Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering
The University by-laws referring to departments were first published in 1976. These by-laws, chapter VIII 22-26, do not define department, as was stated at the meeting of the Professorial Board in December 1973.
In 1896 and 1904, Peter Nicol Russell donated a total of 100,000 pounds sterling to the University for the purpose of endowing a School of Engineering. The conditions of the gift included the following: That the Department of Engineering at present existing in the University, together with such additions as may be made thereto, shall be called the P . N. Russell School of Engineering and, that the University shall, out of the income...afford both practical and theoretical teaching in the following subjects, in so far as such subjects relate to the School of Engineering—viz., Mechanical Engineering, Surveying, Mining, Metallurgy, Architecture, and such further instruction as the Senate of the University may deem necessary to give effect to the intention of Mr. P. N. Russell in connection with the P . N. Russell School of Engineering.
However, the name of the School does not appear to have been used for some time. The curriculum and the Department of Mechanical Engineering saw some changes over time. Teaching of engineering had commenced at the University in 1883 when certificates were offered in 3 branches of engineering: Civil, Mechanical and Mining. In 1891 Civil and Mechanical were combined. It seems that the term department in the early days was used referring to the different branches of Engineering existing within the Department of Engineering. It was used prior to the establishment of a Chair of Mechanical Engineering. For example, in a letter, dated 6 April 1915, to the Registrar regarding the establishment of such a chair, Prof WH Warren wrote 'The Mechanical Engineering Department is admirably housed as to buildings, has a full four year course of instruction which (like the Civil Engineering Department) in fact is a well-established Department corresponding exactly with others in the University with the exception that (Correspondence file G3/13/11235) Barraclough used the term Department of Mechanical Engineering in a letter dated 16th May 1912 (Benefactors Book Vol 2 G18/7/3 p. 21).
In 1915, with the necessary additional funds provided by the Government, a Chair of Mechanical Engineering was created in lieu of the lectureship which had been in operation, and Mr. SHE Barraclough, B.E., MM.E., was appointed to the Chair. Barraclough had been for eighteen years on the teaching staff in the Department of Engineering, and had occupied the position of lecturer in Mechanical Engineering since 1908. [Report of Senate for the Year ended 31 December 1915 , 1916 Calendar]
In 1920, in an academic restructuring, the University created six new faculties including Engineering, separating it off from the Faculty of Science after nearly forty years of association. Curricula and departments within the Faculty of Engineering kept evolving. Curriculum development and amalgamations of departments recognised the wider contacts with different branches of industry intending to strengthen the various teaching and research activities. In 1957 separate curricula in Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering were developed and implemented.
By 1995 the name of the Department had changed to the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering. By then the field of mechanical engineering consisted of: (a) power generation and transmission; (b) transportation of people and goods; (c) production and manufacture, including the means of production as well as the product. The work fell into the broad areas of design, construction, operation, research and investigation, maintenance, management and sales. While the Mechatronics (Industrial Automation) degree comprised a mixture of mechanical and electrical engineering disciplines. Emphasis placed on areas such as mechanics, machine design, digital electronics and microprocessors, automatic control, computer-controlled machinery, electric motors and power control, real-time software design, and on the application of these technologies to the design of 'intelligent' products, and in an advanced manufacturing environment. [1995 Engineering Handbook]
The Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering was merged with the Department of Aeronautical Engineering to create the School of Aeronautical (now Aerospace), Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering formally from 2 January 2001 with transitional arrangements applying from 1 January 1999. [Senate noted the Vice-Chancellor's approval to the merger, Minutes 7 December 1998, 85/98]
The succeeding agency to the Departments: School of Aeronautical (now Aerospace), Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering
In 2018 the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering (AMME) was one of Australia's premier engineering schools and home to some of Australia’s most prominent research centres in the fields of aerospace, biomedical, mechanical and mechatronic engineering, including the Australian Centre for Field Robotics, (ACFR), the Centre for Robotics and Intelligent Systems (CRIS), the Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology (BMET) and the Centre for Advanced Materials and Technology (CAMT).