Arnold Fielder Downer

Arnold Fielder Downer (born 4 February 1895) was a New Zealand civil engineer, construction contractor and company director who founded the Downer Group in 1933.

Early life Downer was born in Alexandra, Victoria, Australia, on 4 February 1895, the son of Edwin Harry Downer (died 24 October 1945), a builder, and his wife Mary Ann McMinn (died 13 January 1956).

In 1899, the family emigrated to New Zealand and settled in Feilding, where Downer attended Manchester Street School and the Feilding District High School, before completing his higher education at Wanganui Technical College.

Following the completion of the airfields on Fiji, Arnold Downer was involved in the construction of airfields at Aitutaki and Penrhyn in the Cook Islands.

Roxburgh hydro power station By 1953, it was necessary to introduce power rationing in the South Island due to the shortage of generation. In early 1954 with the consortium making poor progress on the completion of Roxburgh the government decided that this, as well as strained relationships between the consortium and the government's supervising engineers, could not continue. They decided that the consortium needed as a partner a New Zealand company which offered proven reliability and local knowledge. As a result, they requested that Downers and Company send directors to attend in two days time a meeting at the Prime Minister's summer cottage on 24 April 1954. At this meeting which was attended by representatives of the consortium, Arnold Downer and Arch McLean were asked by the government for Downer and Company to enter the consortium as the managing partner with a 25% interest. They agreed, which led to the existing contract being cancelled and a schedule of rates contract agreed upon with the renamed Cubitts Zschokke Downer.

Personal life Arnold Downer married concert singer Phyllis Lorimer Massey in Sydney on 14 September 1927. The couple had no children, but brought up a young nephew of Phyllis's following the death of his mother.