Person

Julius, George Alfred (1873 - 1946)

Kt HonMIEAust

Born
29 April 1873
Norwich, Norfolk, England
Died
28 June 1946
Killara, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation
Electrical engineer, Mechanical engineer and Inventor

Summary

Sir George Julius, MIMechE MIEAust, was a consulting engineer with the firm Julius, Poole & Gibson, the inventor of the racecourse totalizator, and was the foundation Chairman of CSIR 1926-1945.
He was a founder of the Institution of Engineers, Australia in 1919, a Council member 1919-1940, and President 1925.

The Sir George Julius Medal is named in his honour.

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Details

Portrait by Norman Carter held by CSIRO Melbourne.

Chronology

1896
Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc), Canterbury College, New Zealand
c. 1896
Education - Bachelor of Engineering (BE), Canterbury College, New Zealand
1896 - 1907
Career position - Assistant engineer, Western Australian Railways
1898
Life event - Married Eva Droughsia Odieuna O'Connor, daughter of engineer C. Y. O'Connor
1907 - 1914
Career position - Consulting engineer, Allen Taylor & Co. Ltd
1909
Career event - Member, Electrical Association of New South Wales
1910 - 1913
Career position - President, Engineering Association of New South Wales
1911
Career event - Member, Royal Society of New South Wales
19 Apr 1912
Career event - Member (MIMechE), Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London
1914 - 1946
Career position - Senior partner with William Poole from 1914 and A.J. Gibson from 1922, in consulting engineering firm 'Julius, Poole & Gibson'.
1915
Career event - Member, Electrical Association of Australia [from Electrical Association of New South Wales]
1917 - 1918
Career position - President, Electrical Association of Australia
1919
Award - Bachelor of Engineering (BE(Mech and Elec)), ad eundem gradum, University of Sydney
1919 - 1920
Career event - Foundation Associate Member (AMIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia
1919 - 1940
Career position - Councillor, Institution of Engineers, Australia
1920
Career event - Member (MIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia
1922
Career event - Elected Member (Engineering), Australian National Research Council
1925
Career position - President, Institution of Engineers, Australia
1926
Career position - Chairman, Commonwealth Engineering Standards Association
1926 - 1945
Career position - First Chairman, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
1927
Award - Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal - Career Achievement Award in Engineering, Institution of Engineers Australia
1929
Award - Knight Bachelor (Kt) - for service as Chairman of the CSIRO.
1932
Career position - President, Rotary Club of Sydney
1932 - 1937
Career position - President, Australian National Research Council
1936 - 1937
Career position - Chairman, Commonwealth Committee on Secondary Industries Testing and Research
1937
Career event - Fellow, Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS)
1939
Award - Kernot Memorial Medal, for distinguished engineering achievement in Australia. Faculty of Engineering, University of Melbourne
1941 - 1945
Career position - Chairman, Australian Council for Aeronautics
1943
Award - Honorary Member (HonMIEAust), Institution of Engineers, Australia. - For notable contributions to science and practice of engineering in Australia and activity with Engineering Association of NSW (-1919) and Councillor (1919-1940) and President (1925).

Colleague

Related Awards

Related Corporate Bodies

Related People

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

  • George Alfred Julius - Records, 1945 - 1964, MS 041; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Corporate Records and Archives Strategies

  • George Alfred Julius - Records, 1925 - 1946, Series 34 and others; Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Corporate Records and Archives Strategies. Details

The Noel Butlin Archives Centre, ANU Archives Program

  • George Alfred Julius - Records, 1907 - 1914; The Noel Butlin Archives Centre, ANU Archives Program. Details

Powerhouse Museum

  • Julius, George Alfred (1873-1946), 1917 - 1988, 94/222/23; Powerhouse Museum. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

