George Alfred Julius
| George Julius | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
George Alfred Julius April 29, 1873 Norwich, Norfolk, England |
| Died | June 28, 1946 (aged 73) |
| Education | Christchurch College, Christchurch, New Zealand |
| Children | 3 sons |
| Parent(s) | Churchill Julius, Bishop of Christchurch, Archbishop of New Zealand |
| Engineering career | |
| Discipline | Mechanical |
| Practice name | Julius, Poole & Gibson Pty Ltd |
| Projects | automatic totalisator |
| Awards | founder and president, Institution of Engineers, Australia |
Sir George Alfred Julius (29 April 1873 – 28 June 1946) was an English born, Australian inventor and entrepreneur. He was the founder of Julius Poole & Gibson Pty Ltd and Automatic Totalisators Ltd, and invented the world's first automatic totalisator.
George Alfred Julius was born in a small house in Bethel Street, Norwich, England, (demolished in the 1930s to make way for the new City Hall). At that time his father, Churchill Julius (1847–1938), was a curate at St. Giles in Norwich. In 1873 the family moved firstly to the parishes of South Brent (now known as Brent Knoll) and thereafter to Shapwick and Ashcott in Somerset. Later, Churchill Julius became vicar of Holy Trinity, Islington, London; he subsequently accepted the appointment as Archdeacon of Ballarat, Australia and it was to here that the family travelled on the sailing ship "South Australian" in 1884. From an early age, George's mechanical inclination was obvious to his parents and he often helped his father to fix clocks, one of which survives (now decommissioned) in the tower at St. Michael's, Brent Knoll, although George would have been too young to have assisted with this particular repair! The family moved to New Zealand when Churchill Julius was nominated to the Diocese of Christchurch in 1889; he was consecrated (first) Bishop of Christchurch in 1890, and made Anglican Primate and (first) Archbishop of New Zealand in 1922.
In 1890, George Julius enrolled in a BSc (Mechanical Engineering) degree course at Canterbury College, University of New Zealand. Because of the contemporary boom in railway construction, he specialised in railway engineering and was the first such engineering student to graduate from this university, at the same time as Ernest Rutherford.
Julius's professional career began in 1896. He travelled to Western Australia to accept an appointment as assistant engineer on the staff of the Locomotive Department, Western Australian Government Railways. He worked for the Department for eleven years and was promoted to chief draughtsman and then engineer in charge of tests.
While working for the Government Railways, George Julius conducted a series of tests on timber and wrote two learned papers on Western Australian hardwoods. This research led to a job offer from Allen Taylor & Co Ltd, a timber company in Sydney, as part-time engineer. Julius accepted this offer in 1907.
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