Dr Sir George Alfred JULIUS [577]

  General Notes:

George was baptised by his father at St Giles Norwich.

George Alfred Julius aged 11 arrived in Victoria September 1884 with his family aboard the South Australian from Britain.
Ref PROV - Unassisted Immigration to Victoria 1852-1923

Sir George went to Melbourne Grammar School, and was the first Engineering graduate of the University of New Zealand Christchurch, he was a classmate of Lord Rutherford of Nelson the renowned physicist and Nobel prize winner. The Otago Daily Times 19 Jan 1895 reports that on the 7 Jan, George was one of a party of four who climbed Mt Earnslaw, travelling by horse from Kinloch, and taking 19.5 hrs.

Australian Electoral Rolls 1906 Fremantle Adelaide St. George was recorded as a draftsman of Bateman St.
Ancestry.

Moving to Western Australia in 1896, he worked for 11 years as an Engineer in the Locomotive Dept of the Western Australia Government Railways. He moved to Sydney in 1907 where he practiced as a Consulting Engineer. In addition Sir George took an active interest in the Engineers Institute, and various Commonwealth scientific organisations.
Sir George like his father before him was an inventor, perhaps his most well known success being the automatic totalisator, which transformed the culture of gambling, now used in most countries where horses race. The first racecourse to accept the automatic totalisator was Ellerslie in Auckland, New Zealand. Among those who came to see the new tote in action for the first time on the 22 March 1913, was the inventors' father, Churchill Julius, His Grace, The Anglican Archbishop and Primate of New Zealand. Some people even said the Archbishop (The Archbishop appears never to have confirmed or denied the suggestion) had invented the tote and that his son was just the front man. Leicester Park Racecourse in Perth [W.A.] installed the first tote in Australia in 1916. Main Sydney racecourses installed them in 1917-18 but Melbourne held out till 1931! The original totalisator idea, called the "Pari Mutuel" was conceived by the Frenchman Oller.

Sir George had a role in the formation of Qantas Empire Airways founded to fly a new route Australia to Singapore, 49% owned by Qantas and 49% owned by Imperial Airways, Sir George held the remaing 2% as arbitrator.
Ref: Brian Conlon http://members.ozemail.com.au/~bconlon/adder.htm#top <http://members.ozemail.com.au/~bconlon/adder.htm

George & Eva, on the 3 Jan 1928, sailed from London to New York on the Majestic. Ref: Findmypast.co.uk

Sir George Julius's Home Robbed
Thieves have been active in the Darling Point district in recent weeks. The latest victim Is Sir George Julius, whose staff discovered yesterday that articles worth L5 had been taken. "It was a very cool theft," Sir George said to-day, "for half a dozen people were in the house. No one heard any strange noise, but a suspect was seen."
Ref: The Sun (Sydney, NSW) Thu 20 Apr 1933

Chairman Appointed.
SIR GEORGE JULIUS.
The State Cabinet yesterday decided to appoint Slr George Julius chairman of the Employment Trust, which will be empowered to raise loans up to L2,000.000 for works for the relief of unemployment. Slr George Julius, it was announced yesterday, had consented to accept the position. He will confer with the Premier (Mr. Stevens) in the preparation of the necessary legislation, which will be brought down this session of Parliament, to enable the proposed trust to function. Sir George Julius is a member of the firm of Messrs. Julius. Poole, and Gibson (consulting engineers), and chairman of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. A son of Archbishop Julius, formerly Primate of New Zealand, he was born in England In 1873 He went to New Zealand with his parents at an early age. He graduated in engineering tn New Zealand in 1896, subsequently Joining the West Australian railways, and becoming chief draughtsman and engineer in charge of tests in the locomotive department. He has practised in Sydney as a consulting engineer since 1906. He has been retained as consultant by many bodies, including the Commonwealth Naval Department, the Sydney municipal council, and many collieries, municipalities, and companies.
Ref: The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW) Tue 1 May 1934

Sir George Julius Awarded Engineering Medal
Sir George Julius, chairman of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, inventor of the automatic totalisator and author of many papers covering a wide variety of engineering and economic problems, has been awarded the Kernot Memorial Medal for 1938, by the Melbourne University. The medal is awarded for distinguished engineering research.
Ref: Tweed Daily (Murwillumbah, NSW) Tue 13 Jun 1939

George in his retirement took a great interest in the history of the Julius family, continuing the work of Florence Stevens (nee Julius), producing a fine Julius Family Tree dated 31st March 1939. Copies were circulated to the family.

