Influential architect Brian John Williamson, better known as Jack Williamson, passed away on 10 April 2025. Over a long career, he played a prominent role in government, academia and the architectural profession.
Jack Williamson (1938‒2025) was educated at St Augustine’s College in Cairns, and then in 1957 with a scholarship from the Queensland Works Department, he enrolled in the Bachelor of Architecture at The University of Queensland (UQ).
During his degree at UQ he won numerous awards: Board of Architects prizes (1958 and 1959), the Forbes Rankin Prize (1960) and the Architecture, Building, Engineering Journal Thesis Prize (1962). He worked for the Works Department during university vacations, and then joined the Department full-time for the second part-time half of his program. These three years were the start of 30 years spent at ever higher levels in the Works Department.
After graduating from UQ with honours, Jack registered as an architect in Queensland before winning the Faculty of Architecture’s AE Brooks Travelling Scholarship, which enabled him to undertake a Master of Architectural Science degree at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
While in the United States he toured widely, worked during one vacation in Toronto, Canada, for the Ontario Research Foundation, and spent six months working for a highly regarded firm of architects, Sargent, Webster, Crenshaw & Folley at Syracuse, New York.
After returning to Queensland via Europe and Asia in late 1968, he was appointed District Architect at Toowoomba, where he spent eight years. While there and later in Brisbane, Jack was involved with office buildings, TAFE colleges, court houses, police stations, laboratory buildings, public service housing and all types of school buildings.
In 1979, he returned to Brisbane to undertake predesign work for the women’s prison.
He was appointed Manager of the Department’s Technical Services Branch in 1980. This branch undertook building surveying for all State Government building projects, prepared the Department’s master specification (predating NATSPEC) and undertook predesign and technical investigations for the architectural and engineering branches. At this time, Jack had input in the early design stage of the now demolished State Works Centre.
While with the Technical Services Branch, Jack became a member of the Queensland Building Advisory Committee (with responsibility for the Queensland Building Act); the National Public Works Conference Consultants’ Committee and Research Co-ordination Committee; and the National Committee of Rationalised Building (with membership restricted to government construction authorities in Australia and New Zealand), which Jack chaired for two years.
In 1986, he was appointed the Department’s Chief Architect and in 1988, Director of the Building Division with responsibility for the work of the department’s architectural, engineering and quantity surveying branches. He was appointed a member of the Board of Architects of Queensland in 1988 and its Chair from 1990 to 1994.
In widespread but frequently undeserved redundancies which followed the election of the Wayne Goss Government, Jack lost his government position in 1990, only three weeks after he was appointed Acting Director-General of the Department. Undeterred, he accepted a fractional appointment as a lecturer at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), embarking on a successful academic career of almost two decades. He was closely involved with teaching, research and administration.
After completing a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education (QUT) in 1995, he was promoted in 1997 to Senior Lecturer, also a fractional appointment. From 2012 to 2014 he served as a part-time tutor. He lectured in building construction, building fire safety and professional practice, and oversaw assessment of practice experience undertaken by students.
He was fondly remembered by QUT colleagues as a truly “gentle-man” – always positive, supportive and collaborative. He brought his deep knowledge and wisdom to discussions and was fully committed to collective policy and implementation resolutions. He provided sensitive mentoring both to students and academic colleagues, with an open door and a welcome for drop-in visitors, helping them however he could.
Jack joined the Royal Australian Institute of Architects as a student member in 1958. He was elevated to Fellow in 1988 and Life Fellowship in 2021. From about 1986 until 2021, he was a member of Queensland Practice Committee for which he worked tirelessly and with a wealth of knowledge.
As a senior member of the profession, Jack served as a Senior Counsellor and as a General Referee of the Building and Development Tribunal and their Dispute Resolution Committee. Also in 2021, Jack was awarded a Queensland Chapter President’s Award for his outstanding service to the institute through his extensive knowledge of government and the writing of legislation. His knowledge and experience were powerful assets in the Institute’s engagement with government.
Jack was unmarried. For about 45 years, he lived at Roseby Street, Clayfield, in a house designed in 1939 by JRC Blanche, an interesting but largely forgotten Brisbane architect between the wars. As an employee for his whole life, Jack’s contributions to the profession are concealed in the records of Government, the Queensland University of Technology and the Australian Institute of Architects, where they are not easily identifiable.
Thought should be given by the many architects who have benefitted from his mentoring, teaching and advice and the Queensland architectural profession to on-going recognition of his generous contribution.
Jack Williamson will be sadly missed.
Written by Don Watson with assistance from Michael Lavery and Gordon Holden. Originally published by the Australian Institute of Architects.
