James Harrison (engineer)
| James Harrison | |
|---|---|
| Born |
April 17, 1816 Renton Dunbartonshire, Scotland |
| Died | September 3, 1893 (aged 77) Geelong, Victoria |
| Occupation | Engineer and politician |
| Known for | Refrigeration |
James Harrison (17 April 1816 – 3 September 1893) was a Scottish-Australian newspaper printer, journalist, politician, and pioneer in the field of mechanical refrigeration.
Harrison founded the Geelong Advertiser newspaper and was a member of the Victorian Legislative Council and Victorian Legislative Assembly. Harrison is also remembered as the inventor of the mechanical refrigeration process creating ice and founder of the Victorian Ice Works and as a result, is often called "the father of refrigeration". In 1873 he won a gold medal at the Melbourne Exhibition by proving that meat kept frozen for months remained perfectly edible.
James Harrison was born at Bonhill (near Renton), Dunbartonshire, Scotland, the son of a fisherman. Harrison attended Anderson's University and then the Glasgow Mechanics' Institution, specialising in chemistry. He trained as a printing apprentice in Glasgow and worked in London as a compositor before emigrating to Sydney, Australia in 1837 to set up a printing press for the English company Tegg & Co. Moving to Melbourne in 1839 he found employment with John Pascoe Fawkner as a compositor and later editor on Fawkner's Port Phillip Patriot. When Fawkner acquired a new press, Harrison offered him 30 pounds for the original old press to start Geelong's first newspaper. The first weekly edition of the Geelong Advertiser appeared November 1840: edited by 'James Harrison and printed and published for John Pascoe Fawkner (sole proprietor) by William Watkins...'. By November 1842, Harrison became sole owner.
Harrison was a member of Geelong's first town council in 1850 and represented Geelong in the Victorian Legislative Council from November 1854 until its abolition in March 1856. Harrison then represented Geelong 1858–59 and Geelong West 1859–60 in the Victorian Legislative Assembly.
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