robust Control for Wing Rock
Capt. Pui Pin
2002 ADFA Suppression on a Single Delta
Wong
Platform

47
 Thesis prize winners (continued)
Year Award Winner Institution Thesis Title
University of Southern Dust Suppression Controller for
Daryl Wheatley
Queensland Overland Product Conveyors
2003
Christopher University of Vision Processing for Robocup
Seyener Newcastle 2003/2004
University of Servo Assist Device for Squeeze
Simon Voss
Queensland Action Hand Tool
2005
Real-time Human Tracking from
Agenor Luiz University of Sydney
a Mobile Robot using Vision
Non-linear Model Predictive
Benjamin University of
Control: a Multiple Linear
Bohringer Newcastle
Controller Approach
2006
Coupled Non-linear State
Australian National
Sung Han Cha Estimation and Control for Low-
University
cost Aerial Robotic Vehicles
Laser Frequency Stabilisation by
Australian National
2007 Andrew Sutton Dual Arm Locking for the LISA
University
Gravitational Wave Detector
2008 No winner
A Low-Cost Autopilot for Small
2009 Daniel Wilson University of Sydney
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Thesis commendations since the inaugural award in 1995

Year Recipient Institution Thesis Title

Queensland University Heat Exchange Temperature
Fiona Kluyt
of Technology Control at CSR's Kalamai Mill
Queensland University Automated EMI Measurement
Heng-Mao Chiu
of Technology System
Development of a Computer
Victoria University of Based Simulation for a Real
Steven Edwards
Technology Time Pressure Controlled Air
1995 Handling System
A Study in Nonlinear Control:
Michael University of
The Duffings and Van Der Pol
Stuckings Newcastle
Equations
University of Active Suspension Systems for
Alan Watters
Queensland Vehicles
The Design and Construction of
James Cleary University of Sydney a Reconfigurable Scalable and
Low-Cost Flight Simulator
Kynan Eng & Robbie the Running Robot, a
Monash University
Alec Robertson Distributed Learning System
1996
Matthew
University of WA A Six-Legged Walking Robot
Hollingworth

48
 Thesis Commendations (continued)
Year Recipient Institution Thesis Title
Dynamic Modelling and Control
Curtin University of
Kiew Kam Optimisation of a Flash Furnace
Technology
using Time Series Analysis
University of Advanced Control of a Pilot
Julio Rodriguez
Newcastle Distillation Column
1996
V.E.M.I Valve Edge Measuring
Cameron Snoek University of Sydney
Instrument
Non-Linearity Measures, with
University of
Christofo Torrisi Application to an Air Heating
Queensland
Tower
Dynamic Modelling of a High
Mark Cowlishaw University of Sydney Speed Vehicle for Location
Estimation
Quay-Crane Systems
Ivan D'Cruz University of Sydney Enhancement Auto Pick and
Place
A General-Purpose Electronic
1997 Paul Golding University of Canberra Instrumentation System for
Science and Engineering
Wrist Stabilisation during
Stimulated Hand Grasp of Spinal
Carly Hart University of Sydney
Cord Injured Persons with
Tetraplegia
Analysis and Control of the
University of
James Lennox Anerobic Section of the BNR
Queensland
Process
University of Southern Plant Control using
1998 John Lloyd
Queensland Programmable Logic Controllers
Heat Interchange Controller
2000 Peter Rose Murdoch University
Design
Multi-User Interactive Control of
Keith Bannister University of NSW the Automated Patrol Telescope
over the Internet
2001 Smart Enterprise Process
Benjamin Hor University of Sydney Simulation & Data
Reconciliation
University of Development of a Robotic
Timothy Bourke
Wollongong Wheelchair
Water tank instrumentation and
Huzefa Ali Monash University
control
The Fusion of Sensory Systems
2002 Philip Applied to Intelligent Thermal
Deakin University
Bickerdike Management of the Die in High
Pressure Die Casting
University of Wireless Distributed Sensing and
Brad Costa
Wollongong Actuation