George Alfred Julius
Year 1940
University of Canterbury NZ
Degree Hon.D.Sc.
New Zealand University Graduates 1870-1963

SIR GEORGE JULIUS RESIGNS PROM INVENTIONS BOARD
MELBOURNE Tuesday.
Because of an alteration in its constitution, under which he said, he could not work Sir George Julius has resigned from the Inventions Board He would not discuss the matter to-day beyond saying that the board had a thankless job. About 99.9 per cent of inventions submitted were 'wild cat' ideas. The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, of which Sir George is chairman, will continue to help the board.
Sydney Morning Herald 13 Aug 1941

The following is a letter on this subject, to H. L. Fenn, in Timaru, New Zealand.
906 Culwulla Chambers,
67 Castlereagh St,
Sydney 13th November 1945.
My dear Harold,
I know you will excuse a typed letter, but I do not find I have very much time for writing letters longhand.
I was very glad to hear something of you, as it is some time since we met. I knew of course, that some years ago you marry and I heard, I think from Bertha, that you had practically given up work and had left your property. You are still doing very well, however, if I am expected to take you literally when you say you spend most of your time nursing your small daughter, aged 10 weeks!
Some years ago, an old cousin of my father's - one of the Henry Julius family, a Mrs Stevens - wrote to me regarding the Family Tree. She had always interested herself in the Julius family's history, and had discovered that most of the members of the family had left Great Britain and were scattered in various parts of the world, but particularly in Australia and New Zealand. As in due course, if living, I shall become the head of the family, she wrote to me to ask whether I could do anything to help her to build up the Tree. I told her I would be very glad to do so, if I could, and finally she became very ill and was unable to carry on. She died at I think about the same time as my father, but she asked her daughter to send on all her records to me, in the hope that I might be able to do something with them.
She had not attempted to do anything in the direction of building up a Family Tree, but had just been collecting information from all over the place, and was able to provide me with a great deal of material. I set to work and did the job so far as I could obtain information up to that time.
Mrs Stevens was perfectly right. Most of the members of the Julius family were scattered all over the world outside Great Britain, and I was able to link up other families of the same name of whom we had never previously heard. Finally just at the beginning of this war, I finished the tree and the other a data associated with it, and had a number of copies made, with a view to sending them away. I have not, however, sent many away, because of the difficulty of making sure of reliable postage, particularly to England, during the war.
I very gladly send you copies of all the data I have, and hope these will give you the sort of information you want. You will note there is a complete Tree, setting out the male side of all the families and a number of smaller Trees, setting out the records regarding the female members of the clan. There is also a statement giving brief particulars of some of the members of the Julius family. Your mother's name appears in the male Tree as a daughter of Frederick Gilder Julius, who married Edward Fenn, and in the small Tree referring to the Frederick Gilder Julius branch of the family you will find a record of your mothers and fathers descendants, so far as I could obtain information of them. I note one of their sons was "Harry Liveing" which I presume is yourself, although I had forgotten your name was Harry. I have, of course, no records regarding your father's family.
I hope you are enjoying your leisure these days. I am now compelled to ease up a bit, following a serious illness last year in which the old heart went on strike, but then I am several years older than you are.
I have not been over to New Zealand since about six months before the old Pater died. Previously I used to go over every two years, but since his death, and in view of the difficulties during the war, I have not visited New Zealand for some seven years or so, so that I have seen none of the members of my family for a long time, except Betty Gould who visited Sydney with her husband, and a week or so ago "Ham" Sinclair Thompson - Rachel's husband, who called in to see me on his way back to New Zealand from England.
I knew that Ella and Arthur were leaving Timaru, to occupy their new house in Christchurch, and I now also that Percy and Bertha are expecting to get away to the North Island shortly, so that there will be few, if any, of my relations living round about Timaru except yourself and possibly "big" Ted Elworthy.
My eldest son Awdry (named after his uncle) will be visiting New Zealand on business, I think in about ten days time. It will be a very hurried visit and he may possibly not go further south than Christchurch, although at present his itinerary does include Timaru. At any rate, if he is visiting Timaru, I will suggest that he tries to get in touch with you. He has not been in New Zealand since he was a boy, and is now 45 years old, with a family of four, the eldest of whom is 18.
I have no doubt you will miss Ella and Bertha when they'll let Timaru and I find it hard to picture Arthur giving up all work and association with Holme Station.
Eva was very interested to read your letter, as of course it is a long time since she met you.
Love from us both,
your affectionate cousin,
George Julius
The documents referred to are being sent by ordinary registered post.

