George Waldemar Skellerup (14 February 1881 – 5 June 1955) was a New Zealand businessman, company director and industrialist.

Early life

Skjellerup was born in 1881 in Cobden, a small town in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Australia, south-west of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. He was the 13th and final child of Margaret Williamson and Peder Jensen Skjellerup, one of his siblings being the astronomer Frank Skjellerup. His father worked as a farmer before dying in an accident when Skjellerup was two years old.

Professional life

He moved to Fremantle in 1897 after leaving school aged 12 to be apprenticed to a surveyor. In Fremantle he worked under a Perth businessman before returning to Cobden in 1899. He soon left to make bicycle tyres for

Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company Dunlop Ltd. (formerly Dunlop Rubber) was a British multinational company involved in the manufacture of various natural rubber goods. Its business was founded in 1889 by Harvey du Cros and he involved John Boyd Dunlop who had re-invented and ...

. In 1902 Skjellerup sailed to New Zealand with little money, in Dunedin claiming to make the first New Zealand-made pneumatic bicycle tyres. Later he moved to

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

, eventually getting a job in Christchurch for the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company, who he previously worked for in Melbourne. Skellerup became self employed in 1910 with the manufacture of rubber products; his company was called the Para Rubber Company. By 1918, he had four retail outlets. After floating his company on the stock exchange in 1919, he had the capital to open further shops in both the North and South Island. Being hard hit by the Great Depression, he set up further companies in the late 1930s: the Latex Rubber Company (waterproof coats), the Empire Rubber Mills (milking machine components), and the Marathon Rubber Footwear (gumboots). He was denied a licence by the government for manufacturing car tyres. Caused by the shortages of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he was asked by the government to reclaim rubber from old car tyres. There was not enough salt in the country for this venture and in 1942, he started the project to obtain salt from

Lake Grassmere Lake Grassmere / Kapara Te Hau is a New Zealand waituna-type lagoon in the northeastern South Island, close to Cook Strait. The lake is used for the production of salt. Geography Lake Grassmere, south of Blenheim and south of the mouth of ...

. He set up Skellerup Solar Salt Ltd, which later became Dominion Salt when the government took over the company. At his death in 1955, he was succeeded by his eldest son Sir

Valdemar Skellerup Sir Valdemar Reid Skellerup (also Skjellerup, 22 December 1907 – 11 June 1982) was a New Zealand industrialist. Skellerup was born in Christchurch in 1907. His father was George Skellerup (1881–1955), the founder of rubber manufacturing com ...

(1907–1982) who was chairman and joint managing director of Skellerup Industries for 26 years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skellerup, George 1881 births 1955 deaths Australian emigrants to New Zealand 20th-century New Zealand businesspeople People from Victoria (Australia)