Person

Williams, George Kenneth (1896 - 1974)

Born
21 February 1896
Tarnagulla, Victoria, Australia
Died
6 April 1974
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Occupation
Mechanical engineer, Metallurgist and Mining engineer

Summary

George Kenneth Williams developed the continuous refining practice for which Port Pirie became famous. He began work in 1921 on the desilverising process and then progressively changed all the other batch refining operations to single team continuous processes by 1935. He then undertook plant scale research that led to the development of a single blast furnace to handle the entire throughput.

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Details

Educated University of Melbourne (BME 1920, MME 1925). DEng. Research from 1920 on development of new continuous process of refining lead, resulting in complete remodelling of plant at Port Pirie Lead Refinery; responsible for reorganisation of roast sintering plant and development of lead blast furnaces; Works Manager, Broken Hill Associated Smelters Pty Ltd 1942-48; Metallurgical Consultant, Imperial Smelting Corporation, England, from 1948. Bronze Medal, Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 1942; Gold Medal, Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, London 1951.

Chronology

1931
Award - Kernot Memorial Medal, for distinguished engineering achievement in Australia. Faculty of Engineering, University of Melbourne

Related Awards

Published resources

Books

  • Cumming, D. A.; Moxham, G. C., They built South Australia : engineers, technicians, manufacturers, contractors and their work (Adelaide: D.A. Cumming and G.C Moxham, 1986), 241 pp. pp.198-9. Details

Book Sections

  • Branagan, D. F., 'Williams, George Kenneth (1896-1974), Metallurgist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 16: 1940 - 1980 Pik-Z, John Ritchie and Diane Langmore, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2002), pp. 551-552. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A160655b.htm. Details

Resources

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_w.html. Details
  • Beale, Bob, Engineering a Legacy: Memories of the journey of CSIRO Chemical Engineering (Clayton, Victoria: CSIRO Minerals, 2005), 124 pp. pages 98-99. Details

Rosanne Walker

Created: 25 May 2001, Last modified: 4 December 2018

EOAS ID: biogs/P004068b.htm

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