A. M. Hamilton - Rawanduz. Iraq
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member Torgut
N 36° 37.384 E 044° 32.105
38S E 458429 N 4053159
A bust of A.M. Hamilton, a New Zealander engineer responsible for the construction of a vital road in the region connecting Erbil to the Iranian border.
Waymark Code: WM1C4E4
Location: Iraq
Date Posted: 06/02/2025
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member Alfouine
Views: 0

The bust can be seen by the road, not far from Rawanduz village (easy park for a better look at the statue). It's actually a beautiful spot, offering great views over the river Rawanduz and the surrounding landscape.

It's a bronze bust, slightly larger than real life scale, placed on a plinth taller than the bust. There is a text introducing Hamilton in English, Arabic and Kurdish.

From Wikipedia:
(visit link)

"Archibald Milne Hamilton (1898–1972) was a New Zealand civil engineer, notable for building the Hamilton Road through Kurdistan and designing the Callender-Hamilton bridge system, and the Callendar-Hamilton aeroplane shed of the late 1930s.

Early life, marriage and children
Hamilton was born in Waimate, New Zealand, the son of W.M. and J.S. Hamilton, on 18 November 1898. He was educated at Waitaki Boys' High School. In 1924 he graduated from Canterbury College with a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) degree.

Hamilton married Bettina Matraves Collier, a medical doctor, in 1934, and they had seven children. The second eldest of these was the evolutionary biologist W. D. Hamilton. Two of their daughters became doctors: Janet was a general practitioner and Mary R. Bliss achieved some notability for designing mattresses to prevent bedsores in geriatric patients. Another daughter Margaret became a pasture scientist and son Robert an engineer.

Early career
Hamilton worked for the Lyttelton Harbour Board in New Zealand where he designed a wave model for planning port improvements. Next, he worked at the Admiralty, London, designing the Singapore Naval Base.
Hamilton Road

Between 1928 and 1932 Hamilton was the principal engineer of a British-built strategic road across Southern Kurdistan, which ran from Erbil, through Rawandiz, to the Iranian border near modern-day Piranshahr. The road became known as the Hamilton Road. Although Hamilton hoped the road would unite the peoples of the region, it has been fought over many times. He described the building of the road in a 1937 book entitled Road through Kurdistan."
URL of the statue: [Web Link]

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