Sir Walter Eric Bassett KBE, MC (19 December 1892 – 8 March 1978) was an Australian engineer, soldier and academic.
He studied engineering at the University of Melbourne before joining the First Australian Imperial Force during the First World War.
Bassett won the Military Cross for gallantry on the Western Front before transferring to the Australian Flying Corps.
He later helped establish aeronautical engineering courses in Sydney and, in 1958, joined Monash University as a lecturer and member of its council.
Even during his early academic career Bassett maintained a private engineering practice, providing heating and ventilation consultancy services.
As a lieutenant, Bassett was awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry in action during the night of 4–5 August 1915 at Pozières, France.
[1] He married the historian Marnie Bassett in a Methodist ceremony at the university rooms of her father, Sir David Orme Masson, on 25 January 1923.
[1] During his early academic career Bassett maintained a private engineering practice which was consulted on heating and ventilation matters by architects of prestigious buildings such as the chapter house at St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne, the Frankston Orthopaedic Hospital, the Melbourne Town Hall and the Williamstown Town Hall.
He maintained a focus on heating and ventilation services, providing design and supervision for systems in numerous hospitals, offices and G.J.
[1] During the Second World War Bassett served as chairman of the Australian Army's Mechanisation Board and as a member of the Commonwealth Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.
[1] Bassett's firm prospered in the post-war recovery, carrying out works in rural hospitals and newly built factories, including for Holden and the Queensland sugar industry.
In 1973 he was appointed an honorary member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and was the founding president of the Copper Producers' Association of Australia.
The main lecture theatre at the engineering school at Monash University is named in Bassett's honour.