Lieutenant Colonel Murray, While Colonel Commandant RNZE
Reason for the name
Andrew Murray Drive is named after Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Murray of the Corps of Royal New Zealand Engineers (RNZE). Lieutenant Colonel Murray had a civilian professional career in surveying and civil engineering. In WW2 he served in the Pacific and after the war as a senior territorial officer.
Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Murray (Rtd), OBE, CEng, MICE, FNZIE, MNZIS, FIHE, Honorary Colonel Commandant Royal New Zealand Engineers and Honorary Member of Institution of Royal Engineers.
He enlisted on 24 June 1940 as a second lieutenant in 1 Field Company, NZE and with accelerated promotion reached the rank of captain on 10 October 1940. He was promoted to major on 1 June 1941 assuming the appointment of Officer Commanding, 1 Field Company. On 3 July 1942 he was appointed Commander Royal Engineers (CRE), 1 NZ Division and promoted to lieutenant colonel on 21 September 1942.
Prior to his embarkation to the Pacific Theatre on 7 November 1942, he was appointed CRE, 3 NZ Division. He served in New Caledonia, Vella Lavella, Nissan, and Treasury Islands.
His active service ceased on 25 March 1944, when he relinquished the appointment as CRE, 3 NZ Division and returned to NZ.
On 29 July 1944, he was awarded the OBE in recognition of distinguished service in the South Pacific including Fiji, New Caledonia and the Solomon Islands.
After WW2, he enlisted in the Territorial Force on 1 December 1949 and served as CRE, 1 NZ Division and CO, 1 Field Engineer Regiment until 1 April 1952 when he was posted to the Retired List.
In later years, he was appointed honorary rank of Colonel as Colonel Commandant (Col Comdt) of the Corps of Royal New Zealand Engineers for the considerable period 1 May 1957 to 1 March 1965.
His ties with RNZE were never severed. During his tenure as Col Comdt, he conceived the idea of erecting a Memorial Centre (today the Engineer Corps Memorial Centre or ECMC), at the School of Military Engineering in Linton Camp. Subsequent years saw the development of his concept into a chapel (opened in July 1974) and a library and museum, the initial stage which was opened on 30 January 1982. Two modular sections were constructed in 1987 and added to the main building to house the library and technical information centre (“TIC”) RNZE (named the “Hollander Wing” in 1992).
During the 20 years from conception to his death on 4 May 1981, he worked tirelessly on raising the necessary funds to complete the Memorial Centre. Even in death, his involvement did not cease as his final wish was that donations be made to the RNZE Corps Memorial project instead of flowers at his funeral.
He was born in Glasgow, Scotland on 16 October 1899 and came to NZ in 1904. He was educated in Gisborne and at Victoria University in Wellington, where he was a keen sportsman and received Blues for cricket and rugby with Victoria University and represented Wellington and Poverty Bay in cricket and rugby.
He chose a career in surveying and civil engineering, setting up a consultancy Murray, North & Partners, with offices in five centres about NZ and also in Singapore. During his career, he was actively engaged in the design and installation of water supplies, sewage and drainage systems for 21 cities and boroughs about NZ. He was also involved with the construction of roads and bridges (both railway and traffic). The highlight of his career was his involvement in the planning of Auckland City’s central motorway system and the Auckland Harbour Bridge.
Andrew wrote a number of important civil engineering papers and books during his career, which are still in use today within the profession. In 1954, he was awarded the Fulton Bequest Gold Medal of the NZ Institution of Engineers for a Technical Paper on the Auckland Harbour Bridge. In 1964, he was elected an Honorary Member of the Institution of Royal Engineers. His significant career and contribution to the Corps of RNZE is recognised with the naming of this street in Linton Camp, within the grounds and surrounds of the current (2023) 2nd Engineer Regiment, RNZE.
Author
Lieutenant Colonel (Rtd) Joe S. Hollander, RNZE (Chair, RNZE Charitable Trust and ECMC)
