George Julius
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Sir George Alfred Julius (29 April 187328 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 A tote board (or totalisator/totalizator) is a numeric or alphanumeric display used to convey information, typically at a race track (to display the odds or payoffs for each horse) or at a telethon (to display the total amount donated to the chari ...
.


Early years

George Alfred Julius was born in a small house in Bethel Street,
Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
, England, (demolished in the 1930s to make way for the new City Hall). At that time his father,
Churchill Julius Churchill Julius (15 October 1847 – 1 September 1938) was an Anglican cleric in England, then in Australia and New Zealand, becoming the first Archbishop of New Zealand. Biography Julius was born at Richmond, Surrey in 1847. He was educated ...
(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 Churchill Julius (15 October 1847 – 1 September 1938) was an Anglican cleric in England, then in Australia and New Zealand, becoming the first Archbishop of New Zealand. Biography Julius was born at Richmond, Surrey in 1847. He was educated ...
became vicar of Holy Trinity, Islington, London; he subsequently accepted the appointment as Archdeacon of Ballarat, Australia, and it was 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 Brent Knoll is a hill on the Somerset Levels, in Somerset, England. It is located roughly halfway between Weston-super-Mare and Bridgwater, from the Bristol Channel coast at Burnham-on-Sea. At the foot of the hill are two villages East Brent a ...
, although George would have been too young to have assisted with this particular repair! The family moved to
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
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 Primate of New Zealand is a title held by a bishop who leads the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. Since 2006, the Senior Bishop of each '' tikanga'' ( Māori, Pākehā, Pasefika) serves automatically as one of three co-eq ...
in 1922. In 1890, George Julius enrolled in a BSc (Mechanical Engineering) degree course at
Canterbury College Canterbury College may refer to: * Canterbury College (Indiana), U.S. * Canterbury College (Waterford), Queensland, Australia * Canterbury College (Windsor, Ontario), Canada * Canterbury College, Kent, England * Canterbury College, Oxford, England ...
. 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 Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, (30 August 1871 – 19 October 1937) was a New Zealand physicist who came to be known as the father of nuclear physics. ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' considers him to be the greatest ...
, graduating through the
University of New Zealand The University of New Zealand was New Zealand's sole degree-granting university from 1874 to 1961. It was a collegiate university embracing several constituent institutions at various locations around New Zealand. After it was dissolved in 196 ...
.


Early career and the totalisator

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 Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) was the operator of railway services in the state of Western Australia between October 1890 and June 2003. Owned by the state government, it was renamed a number of times to reflect extra responsi ...
. 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
hardwood Hardwood is wood from dicot trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen. Hardwood (which comes from ...
s. 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. In whatever spare time he had, George Julius worked on the design for an automatic totalisator. Helped by two of his sons, he built a
prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...
. However, the automatic totalisator was not originally conceived as a betting machine, but as a mechanical vote-counting machine. When the government rejected the voting machine concept, George Julius adapted it as a racecourse
totalisator A tote board (or totalisator/totalizator) is a numeric or alphanumeric display used to convey information, typically at a race track (to display the odds or payoffs for each horse) or at a telethon (to display the total amount donated to the chari ...
. The first installation of the totalisator was at
Ellerslie Racecourse Ellerslie Racecourse is the main racecourse in Auckland, New Zealand, for thoroughbred racehorses. It is an undulating, grass circuit in the suburb of Ellerslie, with a circumference of just under 1,900 metres. Racing is conducted in a clockwi ...
,
Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
,
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
in 1913, which was entirely manual in operation, and the second at
Gloucester Park Racetrack Gloucester Park is a harness racing course in Perth, Western Australia. In the suburb of East Perth, the oval course is adjacent to the WACA Ground. The track is lit, and Friday night pacing events are popular. As of 2006 the Western Australia ...
in Western Australia, electrically driven. The patent was lodged on 21 December 1914. Subsequent orders kept the firm of Julius, Poole & Gibson solvent throughout the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, with the first UK installation in 1928, for greyhound racing and in 1932 the first American installation at
Hialeah Park The Hialeah Park Race Track (also known as the Hialeah Race Track or Hialeah Park) is a historic racetrack in Hialeah, Florida. Its site covers 40 square blocks of central-east side Hialeah from Palm Avenue east to East 4th Avenue, and from East 2 ...
, Florida.