49
 Thesis Commendations (continued)
Year Recipient Institution Thesis Title
Adrian Moo
University of Adelaide Active Mirror Control
Chun Huong
2002
Adrian Kuo
University of NSW Music for Hearing Implants
Ching Lee
Model Predictive Control for a
Mr Anderson University of Sydney
Tail Sitting UAV
Investigation into the Control of
the Depth and Pitch Attitude of
Simon Willis James Cook University
a Submerged Fish Tracking
System
Inertial and GPS Fusion for
2003 Australian National
Peter Jahnke Optimal Aircraft State
University
Estimation
Altitude Control of a Model
University of New
Douglas Lampe Helicopter using Artificial
South Wales
Neural Networks
Active Control for High
Piers Bosshard Curtin University
Performance Cars
Australian National Locatisation using Active
2005 Luke Cole
University Mirror Vision System
University of Southern Tablet Press Control System
David Harney
Queensland Modification
Active Isolation of Vibrations
University of Western
Shaun Haskey Using Pneumatic Isolators and
Australia
On/Off Solenoid Valves
2006
The Development of a
University of
David Mate Microprocessor-based Network
Technology Sydney
Protector
Automated Cistern Test Station
Stephen University of South
for Caroma Dorf's Cellular
Schilling Australia
Manufacturing Facility
University of Constrained Optimal Control of
2007 Thomas Wilson
Queensland an Electronic Throttle Body
Luke Cartwright
Swinburne University
2008 & Elizabeth Snowy Hydro Simulator
of Technology
Fullegar
Design of Wireless Networks
2009 Steven Kim Lay University of Sydney
for Smart Metering

50
Appendix 5 National Project Excellence Aw ards
In Automation, Control & Instrumentation

Year Winner Project

Process Control ERA Ranger Uranium Plant
Technology, Perth Upgrade, Stage 1
1996
BHP Engineering and Springhill Coil Packaging and
Inaugural
BHP Coated Steel Handling Project, Port Kembla
Award
Products
CAMMS Automation Control and automation system for
1998 and Electrical BRL Hardy’s Stonehaven Vineyards
Services winery
Julius Kruttschnitt
AMIRA P255 Minerals Sands
2000 Mineral Research
Process Control Project
Centre
2002 Not awarded
Industrial Automation
Services and Hot Finishing Mill Achieva Setup
2004
BlueScope Steel Hot System Upgrade
Mill Team
2006 Not awarded
Honeywell Process
QUASAR – Quality Automation
2008 Solutions and Alcoa
Solutions in Alumina Refining
of Australia

51
 Appendix 6 Conferences
Organising/(Co-)Sponsoring Committee: NCCCS:  NCACI: 
(This is not a complete list of all the conferences in which the Committees had
some involvement.)

Conference Year Dates Location Title / Theme Chair Delegates

Microprocessor 15-16 Microprocessor Dr B
1977 Melbourne >200
Conference Nov Conference Smith
Computers in 23-25 Computers in Mr M
1978 Canberra
Engineering Aug Engineering Macauley
First Australian
Conference in Dr B
Control 79 1979 M ay Melbourne
Control Smith
Engineering
Computers in 2-3 Computers in
1981 Melbourne
Engineering Sept Engineering
Prof G
Second Australian
25-27 Goodwin
Control 82 1982 Newcastle Control
Aug & Dr J
Conference
Edwards
31
Computers & Computers and Dr L
1983 Aug – Sydney 170
Engineering Engineering Balzer
2 Sept
Measurements, Measurements,
Instrumentation O ct - Instrumentation Mr M
1984 Melbourne
& Digital Nov and Digital Robson
Technology Technology
Real-time
Computers & 25-27 Applications of
1985 Hobart 90
Engineering Sept Computers in
Engineering
Third Australian
12-14 Prof N
Control 86 1986 Sydney Control 120
M ay Rees
Conference
Australasian
14-17 Instrumentation Prof Peter
AIM 89 1989 Adelaide
Nov and Measurement Sydenham
Conference '89
"Control
1-3 Technology for Dr Bob
Control 90 1990 Brisbane 145
Aug Australian Newell
Industry"