EXTRACTS FROM THE "SUNDAY SUN" BRISBANE : January 6th 1991.
Punters take perverse satisfaction from the knowledge that the man whose invention revolutionised racecourse gambling was the son of an archbishop. Not to mention the fact that his invention was meant to keep untrustworthy politicians in check, rather than provide a service for gamblers. Sir George Julius, the father of the modern totalisator, ranks as one of Australia's greatest inventors. His retaliator is used world wide and spawned a massive industry. In Australia alone, the company he founded, Automatic Totalisators Ltd., other on-course totes, and their big cousin, the off-course TAB's turn over about 4 billion dollars a year . . . . .
Sir George received a letter from a friend in the west. "He asked me to make a machine to register votes and so expedite elections by giving the result without human error," Julius recalled in a later interview. Fortunately for punters, the Commonwealth Government rejected the invention and Julius decided to modify it as a totalisator. "Up to that time I had never seen a racecourse. A friend knew of a jam tin tote - a machine which kept a sort of record of tickets sold at each window - and explained to me what was required in an efficient totalisator. I found the problem of great interest.
The model was built in my spare time and perfected, a company was formed and secured its first order for a machine to Wellesley Racecourse in New Zealand," he recalled. The "Julius Totalisator made its debut at Wellesley in 1913 and was an instant success. Automatic Totalisators continued to boom for years and today the company has more than 4000 terminals in more than 12 countries ATL is still one of the biggest tote operators in South East Asia. Of course there have been many variations and improvements to the Julius totalisators.
Today's totalisators are computerised and provide a huge array of betting styles. But they are all grandsons of Julius' invention. In fact, the last Julius tote only went out of operation in 1987 at a North London dog track. Bookmakers may not agree but the punting world owes George Julius a huge debt.

SIR GEORGE JULIUS DEAD
SYDNEY,
Friday.
Sir George Julius, 73, inventor of the automatic totalisator, died at his home at Killara to-day. He was at one time chairman of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and a consulting engineer. Despite his tote invention now used the world over, Sir George never had a bet in his life.
Ref: Northern Star Sat 29 Jun 1946

FUNERAL OF SIR GEORGE JULIUS
St. Mark's Church Service
Representatives of the scientific, professional, and business life of the community attended the funeral on Saturday of Sir George Julius, Sydney scientist and former chairman of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.
A service was conducted in St. Mark's Church, Darling Point, by Archbishop Mowll assisted by the rector, Canon H. W. Barder. The remains were later cremated at the Northern Suburbs Crematorium.
The principal mourners were Lady Julius and her two sons.
The Rev. A. P. Campbell, Moderator of the Congregational Union, who delivered the address, said that Sir George Julius brought unusual gifts to his profession. These gifts were creative, not merely imitative, and he realised the great part science must play in the future of the nation.
Sir George Julius, said Mr. Campbell, sought to place the primary and secondary industries on a sound and scientific basis.
"He was a great man who will be missed where great leaders are few. He was great in mental endowments, humility, and in his friendships."
Sydney Morning Herald 1 July 1946.

