This paper is a commentary on curriculum vitae and life of the late MA "Alan" Simmonds, an engineer who was committed to artificial water fluoridation in Queensland

Akers, H. F.

University of Queensland eSpace

18 ADAQ News April 2005
MA “Alan” Simmonds passed away on June 12 1983. 
Few ADAQ members appreciate that Simmonds had an 
important place within Queensland’s fluoride-history. 
A 1929 engineering graduate from The University of 
Queensland, Simmonds progressed to Engineer-in-
Charge at the Brisbane City Council’s Mt Crosby Water 
Plant. In 1949, he joined the Queensland Department of 
Local Government, as Executive Engineer (Chemical) 
where, at the 1952 Annual Conference of Local 
Authority Engineers, he advocated the fluoridation 
of Townville’s water supply. Simmonds’ views did 
not carry departmental endorsement. Furthermore 
Queensland health department officials and the 
Australian Dental Association (Queensland Branch) 
rebuffed the proposal with valid scientific argument. 
The Townsville plan was premature in that there 
were no NHMRC guidelines in place. However, in a 
manuscript published in the 1952 Queensland Dental 
Journal, Simmonds displayed a detailed knowledge of 
fluoridation including contemporaneous material on 
dosage variation related to age and climate. This paper 
exposed his enthusiasm, persistence and ability to 
network within government departments, particularly the 
powerful agrarian bureaucracy, which, at that time, was 
concerned about the influence of artesian fluoride on the 
pastoral industry. Simmonds was clearly disappointed 
by Queensland’s fluoride-hesitancy and it is arguable 
that Simmonds was the state’s first water fluoridation 
advocate. 
Not without a sense of humour and innovation, 
Simmonds (1950) wrote “cucurbitaceous rhabdomancy” 
for the Journal of the American Water Works 
Association, where, tongue-in-cheek, he enunciated 
a plan to divine quality watermelons prior to their 
purchase from the green-grocer. On a more serious 
note, Simmonds (1955) authored the unpublished 
paper, Fluoridation of Public Water Supplies: A 
Water Engineer’s Point of View, which was a detailed 
engineering report on fluoridation in Queensland. With 
respect to the implementation of fluoridation, the report 
concluded, “As engineers we merely await an instruction 
from those in authority.” Although many of Simmonds’ 
Local Government records were destroyed in the 
1974 Brisbane flood, his personal archives confirmed 
a perennial commitment to water fluoridation. While 
he initially relied on information from the American 
Water Works Association, Simmonds later possessed 
files that involved the American and Australian Dental 
Associations, the NHMRC and some of Queensland’s 
leading health officials. 
In 1964, Simmonds founded a private consultancy 
practice and laboratory, later known as Simmonds & 
Bristow Pty Ltd, which enlarged on these functions to 
allow investigation of water, sewerage and industrial 
wastewater problems. Simmonds was responsible for 
the planning and infrastructure of a fluoridation plant at 
Dalby. His intimate knowledge of fluoride levels within 
artesian systems precipitated an interest in defluoridation 
technologies, especially in northwest Queensland. By 
1976, Simmonds’ curriculum vitae was impressive: 
Fellowship of the Institution of Engineers, the Royal 
Australian Chemical Institute and the Institution of 
Water Engineers and Scientists; Honorary Life Member 
of the Institute of Engineers (UK), the Royal Chemical 
Institute (UK), and the American and Australian Water 
and Waste-Water Associations; and recipient of the 
Corrosion Medal awarded by the Australasian Corrosion 
Association.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: 
J Bristow
The Australian Water Association
H Akers and S Porter
Water fluoridation: the engineers’ perspective 
Water 2004; 31:44-49.
H Akers and SA Porter
A historical perspective on early progress of water 
fluoridation in Queensland 1945-54: 
Sheep, climate and sugar. 
Australian Dental Journal 2004; 49:61-66.
M Simmonds
Medication of water supplies. 
Queensland Dental Journal 1952;4:388-393.
MA Simmonds (1905-1983)  
  a Queensland fluoride pioneer  
by HF Akers


M. A. Simmonds (1905-1983): A Queensland Fluoride Pioneer

http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:8501/pg18_April_05_AD.pdf

M. A. Simmonds (1905-1983): A Queensland Fluoride Pioneer

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