Person

Fisk, Ernest Thomas (1886 - 1965)

Kt

Born
8 August 1886
Sunbury, Middlesex, England
Died
8 July 1965
Roseville, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation
Businessman, Entrepreneur and Radio engineer

Summary

Ernest Fisk was a pioneer radio engineer in Australia. He earned his qualifications while working for the Marconi Company in the United Kingdom. His work included conducting apparently impossible experiments to demonstrate the capabilities of wireless transmission. Fisk visited Australia in 1910 to demonstrate Marconi's apparatus for the Orient Steam Navigation Co., successfully sending radio signals over 2000 miles. In 1911 he returned, as Marconi's Resident Engineer. When the Australian Government founded the Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) Ltd (AWA) in 1913, he was appointed General Manager, ultimately becoming Chairman and Managing Director. One of Fisk's greatest achievements was the establishment of a Beam Wireless Service, providing the longest and fastest telegraphic communications in the world. The first such communication between Australia and England was in January 1927. Fisk was an early advocate of solar, hydro and nuclear power. He resigned from AWA to become managing director and chief executive of the Electrical and Musical Industries group in London, but returned to Australia in 1956. Between 1927 and 1969 Fiskville, Victoria, was the location of the AWA's shortwave wireless transmission complex, part of the Imperial Wireless Chain.

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Details

Chronology

1906 - 1913
Career position - Radio engineer, Marconi Company
1913 - 1916
Career position - General Manager, Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) Ltd
1914 - 1922
Career position - President, New South Wales Division, Wireless Institute of Australia
1915 - 1926
Career position - Member, Institute of Radio Engineers, U.S.A.
1916 - 1944
Career position - Managing Director, Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) Ltd
1926 - 1951
Award - Fellow, Institute of Radio Engineers, U.S.A.
1932 - 1944
Career position - Chairman, Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) Ltd
1933
Award - Member, Order of the Crown of Italy
1933
Award - Fellow, Institution of Radio Engineers, Australia. (First Fellow)
1934 -
Career position - Member, Royal Empire Society
1934 - 1936
Career position - Vice-President, New South Wales Chamber of Manufacturers
1935
Award - King George V's Silver Jubilee Medal
11 May 1937
Award - Knight Bachelor (KtB)
1938 - 1940
Career position - Vice-President, New South Wales Chamber of Manufacturers
1939
Career position - President, Electrical and Radio Development Association
1939 - 1942
Career position - Member, Road Safety Council of New South Wales
1941
Career position - President, Royal Empire Society
1944
Career position - President, Royal Empire Society
1944 - 1952
Career position - Managing Director, Electrical and Musical Industries group (EMI)
1951 - 1965
Award - Life Fellow, Institute of Radio Engineers, U.S.A.

Related Corporate Bodies

Archival resources

Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales

  • Ernest Thomas Fisk - Records, 1906 - 1952, ML MSS 2768; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

Published resources

Book Sections

Journal Articles

Resources

Resource Sections

See also

  • Engineers Australia ed., Anything is possible: 100 Australian engineering leaders (Barton, A.C.T.: Institution of Engineers Australia, 2019), 136 pp. 'A Giant Amongst Peers - Sir Ernest Fisk' p.37. Details

Gavan McCarthy [P004098] and Helen Cohn

Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 6 October 2023

EOAS ID: biogs/P000406b.htm

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