A Tribute To Sir George Julius
By PROFESSOR R. D. WATT,
Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture in the University of Sydney
SIR GEORGE JULIUS, who died last week, was best known to the general public as the inventor of that ingenious device the totalisator. To his friends, however, that achievement was merely an example of that mechanical genius and constructive capacity which raised him to such a high place in his profession as an engineer. Of the important part he played in the founding and progressive development of the Institution of Engineers of Australia and the Standards Association, others are better qualified to speak, but his greatest claim to the gratitude of his fellow citizens is his work in connection with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, to which he devoted a large proportion, of his time and energy during the last 20 years. In 1926 Australia was behind other progressive countries in the application of science to industry, and it is due to Sir George, ably assisted by his colleagues Sir David Rivett and Dr. A. E. V. Richardson, that the leeway has been largely made up. When, in that year, C.S.I.R. was founded, it devoted its attention at first mainly to the primary industries, and some doubt was expressed about the wisdom of appointing an engineer as chairman of the executive committee. Events have shown that no wiser choice could possibly have been made and the success of this organisation will always stand as his chief monument.
His War Work
With its divisions of plant industry, animal health and nutrition, soils, entomology, forest products, food preservation, and transport, and its numerous field stations for the study of irrigation and other problems, it has already, done work of incalculable benefit to the man on the land, and there is every reason to expect that its influence will continue to grow. As one who has been associated with its development from a previous less effective organisation, I have no hesitation in giving the main credit to Sir George's vision, initiative, organising ability, and forceful leadership. This was shown by his success in persuading successive Governments to be liberal in their financial support, and in his inducing producers organisations and individuals, like Sir Frederick McMaster, to make large contributions to the cost of the investigations. When war clouds appeared on the horizon, and even before that, it was fortunate for Australia that a man of Sir George's vision and capacity for getting things done quickly was in a position to conceive and establish the Standards Laboratory, the Division of Aeronautical Engineering, and the Radio Research Board. The full story behind some of these has not yet been revealed, but the effort of Australia, in the production of munitions, aeroplanes, and other devices for the prosecution of the war would have been very greatly hampered without them. Space will not permit of more than a passing reference to the part he played in steering the National Research Council through a difficult period, or his contribution to the Rotary movement, especially in the year of his presidency of the Sydney Club, or to the amazing manual skill with which he constructed working models of electric trains and railway systems, coal mines and other mechanical devices, all of which operated with magical precision, to the delight of the younger generation and many adults as well. By the passing of Sir George Julius those who were privileged to enjoy his personal friendship have suffered grievously, and Australia has lost one of her most valuable citizens and one of her few really great men.
The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW) Tue 2 Jul 1946

