Ewers, Wilfred Ernest (Wilf) (1919 - 2020)

Summary

Wilf Ewers was a gifted scientist, science leader and administrator. He was responsible for establishing the CSIRO's minerals research program in Western Australia in 1963. He led that program until his retirement in 1981.

Details

Wilf Ewers was born in Perth, Western Australia, on 23 December 1919. He was the third child of Lilian and Ernest Ewers. Ernest had two sons by his first wife. The older, Donald Ernest, enlisted in the 44th Australian Infantry Battalion on 2 May 1916 and 'died of wounds' on 4 April 1918. The younger was John Keith Ewers, the highly regarded Western Australian writer, who was a mentor to his gifted young step brother. Wilf was too young to sit the entrance examination to Perth Modern School in his final year at West Leederville State School so attended Perth Boys School for his first year of secondary education. He won a scholarship to Perth Modern School from Perth Boys School and repeated first year in 1932. His father died in 1939 after a long period of illness.
Wilf entered the University of Western Australia in 1937 and completed an Honours degree in Chemistry in 1940 and a Masters degree in 1944. He comments on the arrival of Professor N S Bayliss to the University in 1938 'Everyone was elated at having a lecturer who could talk coherently about chemistry.'
Wilf joined the CSIR Division of Industrial Chemistry in 1941 and was seconded to the Department of Chemistry to work on the alunite project. The alunite (potassium aluminium sulfate) project was undertaken to exploit the Lake Campion (WA) deposit of alunite as a wartime source of potash and alumina. This was the basis of both his Honours' and Masters' projects.
With the surrender of Japan in August 1945, the war-time emergency no longer existed and concern with the alunite project reduced so Wilf was transferred to the Division's headquarters in Fishermens Bend, Victoria, and joined the Physical Chemistry Section. He worked in the surface chemistry group on various projects including the flotation processes for mineral separation, the use of monolayers to control evaporation in dams and the measurement of surface viscosity. His work must have impressed his Chief, Dr Ian Wark, because he was promoted to the position of Divisional Secretary in 1955 when Mr Lewis Lewis was promoted to be the inaugural Officer-in-Charge of the Industrial Research Liaison Section.
In 1959 Charles Court became Minister for Industrial Development in the newly elected Brand government and pressure mounted on CSIRO to extend its research activities in Western Australia beyond areas relevant to primary interest. In 1962 Wilf was given the task of setting up a branch laboratory of the Division of Applied Mineralogy in Perth. His brief was very broad 'to work on minerals and related topics'. He spent the first six months on the task 'to acquaint myself with the mineral industry in the State, establish connections with the industry, the University and the Geological Survey' His efforts were highly successful: CSIRO's main activities for the mineral industry are centred in Perth. Wilf retired from CSIRO in 1981. He served on the first Board of the Western Australian Mining and Petroleum Research Institute and then on the Board of its successor, the Mining and Energy Research Institute of Western Australia. He also served on the Council of WAIT for six years.

Chronology

1940

Education - BSC (Hons), University of Western Australia

1941 - 1946

Career position - Assistant Research Officer, CSIR Division of Industrial Chemistry, seconded to Alunite Investigations at the University of Western Australia

1943

Education - MSc, University of Western Australia

1946 - 1955

Career position - Research Officer, Physical Chemistry Section, CSIR Division of Industrial Chemistry, Fishermens Bend, Victoria

1955 - 1960

Career position - Divisional Secretary, CSIRO Division of Industrial Chemistry, Fishermens Bend, Victoria

1960 - 1962

Career position - Secretary, CSIRO Chemical Research Laboratories, Fishermens Bend, Victoria

1962 -

Career position - President, Western Australian Branch, Royal Australian Chemical Institute

1967 - 1969

Career position - Officer-in-Charge, CSIRO Secondary Industry Laboratories, Perth

1973 - 1974

Career position - President, Royal Australian Chemical Institute

1981

Life event - Retired

1981

Career position - Board member, Western Australian Mining and Petroleum Research Institute

1987 - 2020

Award - Foundation Fellow, Curtin University of Technology

1990

Award - W E Ewers Award established by the Western Australian Branch, Royal Australian Chemical Institute

Related entries

Published resources

Journal Articles

• Spurling, Tom; and Butt, Charles, 'Wilfred (Wilf) Ernest Ewers (1919 - 2020): centenarian, RACI President, scientist and science leader', Chemistry in Australia, 2020 (May/June) (2020), 30-1. Details