Person
Hartnett, Laurence John (1898 - 1986)
Kt CBE
- Born
- 26 May 1898
England - Died
- 4 April 1986
- Occupation
- Mechanical engineer and Business executive
Summary
Sir Laurence Hartnett was Managing Director of General Motors-Holden's Ltd Australia 1934-1947 and a director of the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation Pty Ltd, Melbourne 1935-1947. He was Director of Ordnance Production within the Munitions Department and presided over the first meeting of the Optical Munitions Panel. Hartnett was a guiding influence over the Panel's work. He was also involved with many external bodies including a stint as Chairman of Ferro Corporation (Australia) Pty Ltd and John Hart Pty Ltd. Hartnett completed a mechanical engineering apprenticeship with Vickers Ltd; Lt., before joining the Royal Navy Air Service and the Royal Air Force. After the war he joined General Motors and worked at many of their branches all over the world, before coming to Australia in 1934.
Details
Chronology
- 1917 - 1919
- Career position - Served with the Royal Navy Air Service and the Royal Air Force
- c. 1920 - c. 1933
- Career position - Senior Executive of General Motors in India, Ceylon, Malaya, Singapore, Sweden, Finland, USA, UK
- 1934 - 1947
- Career position - Managing Director of General Motors-Holden's Ltd Australia
- 1935 - 1947
- Career position - Inaugural Director of Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation Pty Ltd
- 1940 - 1945
- Career position - Director of Ordnance Production within the Munitions Department
- 1942 - 1946
- Career position - Chairman, Army Inventions Directorate
- 1945
- Award - Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) - Managing Director of General Motors Holden
- 1945 - 1971
- Career position - Council member of the Science Museum of Victoria
- 1949 - 1986?
- Career position - Chairman and Managing Director of Hartnett Holdings Pty Ltd
- 1967
- Award - Knight Bachelor (Kt) - Services to industry and government
- 1974
- Award - Public Service Star of Republic of Singapore
- 1983
- Award - Doctor of Laws (LLD), honoris causa, University of Melbourne
Related entries
Archival resources
The University of Melbourne Archives
- Laurence John Hartnett - Records, 1934 - 1986; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details
Published resources
Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions
- Exhibition Papers, A Bright Sparcs Exhibition, Australian Science Archives Project, 1997, http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/exhib/papers/exhib_papers.htm. Details
- The Giant's Eye: the Optical Munitions Exhibition, Australian Science Archives Project, 1997, http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/exhib/omp/omp.htm. Details
Books
- Hartnett, Laurence, Big wheels and little wheels (Hawthorn (Vic.): Gold Star Publications, 1973), 278 pp. Details
Conference Papers
- Scott, D. R., 'Laurence J. Hartnett and the Holden Car', in Engineering Heritage Matters: Conference Papers of the 12th National Conference on Engineering Heritage, Toowoomba, 29 September to 1 October 2003 edited by Sheridan, Norman (Barton, Australian Capital Territory: Engineers Australia, 2003), pp. 152-163., https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.339152638265643. Details
Journal Articles
- 'Four new Honorary Fellows named [Bryan Kelman, Brian Loton, Arvi Parbo, Laurence Hartnett]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 56 (13) (1984), 40. Details
- Rich, Joe, 'An Edwardian Childhood: Sir Laurence Hartnett and theSearch for Identity', Australian Historical Society, 24 (1990), 252-266. Details
Resources
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q6500638. Details
- VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/78062748. Details
- 'Hartnett, Laurence (1898-)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-595973. Details
- 'Awarded honorary LLD, 1983', Honorary degree holders, University of Melbourne, 2023, https://about.unimelb.edu.au/notable-alumni-staff/honorary-degree-holders. Details
Resource Sections
- 'Hartnett, Laurence John', in The Giant's Eye: the Optical Munitions Exhibition, A Bright Sparcs Exhibition, Australian Science Archives Project, 1997, http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/exhib/omp/people/hartnett.htm. Details
See also
- 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_h.html. Details
- Bolton, H. C., 'Optical Instruments in Australia in the 1939-45 War: successes and lost opportunities', Australian Physicist (1990). http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/exhib/papers/bolton2.htm. Details
- Engineers Australia ed., Wonders never cease: 100 Australian engineering achievements (Barton, Australian Capital Territory: Institution of Engineers, Australia, 2019), 236 pp. pp.150-151. Details
- Gold, Ergad; Greener, Rosalie (Ed) ed., Inventive Vics Exhibition (Melbourne, Victoria: Australian Scientific Industry Association, 1985), 58 pp. Optical Munitions. Details
- Mellor, D.P., 'Optical Munitions', Chapter 12 in Australia in the War of 1939-1945, Series 4: Civil, volume 5 'The Role of Science and Industry', Canberra: Australian War Memorial, 1958 (1958). http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/exhib/papers/mellor.htm. Details
- Sherratt, Tim; Condé, Anne-Marie, A Wartime Observatory Observed - the Mount Stromlo Community, 1940-1945, Australian Science Archives Project, Canberra, 1994, http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/pubs/articles/tps/tps_stromlo_draft.htm. Details
- Wisdom, John, A History of Defence Science in Australia (Melbourne: Defence Science and Technology Organisation, 1995), 267 pp. Details
Gavan McCarthy [P004098]
Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 6 October 2023
- Foundation Supporter - Committee to Review Australian Studies in Tertiary Education