OBITUARY :
Sir George A.Julius Kt., B.Sc., B.E., M.I.Mech.E., Hon I.E.Aust.
Sir George Julius died at his home at Killara, Sydney, on 28th June, 1946, at the age of 73 years.
As a measure of time 73 years is but a moderately long span of life. In terms of service and supreme achievement the life of George Alfred Julius was surpassingly great.
Not of the type which commands the glare of the spotlight or the glitter of popular recognition, his record is rather one which, to the more discerning of the present and future generations, will mark him as one of the great nation builders of this young country. If the destiny of Australia is to be shaped by the sound development, on modern scientific lines, of her primary and secondary industries, the work of Sir George Julius will have contributed in very large measure to the moulding process.
Sir George came from a family in which he justifiably took considerable pride. His father was the late Archbishop Julius, for many years Primate of New Zealand, and his grandfather and great-grandfather were physicians at the Court of St. James. Still further back he could trace his genealogical tree of a family which has in many generations played a conspicuous part in the history of the British nation.
Sir George was born at Norwich, England, in 1873 and came to Australia at the age of 11 when his father was appointed Archdeacon of Ballarat, Victoria. He was educated at Melbourne Grammar School and subsequently, when his father was appointed Bishop of Christchurch, New Zealand, he finished his education at Canterbury College, New Zealand University, from which he graduated as Bachelor of Science. In 1919, he admitted ad eundum gradum to the degree of Bachelor of Engineering, the University of Sydney.
In 1939 the honorary degree of Doctor of Science was conferred on him by the University of New Zealand. Other honours received during his career were the P.N.R.Memorial Medal, the highest honour in its power to bestow, awarded by the Institution of Engineers, Australia, and the W.C.Kernof Memorial Medal in 1939, the Melbourne University's highest award for engineering achievement. His Majesty the, King created him a Knight Bachelor in 1929 in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the cause of science.
Sir George commenced his professional career in 1896 when he was appointed Assistant Engineer on the Staff of the Locomotive Department, Western Australian Government Railways. He later became Chief Draughtsman and Engineer in Charge of tests of the Department, and during this period he conducted a series of tests on timber and wrote a report on "The Physical Characteristics of Australian Timbers" which remains to this day, a standard work of reference. It was during his appointment in Western Australia, that Sir George married the daughter of another great Australian engineer, the late Mr.C.Y.O'Connor, C.M.G. This marriage time has been shown to be a truly great partnership in devoted service to others.
In 1906 Sir George established a practice as a Consulting Engineer in Sydney, which in time became the firm of Julius, Poole & Gibson, of which he was senior partner until his death. He and his firm, during the forty years since he came to Sydney, have been responsible for the design and supervision of many large undertakings, and have been retained by Commonwealth and State Govt's, as advisers in many national engineering projects. Into many scientific and professional activities Sir George threw the whole weight of his professional knowledge, sound judgement of men and administrative genius, and in most of these spheres his truly great gift of leadership quickly placed him in the position of command.
Foremost of these spheres was the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, of which he was appointed the first chairman in 1926 when it was constituted to succeed the earlier body, the Bureau of Science and Industry. Much care was given to the selection of this first-leader of a phrase of national development, of which only the more far-sighted of Australians at that time realised the potential significance. The selection of Sir George on the recommendation of the British scientist, Sir Frank Heath, whom the Government had bought to Australia to advise it, proved to be in every way a very sound one.
Though his engineering training covered a restricted field of scientific endeavor he had an innate appreciation of the scientific outlook, and to this he bought the engineer's practical desire, so to organise as to get things done. He had the gift also of understanding the other man's point of view, and this enabled him to become a convincing exponent of the practical value of scientific research when governments had to be persuaded to make adequate funds available and other interests had to be won over to co-operative effort. It was due to these qualities in its leader that the Council soon possessed a governing body and a scientific staff of outstanding attainments, won ever increasing recognition from Governments of all shades of political opinion, and became the motive force in a vast co-operative movement for the scientific advancement of the Commonwealth.
Today the C.S.I.R. is outstanding as a Commonwealth activity in which both State Governments and private enterprise have full confidence and with which they co-operate wholeheartedly. This achievement must be regarded as a lasting monument to the genius of the Council's first leader. He retired from the Chairmanship only a few months before his death.
In his own profession it was only to be expected that Sir George should win notable recognition, but it was due to his zeal and disinterested service that he so quickly became a most valued member of the Council of the Institution of Engineers, Australia. He had previously been a member of the Engineering Association of New South Wales, of which he was President in 1911-1913. He had also been a member of Council of the Electrical Associations of New South Wales, and its President in 1917-1918. He was a member of the Committee which bought about the amalgamation which constituted The Institute of Engineers, Australia, and he became a member of the first Council. He held the office of Councillor for twenty years, being elected President 1925. During this period he worked wholeheartedly on The Standard Committees of the Council, and contributed in very large measure to the rapid development of the Institution during those important formative decades. Sir George was one of the engineering stalwarts who fostered the formation of the Australian Commonwealth Engineering Standards Association, of which he was made first Vice-Chairman in 1922. He succeeded Sir George Knibbs to the Chairmanship in 1925 and held this position in the Association and the subsequently reconstituted body, the Standards Association of Australia, until the end of 1939. His leadership in this movement also is a story of genius and leadership applied with unflagging enthusiasm and energy, and once again his reward was the achievement of a great organisation winning ever increasing recognition and confidence and performing a great national service.
In the National Research Council, Sir George as Chairman played a conspicuous part and his sound judgement and insistence on businesslike administration proved of great value in the conduct of its affairs. As Chairman also of the Army inventions Directorate, he brought to bear both his own incisive mind and technical skill and his capacity for administration. As indicative of the breadth of mind and interest which characterised him, Sir George found himself soon after its foundation a member of the Rotary Club of Sydney, and in 1932 was elected its President. It is of interest to note that in his activities for the Club contributed to the reorganisation of the membership classification, a piece of work so outstanding in its thoroughness that it was adopted as a basis by Rotary International. Education for the profession of engineering was a subject which always commanded Sir George's interest and, notwithstanding his many other activities, he found time to act as an Honorary Lecturer to the P.N.Russell School of Engineering. Those who had the privilege of listening to his expositions on the design and development of mechanisms will always remember them as models of lucid deduction. In this field, the mechanics of machinery, Sir George ranked as one of the world's leading authorities.
The life-time hobby which engaged Sir George's leisure was the craftsmanship of which he was a master and which he practiced in his excellently equipped workshop. From these spare hours there grew, over many years, the marvelous model city which, during the early years of the second World War, delighted the hearts both of children and adults. None appreciated the perfection of this craftsmanship more than fellow engineers, who recognised in the fineness of finish and perfection of operation in the many working models in the exhibit the touch of a real master.
Out of Sir George's fertile brain and his delight in the solution of mechanical problems, there was born the totalisator. That it proved to be a valuable and useful adjunct to the Sport of Kings is merely incidental, though in the minds of many of the public it is Sir George's best known achievement. It is indeed an achievement, for it is a masterpiece as a " congruous concourse" of simple elements and fundamental principles into a perfect specimen of mechanism for smooth and accurate performance of a complex operation. That it was an aid to the making and winning, or losing, of bets on the relative speeds of horses was never a matter of any great interest to the designer.
A recital of the professional and scientific achievements of this great engineer, surpassing as the achievements have been, is to tell but the lesser part of the story of his life. To those who loved and revered him it is the personal qualities of the man, George Alfred Julius, which will be ever remembered. He was a man who impressed one on first acquaintance as one who counted in the scheme of things. He could, too, be most cordially friendly in a encounter with one with whom he felt any bond of sympathy, and would indulge in pleasant raillery that immediately put one at ease. Yet he was of too deep a nature to form friendships on sight and it was only as one grew to know him that one fully appreciated all his finer qualities. His soundness of judgement, proved time and again over vast experience, had bred in him a strong conviction of the rightness of his opinions, yet withal he was a man of great humility of spirit: a seeming contradiction to which only long acquaintance gave an understanding. He was capable of strong and loyal friendships, in which he delighted. He was generous in victory but could take defeat in the best grace. Though both came to a man who always fought hard for the cause he was interested in, victories were more common because through intrinsically sound judgement, effectiveness in negotiation, and persistence in effort, he usually won the day for his side.
His faults were the faults of greatness, the kind that those who knew him well smiled over and rather liked him for. His conviction of the soundness of his views made him a difficult opponent to deal with in debate. His hatred of all meannesses of the spirit made him intolerant of pettiness, small mindedness, and mental weakness. He could not dissemble, when disgust at evidences of such attributes swayed him. To his fellow-members of the Council of the Standards Association of Australia, and particularly to those of them who were privileged to have had long and close association with him, Sir George Julius will ever be remembered as a notable engineer and scientist, a successful leader and administrator, a truly great Australian citizen, and a generous-hearted and lovable man.

