Henry Deane, Railway Engineer and Botanist, is an unsung hero of rail transport in Australia. He arrived in Australia January 1880. Henry worked on the Gunnedah-Narrabri railway construction and the Homebush-Hawkesbury line. He was also responsible for the electrification of the Sydney tramway system. In 1906 he was in charge in the construction of the Wolgan Valley Railway, one of the great engineering feats in Australia. In 1908 Henry was Engineer-in-Chief in charge of the construction of the Transcontinental Railway, which joined the eastern states to Western Australia. Henry had a great interest in the Australian flora and during his railway work collected native plants. He discovered Boronia deanei and Eucalyptus deanei during his work on the Wolgan Valley Railway.  Whilst based at Gunnedah (central west NSW) he collected Acacia deanei. At some stage, probably during his time in Sydney, he collected Melaleuca deanei.  Henry was also involved in research into native hardwood timbers, wrote scientific papers on plant fossils and was president of the Linnaean Society of NSW. Henry Deane died in 1924 whilst working in his Melbourne garden.

view page http://home.bluepin.net.au/yallaroo/henry_deane.htm

Blue Mountains Railway Pages Australia read speach given by henry deane to the Sydney University Engineering Society,
on September 21st, 1910.