Mike Wille, a respected and nationally recognised tunnel design, construction and risk management expert, sadly passed away on 24 November 2022 at the age of 84.
Born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on 10 May 1938, Mike emigrated to Australia in April 1957 at the age of 18 after finishing his studies at Royal College. In December 1957, he started work as a junior draftsman at the Melbourne & Metropolitan Board of Works and was granted a cadetship to study Civil Engineering at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT). He earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1963.
During his time with the MMBW, he worked on numerous Victorian tunnelling projects, where he eventually ran “C Group”, the tunnelling team that specialised in soft ground & compressed air tunnelling projects. Mike was involved in the purchase and operation of the 1st TBM that the MMBW owned. This machine was driven by a chain, and when it struck some stronger limestone, the machine came to a halt. Mike would often remind us that they “fixed” that issue with the use of the “oxy spanner”, where they cut the drive unit and cutterhead out, finalising the remainder of the tunnel via drill and blast.
In 1992, Mike joined Transfield Engineering when Melbourne Water privatised the Tunnelling section. He went on to become the General Manager of Transfield Tunnelling, where they tendered, won and delivered works across Australia and Southeast Asia. Mike retired from Transfield in 2002, and worked as a consultant on various projects in Australia and internationally, including some time as an expert witness on projects in dispute.
During his more than 40-year career, Mike became recognised as one of the foremost tunnelling engineers in Australia and was involved in numerous projects across Australia. Projects such as the Hobson Bay Main Sewer, Cape Shank Ocean Outfall, Dandenong Valley Trunk Sewer, South Eastern Trunk Sewer, Western Trunk Sewer, Thompson Dam, Port Headland Harbour (WA) Northside Storage Tunnel (Sydney) and Kai Tak (Hong Kong) were part of Mike’s collective CV.
Mike always had strong relationships with the tunnelling supervisors and members of the tunnelling workforce, who he always felt had the toughest jobs and deserved extra respect. He always instilled a need to develop practical solutions that the tunnellers could safely implement underground.
Mike has left a lasting legacy by mentoring many professionals along the way, and he has also left an ineradicable mark on the industry as a tunnelling authority known for practical, insightful solutions to complex design and construction challenges. He served on the Australian Tunnelling Society committee and was The Allen Neyland Tunnelling Achievement Award recipient in 2002. The ATS is very grateful for the time and energy Mike put into the industry and society over the years.
Mike is survived by his two children, Steve and Sandra and their spouses, Mardi and Mark, plus his six grandchildren, Alex, Aidan, Xavier, Maddie, Deklan & Mikaela.
A memorial service will be held on Tuesday, 6 December 2022, at 11:00 am, at the Boyd Chapel, Springvale crematorium Melbourne. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions to The Heart Foundation, an organisation the Wille family felt strongly about.