The Times 29 June 1946 pg 7 col E.
Obituary.
Sir George Julius
Totalisator Inventor
Sir George Julius, DSc BE MIMechE MIE Aust., consulting engineer, has died at the age of 73, telegraphs our Sydney correspondent. He invented a totalisator which he improved later by the addition of an odds indicator. George Alfred Julius, born in this country, at Norwich, on April 29, 1873, eldest son of the late Dr Churchill Julius, some time Archbishop and Primate of New Zealand, was educated at the Church of England Grammar School Melbourne, and at the University of New Zealand. After graduating in engineering in 1896 he became a railway engineer, joining the locomotive department of the West Australian Government, of which he subsequently was appointed chief draughtsman and engineer in charge of tests. About 10 years later he set up practice in Sydney as a consulting engineer, and the Commonwealth Naval Department and the municipal council of Sydney, in addition to collieries, companies, and numerous other bodies retained him as consultant.
To the general public Julius will perhaps be best known as the inventor of a totalisator used on many of the racecourses of the world, and of an odds indicator which improved his invention. He also invented various calculating devices. His eminence in the scientific and engineering worlds is indicated by the high positions he was called upon to fill. In 1926 he was selected to be chairman of the Commonwealth Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, and as such he visited the next year most of the important research stations in this country and some on the Continent; and he was elected president of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, in 1925; of the Engineering Association of New South Wales in 1911, 1912, and 1913; and the Electrical Association of New South Wales in 1918. The University of New Zealand conferred upon him the honorary degree of D.Sc. His talents were recognized outside his own professional circles for in 1934 it was announced that the Cabinet of New South Wales had appointed him chairman of the Employment Trust which, it was stated, would be empowered to raise loans up to L2 million for works for the relief of unemployment.
Sir George Julius, who was created a Knight in 1929, was the author of "Physical Characteristics of the Hardwoods of Western Australia" (1906), and "Physical Characteristics of the Hardwoods of Australia" (1907) as well as various scientific papers on engineering and economic problems in Australia. He married, in 1898, Eva, third daughter of the late Mr C. Y. O'Connor, CMG., engineer in Chief for Western Australia and had two sons.