Career progression

One of the great contributions made by George Julius to the advancement of Australian technology resulted from his appointment, in 1926, as chairman to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). This later became the
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research. CSIRO works with leading organisations around the world. From its headquarters in Canberra, CSIRO ...
(CSIRO), modelled on the UK's
DSIR Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, abbreviated DSIR was the name of several British Empire organisations founded after the 1923 Imperial Conference to foster intra-Empire trade and development. * Department of Scientific and Industria ...
. He lobbied for development of primary production and solution to issues in such areas as food storage and
food preservation Food preservation includes processes that make food more resistant to microorganism growth and slow the oxidation of fats. This slows down the decomposition and rancidification process. Food preservation may also include processes that inhibit ...
. Later, he turned his attention to issues in secondary production such as aeronautics and electronics. During
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 opposin ...
, he served on the Central Inventions Board, the Australian Council for Aeronautics (as chairman) and the Army Inventions Directorate. George Julius was
knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...
ed in 1929. He remained active as a committee representative until his death on 28 June 1946.


Family and legacy

In 1898, he married
Eva O'Connor Eva O'Connor is an Irish stage actress and playwright. Career O'Connor's play ''My Name Is Saoirse''—a one-woman show in which she starred—was performed at the 2014 Edinburgh Fringe and 2014 Dublin Fringe Festival. The show won the First ...
(1878-1972), daughter of
Charles Yelverton O'Connor Charles Yelverton O'Connor, (11 January 1843 – 10 March 1902), was an Irish engineer who is best known for his work in Western Australia, especially the construction of Fremantle Harbour, thought to be impossible, and the Goldfields Water Su ...
. They had three sons. The eldest, Awdry Francis Julius (born 1900), was later to become a partner in his father's firm. Another, George Yelverton Julius, was known as "Gentleman George". However, he brought his good upbringing into a life of crime. In 1953 he went to jail for eight years for burglary.Margot Hilton and Graeme Blundell (1996) ''Whiteley: An Unauthorised Life'', MacMillan, , p. 34 He was the father of
Wendy Whiteley Wendy Susan Whiteley (; 1941) is best known as the former wife of the Australian artist Brett Whiteley, and as the mother of their daughter, actress Arkie Whiteley (1964–2001). She has become a notable cultural figure, particularly since her ...
, wife of the Australian painter
Brett Whiteley Brett Whiteley AO (7 April 1939 – 15 June 1992) was an Australian artist. He is represented in the collections of all the large Australian galleries, and was twice winner of the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes. He held many exhibitions ...
, and his granddaughter was
Arkie Whiteley Arkie Deya Whiteley (6 November 1964 – 19 December 2001) was an Australian actress who appeared in television and film. Early life and education Whiteley's parents were the renowned Australian artist Brett Whiteley and cultural figure We ...
. A third son died during a flight around Australia in a single-seater aeroplane. A road in the grounds of the CSIRO headquarters in
Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
is named in his honour.


References


External links


George Julius
historical page.


Straight betting
/ Automatic Totalisators Ltd – trade catalogue featuring Australian installations of Julius' automatic totalisator for racecourse betting



* ttp://www.dontronics.com/my_early_tote_years.html A few stories and history of my early years as a Mechanic, on the old ATL Melbourne Tote (Australia Circa 1976+)* Julius' totalizator is presented and explained in {{DEFAULTSORT:Julius, George 1873 births 1946 deaths Australian Knights Bachelor English emigrants to New Zealand English emigrants to Australia English engineers 20th-century Australian inventors Australian mechanical engineers New Zealand mechanical engineers 20th-century New Zealand inventors New Zealand knights Engineers from Norwich University of Canterbury alumni 20th-century New Zealand engineers CSIRO people
George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...