Books

Book Sections

Edited Books

Journal Articles

  • 'Kernot Memorial Medal [1938 Sir George Julius]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 11 (5) (1939), 171. Details
  • 'The Late Sir George Julius, Hon. M.I.E.Aust.', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 18 (7-8) (1946), 171. Details
  • 'Obituary: George Alfred Julius, Kt', Australian Journal of Science, 9 (1) (1946), 14-15. Details
  • 'First members of institution [Diamond Jubilee feature article]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 51 (20) (1979), 69. 'Registered member number 2'. Details
  • Currie, George; Graham, John, 'G. A. Julius and Research for Secondary Industry', Records of the Australian Academy of Science, 2 (1) (1971), 10-28. https://www.publish.csiro.au/hr/HR9710210010. Details
  • Doring, Margret, 'The Julius tote and its outstanding engineer', Engineering Heritage Australia magazine, 1 (1) (2013), 20-2, https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/sites/default/files/Learned%20Society/eha%20magazine%20vol%201%20no%201%20December%202013.pdf. Details
  • Institution of Engineers Australia, 'Eighth Annual General Meeting [February 1928]', Transactions of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 8 (1928), xiv-xv, https://search.informit.org/doi/epdf/10.3316/informit.297787442072439. 'P. N. Russell Memorial Medal - The President announced that the 1927 award of the Medal had been made to Mr G A Julius (Member), Sydney, a Past President of the Institution', p.xiv. Details
  • Institution of Engineers Australia, 'Tenth Annual Report [1929]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 2 (4) (1930), 123-127. 'Standards Association of Australia - Institution of Engineers Australia to be represented on the Council by: Sir Henry Barraclough, Mr R J Boyd, Sir George Julius, Mr D F J Harricks, Mr A J Gibson, and Senator J D Millen', p.124. Details
  • Institution of Engineers Australia, 'Twenty-third Annual Report [1942]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 15 (2) (1943), 35-51. 'Honorary Membership - Sir George Julius, KtBach DSc BE Consulting Engineer, of Sydney, awarded Honorary Membership', p.38. Details
  • Julius, G. A., 'Mechanical aids to calculation', Commonwealth Engineer, 7 (11) (1920), 333. Details
  • Julius, George Alfred, 'Presidential address [1926]', Transactions of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 6 (1926), lxxix-cxxvi, https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.863503081976987. Details
  • Upstill, Garrett; Spurling, Thomas H.; and Healy, Terence J., 'CSIR and Australian industry, 1926-49', Historical Records of Australian Science, 32 (1) (2021), 52-66. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR20012. Details

Resources

Resource Sections

See also

  • 'P. N. Russell Memorial Medal [List of recipients 1923 - 1931]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 3 (12) (1931), 445. Details
  • Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Technology in Australia 1788-1988, Online edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, 3 May 2000, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/index_j.html. Details
  • Alvarez, Amaya Jane, 'Invisible Workers and Invisible Barriers: Women in the CSIR in the 1930s and the 1940s' in On the Edge of Discovery: Australian Women in Science, Farley Kelly, ed. (Melbourne: Text Publishing Company, 1993), pp. 77-103. Details
  • Alvarez, Amaya Jane, 'Writing about Women in the History of Science: a Study of Women at the CSIR 1930-1950', Minerva-Access, Digitised Collections, MA thesis, University of Melbourne, 1993, vi, 96 leaves, bound ; 31 cm pp. https://minerva-access.unimelb.edu.au/items/76988996-82dc-569a-bc97-e4f20bddd219. Details
  • Beale, Bob, Engineering a Legacy: Memories of the journey of CSIRO Chemical Engineering (Clayton, Victoria: CSIRO Minerals, 2005), 124 pp. pages 6-7. Details
  • Butters, J. H.; Dare, H. H.; Julius, G. A.; Myers, W. H.; Corner, W. S.; McKay, R. T.; Poole, William; Vine-Hall, R.; Stephens, C. T.; Tournay-Hinde, A. W.; Smith, A. C.; Carter, H. G.; Madsen, J. P. V.; Stobie, J. C.; Flockart, A. P.; Child, H. A., 'Notes on the development of the power resources of Tasmania (Discussions and communications)', Transactions of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 7 (1927), 616-632, https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.865142783447709. Details
  • Engineers Australia ed., Wonders never cease: 100 Australian engineering achievements (Barton, Australian Capital Territory: Institution of Engineers, Australia, 2019), 236 pp, https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/sites/default/files/2025-08/EA1_Wonders%20never%20cease.pdf. "The genius of George Julius", pp.200-1. Details
  • Institution of Engineers Australia, 'Third Annual General Meeting [March 1923] and Third Annual Report [1922]', Transactions of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 3 (1924), xiv-xxxix, https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.632839845047257. 'Engineering Standardisation - The Institution's representatives are: Messrs J J C Bradfield, O W Brain, A J Gibson, G A Julius, Senator J D Millen, Professor W H Warren', pp.xxiii-xxiv. Details
  • Rees, A. L. G., 'Ian William Wark 1899-1985', Historical Records of Australian Science, 6 (4) (1987), 533-548. https://doi.org/10.1071HR9870640533. Details
  • Sherratt, Tim, 'CSIRO' in Oxford Companion to Australian History, Graeme Davison; John Hirst; Stuart Macintyre, ed. (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 164-165. http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/pubs/articles/tps/csiro_history.htm. Details
  • Wisdom, John, A History of Defence Science in Australia (Melbourne: Defence Science and Technology Organisation, 1995), 267 pp. Details

Digital resources

Title
George Alfred Julius
Type
Image

Details

Gavan McCarthy [P004098]; Ken McInnes

Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 4 September 2024

EOAS ID: biogs/P000528b.htm

This Edition: 2026 February - 1926 Centenaries
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Publisher: Swinburne University of Technology.

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