JULIUS. Sir George Alfred. Kt.Cr. 1929 ; Hon D.Sc. Uni of N.Z. ; B. Sc. ; B.E. ; M.I. Mech Eng ; M.I.E. Aust.; Consulting Engineer ; Chairman of Commonwealth Council of Scientific and Industrial Research ; Chairman Aust Council. of Aeronautics ; University of N.Z. ; Engineer in Locomotive Dept. W.A. Gpvn. ; inventor various calculating devices ; Hon B.Sc. in Engineering, Uni of Sydney, Past Pres. of Institute of Engineers, Aust 1925 ; Past Pres Engineering Assoc. of N. S. W. 1911 to 1913 ; Past Pres. of Electrical Assoc N. S. W . 1918 ; Chairman, Standards Assoc. of Aust 1926 -1940.
Publications:- Physical Characteristics of Australian Hardwoods, 1906 ; various Scientific papers on engineering and economic problems in Aust.
Recreation : Tennis.
Address:Culwalla Chambers, 67 Castlereagh St. Sydney. T. A. Jupag, Sud?.
Clubs : Australian. University. Rotary, Sydney.

SIR GEO JULIUS LEAVES L12,231
(From 'Truth's' Sydney Office)
SIR GEORGE JULIUS, inventor of the automatic totalisator, left an estate of L12,231. This was revealed in his will, probate of which was granted in the Supreme Court last week. Sir George Julius, who lived in Stanhope Rd, Killara, died in June this year, aged 73. He left the income from his estate to his wife, Lady Eva Julius, during her life, and to his sons and their families after her death.
Ref: Truth (Brisbane, Qld) Sun 8 Dec 1946


For more information on Sir George and his work refer to the extensive research done by Brian Conlon on:
<http://tote-history-atl.net.au>

  Research Notes:

These letters by George Julius comprise some of the research he was doing in the 1930's on the Julius Family History to link William Warner Julius's family into what was known of the English family in St Kitts..

Personal
31 January 1935.
A W Stuart - Smith Esq.
C/O Australia House,
Strand,
London WC2.

