R. M. Murray
Russell Mervyn Murray (12 July 1877 – 22 January 1945), commonly referred to as R. M. Murray, was general manager of the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Co. Ltd, Queenstown, Tasmania for 22 years. Unusually for a mining man, his entire career of 44 years was spent at one location and for one company. History. Murray was born in Elliminyt, south of Colac, Victoria in 1877, elder son of Andrew Strachan Murray (c. 1847 – 10? 19? August 1930) and Florence Eleanor Murray, née Blunden. Murray was a prize-winning student at several short-lived private schools: Colac Grammar  School 1890, Manifold House Ladies' School (with his sister Ilma) 1891, before matriculating from Colac College 1895. He entered the University of Melbourne in 1896, and graduated Bachelor of Civil Engineering with honors in 1899, and was awarded the Dixson scholarship. He joined the Mount Lyell company as a junior engineer in 1900, and became engineer in charge of mines following the death of W. T. Batchelor on 27 October 1906. Every stage in his rise in the Company was resisted by general manager Robert Sticht, who saw him as an ineffectual intellectual, constitutionally unable to deal with the Union  in the tough unyielding manner that characterised Sticht's leadership. Sticht, manager since 1897, died in April 1922 and Murray was appointed his successor, but at a little over half the salary. Despite a world-wide reduction in demand for copper and low-cost competition from Africa and the Americas, Murray was able to increase production from 140,000 tons in 1922 to 1,500,000 tons in 1943 and maintain dividends for the shareholders and employment for the workers, though at a considerable cost to the environment. He was highly regarded by the workers, who remembered his brave exertions during the disaster , and appreciated his cool decisiveness and concern for the amenity of the town. Murray was instrumental in the adoption of electrolytic refining of copper, made possible by Tasmania's then abundance of cheap hydroelectric power. Murray retired as general manager of Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Co. Ltd in October 1944, and was succeeded by Arthur H. P. Moline. He died in Melbourne and his remains were cremated at Spring Vale. Family. Murray married Vivienne "Viva" Douglas ( – 19 June 1945) sometime around 15 November 1905. She was the fourth daughter of Arthur Cunningham Douglas (1840 – 5 February 1888), at one  time postmaster general of Hobart, and his wife Susan Elizabeth Douglas, née Tapfield. Their three sons and two daughters, all of whom held degrees from Melbourne University include: From around 1925 to 1944 or later they had a home "Penghana" in Queenstown, previously the name of a nearby settlement and post office. Vivienne, who was active in the Child Welfare Association from its inception, was a sister of Kathleen Louisa Douglas, who married William Vincent Legge (1841–1918), also of Margery Lenore Douglas (3 Nov 1886 – 1976) who married Capt. Edward Carleton Stubbs RN on 9 October 1914. Percy Cunningham Douglas  OBE (1870 – 24 June 1938), Deputy-Commissioner of Federal Taxation in Hobart, was a brother≈. R. M. Murray had a brother Rex Murray living on the Australian mainland. In 1905, while a metallurgy student at Bairnsdale School of Mines, a glass vessel exploded and he was blinded in one eye. By cruel misfortune the unaffected eye was practically useless owing to a cataract.