and later served two terms as its president. Professional career Bradfield worked on a variety of projects during his time at the New South Wales Department of Public Works, including the Cataract Dam near Sydney and the Burrinjuck Dam across the Murrumbidgee River. In January 1909, he was promoted to the rank of assistant engineer with a salary of £400. The following year he applied unsuccessfully for the position of foundation chair of engineering at the University of Queensland. In 1913 he was appointed chief engineer for metropolitan railway construction, when he commenced his long association with Confidential Secretary, Kathleen M. Butler. In 1915 Bradfield submitted a report outlining a grand scheme for Sydney's railways involving the electrification of the suburban railways, a city underground railway and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. World War I led to the collapse of all three proposals. During World War I, Bradfield worked with Professor Warren and Mr A.E. Cutler to establish the first civil aviation school, where pilots were trained for overseas service. In 1924, Bradfield was awarded the degree of Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) for a thesis titled "The city and suburban electric railways and the Sydney Harbour Bridge", the first doctorate in engineering awarded by the University of Sydney. In 1935 the University of Queensland awarded him the ad eundem degree of Doctor of Engineering (D.Eng.). Sydney Harbour Bridge and Bradfield railway scheme It was not until 1922 that the Bridge Bill passed through Parliament. Much of his work on the Sydney Harbour Bridge involved the assistance of his Confidential Secretary Kathleen M. Butler, who undertook work which would now be described as that of a project manager or technical adviser, involved in the checking of specifications. and negotiations with tenderers and setting up the project's London office in 1924 at Dorman Long and Co Ltd, the contractors appointed to the bridge project. Bradfield had a grand vision for Sydney's railway system. Bradfield called for the provision of a network of underground city railway lines beneath Sydney's central business district, the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and a new railway station, Central. While the central idea of an underground loop beneath the city was implemented, and stub tunnels built at designated interchanges for provision of future lines, many of his related ideas remain unimplemented. A larger network of lines was proposed for the western, eastern and southern suburbs, however most of