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Charles Anthony Corbett Wilson

Australian bridge engineer (1827-1923)

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 12, 2025
Entity authorityQ5075159 ↗
Source-derived summary

Charles Anthony Corbett Wilson (1827–1923) was an important figure in the history of engineering and bridge building in Victoria, Australia.

Wilson was born at Brompton Square, London, on 13 February 1827. His father was Charles Corbett Wilson, a solicitor of Gray's Inn, London. CAC Wilson was educated by private tutors and at the Western Grammar School, Brompton, and was articled in 1846 to the Westminster area engineering firm of Messrs. Griffin and Downing. He arrived in Victoria, Australia on 10 August 1851 aboard the Troubadour and did gold diggings at Golden Point until he decided that he could not be successful at it. He left Ballarat and practised as a surveyor in Geelong, and subsequently went on to have one of the longest careers of any engineer in Victoria; he was responsible for a number of important engineering works.

In the late 1850s, Wilson carried out the original survey for the Melbourne–Geelong Railway and then joined the Central Road Board as assistant engineer in the Western district, which appointment he held until 1860. He was employed in the construction of the original Iron Barwon Bridge at Geelong, the Shelford Bridge over the River Leigh and the first bridge on the present site at Cressy. He later expressed a debt to the training he received there under Charles Rowand.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Charles Anthony Corbett Wilson” is australian bridge engineer (1827-1923). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Charles, Anthony and Corbett, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA strong orientation record where physical form, institutional use and historical geography need to be read together. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1827, 1923, 1846, 1851—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1827-02-13. For this dossier, Charles, Anthony and Corbett is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “australian bridge engineer (1827-1923)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 12, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q5075159. VIAF identifies the subject as 2435150748999316420001. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1827, 1923, 1846 and 1851.

Critical limits

Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Charles Anthony Corbett Wilson”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Charles Anthony Corbett Wilson primary sources, Charles Anthony Corbett Wilson archive and Charles research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Charles Anthony Corbett Wilson”?
  2. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
  3. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Charles Anthony Corbett Wilson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.