52
 Conferences (continued)
Conference Year Dates LocationTitle / Theme Chair Delegates
“Automating
Commerce and
Industry :
Prof
26-27 Experience in the
Automation 91 1991 Melbourne Malcolm
Nov Design and
Good
Implementation of
Integrated
Systems”
"Enhancing
Australia's
2-4 Productivity with Dr Ron
Control 92 1992 Perth
Nov Automation, Stone
Control and
Instrumentation"
Prof
19-23 12th IFAC World
IFAC 93 1993 Sydney Neville >1200
July Congress
Rees
“Third
Australasian
Instrumentation
and Measurement
AIM-TEC 94 1994 Adelaide
Conference; Test
and Evaluation in
the Asia-Pacific
Region”
"Meeting the
23-25 Challenge of Prof. Rob
Control 95 1995 Melbourne
O ct Asia-Pacific Evans
Growth
"Bringing
Together
Prof
20-22 Industrial and
Control 97 1997 Sydney David 186
O ct Theoretical
Hill
Control
Advances"
IFAC/IEEE
Prof
17-19 Gold Symposium on
ACE 2000 2000 Ljubo 100
D ec Coast Advances in
Vlacic
Control Education
14th IFAC
29-31 Symposium on
SYSID-2006 2006 Newcastle 226
M arch System
Identification

53
 Appendix 7 Engineers Australia National
Committees: Purpose and Rules 43
National Committees are formed to provide a focus for a particular aspect of the
learned society function. They are often formed as a consultative group for a
particular engineering industry base or for an engineering discipline interest
group. The work of a National Committee is largely independent of those of any
similar interest group formed at Divisional level. However, a greater degree of
co-operation and communication between national and regional groups, without
any attempt at national level domination, is encouraged by Council.

Terms of Reference. To promote and advance the science and practice of a

particular engineering interest by:
x holding national conferences, symposia and meetings at regular intervals and
publishing papers and proceedings;
x encouraging engineers to write, present and publish papers;
x encouraging research and development in its field;
x conducting studies of national issues in its field and prepare papers for
publication on these issues;
x establishing and maintaining liaison with other appropriate national and
international bodies, and acting, with the approval of the College Board, as
the Australian National Committee of international bodies;
x maintaining contact with other national learned bodies in similar fields of
interest, and where appropriate conducting joint meetings;
x proposing matters on which public statements are advisable and prepare drafts
of such statements for College Chair's approval;
x recommending nominees for appointment to committees and organisations
outside of Engineers Australia; for example, Standards Australia, and
International Societies;
x providing briefing papers on matters of national engineering interest to the
Editor of Engineers Australia Pty Ltd (Engineers Media); and
x encouraging the preparation of specialist technical publications such as
manuals, data books, and codes of practice.

Tenure of Office of National Committee. A span of three years after which its
purpose and activities are critically reviewed by its parent Board. Self
perpetuation of National Committees is discouraged and those Committees that
do not perform a demonstrably useful function for the members as a whole will
be disbanded by the parent Board.

54
Meetings National Committees normally meet face-to face once each year.
Telephone meetings may also be conducted. A business paper giving details of
the meeting, together with copies of any relevant papers, is circulated to members
approximately two weeks before the meeting date.

Servicing of Meetings. Meetings are serviced by an appropriate Committee

Administrator and minutes are normally circulated within two weeks of
meetings. Because the committees usually meet only once a year, most of their
activities are carried out between meetings by email by working parties
appointed by the Committee, usually from among its members, or by members
working individually. The meetings are primarily opportunities to approve or
amend submissions, to report progress on projects, to allocate new duties, and to
exchange ideas.

National Committee Chairmen. Chairmen of all National Committees shall be

Chartered Members of Engineers Australia and their appointments shall be
subject to endorsement by the respective College Board Chair or Board of
Engineering Practice (BOEP).

Committee Membership. Chairmen of National Committees are responsible for

nominating committee members for College Board approval. In selecting
nominees, they are to seek divisional representation through divisional executives
and branch chairmen.
Notwithstanding this requirement, committee chairmen are to ensure their
committees have the necessary level and range of expertise and interest group
representation for their effective operation.

Chair's Term of Office. A National Committee Chair shall have an initial term of
office for two years and may be elected for two additional terms each of one
year. A new Chair may be appointed by the respective College Board or BOEP
which shall take due note of any recommendation from the National Committee.

National Committee Funding is provided within the budget of the relevant

College or BOEP. The National Committee is expected to limit its expenses to
the budgeted amount.

Committee Membership of Non- Engineers Australia Members. A person who is

not a member of Engineers Australia may be appointed to a National Committee
by specific prior resolution of the appropriate College Board .

