Edward Hallstrom

Sir Edward John Lees Hallstrom (25 September 1886 – 27 February 1970) was one of Australia's best-known philanthropists and businessmen of the mid 20th century.

Born at High Park station, near Coonamble, New South Wales, Hallstrom was the eighth of a family of nine children born to William Hallstrom, a saddler from England, and his Australian wife Mary Ann (née Colless). At the age of 4 his father's farm failed and the family moved to Waterloo, New South Wales, an inner-city suburb of Sydney. Hallstrom's parents separated, and by the age of 10 he was working, performing a variety of jobs to help supplement the family's income. Largely self-taught (having left school at 13), he applied himself well to both his studies and his work, and eventually took charge of a furniture factory. He later founded a business of his own, manufacturing bedsteads.

Hallstrom met his wife, Margaret Elliott Jaffrey, on a trip to Queensland. She was a talented artist, and shared his enthusiasm for birds and animals. They were married at her parents' home in the Brisbane suburb of New Farm, Queensland, on 6 April 1912.

He was a Freemason.

The Hallstroms moved to Dee Why, New South Wales, by which time Hallstrom had become interested in the young industry of refrigeration. He set about inventing in his Dee Why backyard, and in 1923 produced his first product, the Icy Ball absorption refrigerator (another kerosene-powered refrigerator, also called the Icy Ball, was later manufactured in the United States in 1927 or 1928 by Powel Crosley Jr.). Hallstrom's Icy Ball was a kerosene-powered chest model, which he designed for use in the Australian outback, where the low-tech Coolgardie safe was in widespread use. He initially went to the outback to sell these units himself.

Hallstrom expanded his product line with the development of the popular Silent Knight upright refrigerator. These were gas-powered and also electric models, and were produced in a factory in Willoughby, New South Wales under the business name of Hallstroms Pty Ltd. During World War II the factory manufactured munitions, as well as refrigerators for the use of the United States Army. By the mid-1940s, the factory was producing around 1,200 refrigerators weekly, which were exported as well as sold locally. The "Hallstrom Silent Knight" was a fairly priced, locally produced product at a time (post-war era) when imported refrigerators were very expensive. Their resulting popularity made Hallstrom a millionaire.

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