Sir Alfred William Tyree
OBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(4 November 1921 – 25 October 2013) was an Australian engineer and businessman, recognized for his impact on the Australian engineering, manufacturing and power industries.
Life
Tyree was born in
Auckland, New Zealand in 1921. He obtained a Diploma of Electrical Engineering at
Sydney Technical College
The Sydney Technical College, now known as the TAFE New South Wales Sydney Institute, is a technical school established in 1878, that superseded the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts. The college is one of Australia's oldest technical education i ...
. He established Tyree Holdings, a manufacturer of electrical transformers. By the early 1960s he was the largest manufacturer of transformers in the southern hemisphere. In 1969, he sold the business to Westinghouse Electric Company. Tyree left manufacturing and pursued philanthropic and humanitarian interests. He returned to manufacturing, founding the Tyree Group of Companies.
Tyree was described as an engineering dynamo. In a six-decade career, he led the way in Australian electrical transformer manufacture and created the modern energy landscape. He was an advocate for nuclear energy, working on it with Westinghouse. He died in 2013, in his 92nd year.
Honours
In the
1971 Birthday Honours
The 1971 Queen's Birthday Honours were appointments to orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms to reward and highlight citizens' good works, on the occasion of the official birthday of Queen Elizabeth II. They were announced in supplemen ...
, he was appointed
Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire "for philanthropic services". He was knighted in the
1975 New Year Honours
The New Year Honours 1975 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced on 1 January 1975 to celeb ...
"for services to the community".
In 2001 he was awarded the
Centenary Medal
The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or go ...
.
It's an Honour: Centenary Medal
Retrieved 24 January 2015
References
* Transforming electricity By Ajai Raj Cosmos Online 14 June 2012
* ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' on 29 October 2013
External links
History of Tyree Industries
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tyree, William
1921 births
2013 deaths
Australian engineers
Australian businesspeople
Businesspeople awarded knighthoods
New Zealand emigrants to Australia
Australian Knights Bachelor
Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Recipients of the Centenary Medal