Corresponding Membership. A National Committee Chair may appoint, subject

to the approval of the Board Chair, corresponding members (without travelling
rights) to assist the work of the Committee.

55
 References
1
Bitmead, R B, “The Role of NCACI in Developing Control in Australia”,
unpublished discussion paper, (May1990)
2
Brisk, M L, “Process Control: Potential Benefits and Wasted Opportunities”,
Australian J of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, 2 (1), 41-48, (2005)
3
Letter from K S Arter, National Secretary, ACS to C G Smith, Chairman, First
National Conference on the use of Computers in Civil Engineering, (22nd
February 1973)
4
EA Queensland Division, “Report to Secretary, Queensland Division”, (8th
March 1973)
5
Memo from South Australia Division to EA Headquarters, “Proposed National
Committee on Engineering Computing”, (30th July 1973)
6
Minutes of the Electrical College Board, (9th September 1974)
7
Report of the Working Group on the Formation of a National Committee in
Computer Engineering of the College of Electrical Engineers, (February 1975)
8
Minutes of the meeting of The National Committee on Control and
Computational Systems, Sydney (23rd March 1976)
9
Memo from Bruce Ramage, Electrical College, to Western Australia Division,
(17th May 1976)
10
Submission to the College of Electrical Engineers from the Control
Engineering Branch, Victoria Division, (19th July 1976)
11
National Committee on Control and Computational Systems, file note,
(September 1976)
12
NCCCS Committee Guidelines (December 1977)
13
NCCCS Chairman’s Report (1983)
14
NCCCS Annual Report for 1985, (January 1986)
15
NCACI Minutes of Meeting, (4 November 1988)

56
16
Hancock N H, “Report on the Survey of Members’ Opinions Questionnaire”,
(July 1991)
17
Marlin T E, Barton G W, Brisk M L & Perkins J D, Advanced Process
Control: Project Report and Technical Papers, Warren Centre for Advanced
Engineering, (Sydney, 1987)
18
NCACI Mission Statement and Plan of Action, Third Draft, (November 1991)
19
NCACI Minutes of Meeting, (16 November 1989)
20
NCACI , “The Role of Automation, Control and Instrumentation in Improving
Quality in Processing and Manufacturing Industries”, A position paper (March
1990)
21
NCACI, “Year 2000 Issues in Automation, Control and Instrumentation”, A
position paper, (16th June 1998)
22
Brisk M L for the NCACI, “The Health of Process Control Systems in
Australian Process Industries: A Report Card for 2005”, A position paper, (21st
August 2006).
23
NCACI, “The Professionalism of Instrument Engineering”, A position paper,
(May 1990)
24
Prof Peter Sydenham, personal communication (February 2010)
25
The Australian newspaper, “Instrumentation: the Cinderella of Science”, (24th
October 1989)
26
NCACI Chairman Peter Stone’s letter to EA Vice President, Finance, (2nd
November 1995)
27
NCACI “The Undergraduate Thesis Prize In Automation, Control And
Instrumentation, Regulations” , (6 January 2006)
28
NCACI National Project Excellence Awards Brochure, (November 2004)
29
NCACI “Proposal to reform as a new (merged) society”, (October 1998)
30
Prof Iven Mareels, personal communication (January 2010)

57
31
UWA News, Vol 22 No. 19, (1 Dec 2003)
32
Engineers Australia Electrical College, M A Sargent Medal Past Winners,
http://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/ieaust/index.cfm?
33
Australian Research Council Financial Integrity Research Network, website,
http://www.firn.net.au/network/bios/balzer.html
34
Mr Peter Watt, personal communication (November 2009)
35
Engineers Australia NCACI, ACI Newsletter Special Issue, (March 2005)
36
Dr Brian Speedy, Obituary by Prof Graham Goodwin (March 2005)
37
Dr Nigel Hancock, personal communication (October 2009)
38
Mr Peter Stone, personal communication (October 2009)
39
Dabke K P & Brisk M L, “A History of Control Engineering Education in
Australia”, EA/IFAC (December 2000)
40
Prof Ljubo Vlacic, personal communication (December 2009)
41
Prof Parisa Bahri, personal communication (November 2009)
42
Michael Lees, personal communication (November 2009)
43
Engineers Australia Learned Society Handbook, (Revision 2 November 2007)

58