My dear Stuart-Smith,
I am always sending you curious enquiries, and often feel that I trespass too much on your willingness to help.
You were good enough to make some enquiries from me some time ago regarding the sale of my stamp collection. I fully appreciated the information that you sent me, and as I got an opportunity to sell it for cash in Australia (certainly for a very low figure) not long after, I sold it rather than run the unknown risk of packing and off to England and knowing really nothing of what I would be likely to get for it.
Now I am asking you to make some enquiries in a different direction.
My family is supposed to be the only British family of the name. My old father, who is still living at 87, will be the head of the family - that is the eldest surviving male, and in turn the headship will pass to me and on to my older son and to my grandson. Our family has been scattered all over the world, history showing that the male members were apparently an adventurous lot and nearly all went abroad to various parts of the Empire, to the West Indies, India, Ceylon, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Some time ago some of my old relations in England were bewailing the fact of the family seemed to be dying out as they had lost trace of these many distant branches scattered about the world. They asked me whether I would get any information for them regarding these missing members, so in a weak moment I agreed to do so, and have built up a Family Tree of which I send you a copy.
I sent a copy of this Tree to a very old cousin of my Fathers who is living in Surrey and who has always made a study of the family history. She was able to give me a great deal of information regarding the earlier branches of the family which linked us up with a Captain William Julius who is buried in Westminster Abbey and who was a Commander in the Navy. He was born in 1665 and died in 1698. We also know the name of his father, John, who settled in the Island of St Kitts. This island as you know, was the earliest British possession in the West Indies and was settled I think by Sir Thomas Warren in 1623. My ancestor John Julius must have gone out there at that time or very shortly after.
I know that some of my ancestors were privateers which may in those days have been a polite term for a "Pirate". When I got this additional information I plotted another tree showing the various sections in the earlier generations, and I send you a copy of this also (the larger sheet). You will easily see by comparing the two sheets that they link up. As you will note I am a descendant of Frederick Gilder Julius who was my grandfather born in 1811 and died in 1886.
Now that I am doing the job I am anxious to make it as complete as possible, as these old records are very interesting and it becomes increasingly difficult as time goes by and the older members die out, to get correct information.
From the larger sheet which is the correct record of the earlier generations, you will note that there are a number of missing records. The record of my own family is quite complete back to the original John who first settled in St Kitts somewhere early in the 17^th century; that would be somewhere about the time of James I. You will notice amongst the early records however the names of male members with no record of marriage or possible descendants. It is not easy, especially in Australia, to get any information regarding the early history of such a remote settlement as St Kitts. This island was settled first of all jointly by the British and the French. The French subsequently kicked the British out, but in 1713, that is about 90 years after the first settlement, the whole of Island passed by conquest and treaty to the hands of the British and of course is still a British possession.
The earliest ancestor that I have been able to trace is the John Julius who settled in St Kitts somewhere early in the 17^th century. A petition has been turned up dated 1688 presented to the King (presumably William III) which reads as follows:
"John Julius of North Yarmouth, a planter. Petitioner to King and Council 1688.
Petitioner for divers years an inhabitant of St Kitts until the French took his whole estate.
Prays leave to transport himself wife and family and L150 in goods from London to Middlesburgh where a passage offers"
The records show that he was sent to Nevis a town to the extreme South of St Kitts. Apparently the North Yarmouth referred to must be a settlement in St Kitts named after the English town, but I am a bit puzzled about the transport from London to Middlesburgh unless again both these names occur in St Kitts, because I cannot understand a man petitioning the King to transport himself from London to Middlesburgh in England, particularly as he was in fact transported to Nevis also in St Kitts. St Kitts as you probably know, was originally known as St Christopher but is now never called anything but St Kitts.
The sons of this original John were Commanders of Privateers and then were in the Navy, and from one of them, William 1665 - 1698 and buried in Westminster Abbey, my family is descended as you will note from the two charts.
I am anxious to get as much information as I can so that before I complete the document it will contain as much information as it is possible to get hold of. To do this it would be very helpful if one could get hold of some very early records of the early settlement of this remote West Indian island.
Incidentally also, there is another family of the name of Julius in Australia whom I often thought might be connected with us, but I have very little information regarding their antecedents. The father of one of them, however, remembers that he had a great uncle Charles Fox Julius, and you will notice also that in our Family Tree there is a Charles James Fox Julius who died in 1872 and who was a grandson of Julius Caesar Julius. It would be too improbable altogether that there should be two families with such an uncommon name as Julius and that in both families there should be a Charles Fox Julius. This Charles Fox Julius, by the way was a Godson of the Charles James Fox, British Prime Minister, and was born in St Kitts but sent to England at a very early age to be educated. He was finally articled to a solicitor in London named Graham. Whilst there he quarrelled with a brother of his boss and challenged him to a duel in which he killed Mr Graham. He then had to be hidden in England until he could get away and finally he went out to St Kitts again where he married and died. From the Family Tree it is seen that Charles James Fox's father Richard had no brothers and therefore it would not be possible for there to be a Julius descendant of whom Charles James Fox would either be an uncle or a great uncle, unless there was a brother of Richard of whom I have no record.
It just struck me that living in London as you do and being in contact with so many British offices, you might be able, first of all to find out where one might perhaps get fuller information regarding these early generations, and further also obtain for me some early books giving the history of St Kitts during the 17^th and 18^th centuries. In such records there should be a mention of some of my ancestors more than one of whom was from time to time President of St Kitts and also of the island of Antigua.
I hope that I am not asking you to go off on a wild goose chase, but from this end of the world it is always so extraordinarily difficult to get information of this kind. I would be very grateful therefore if you could put me in touch with someone who might be able to help me. I believe there are people in London who make a business of carrying out such searches, but one always suspects that some of them make searches to order so as to produce reputable family trees.
I am afraid that if I do not collect this information now it will never be collected, and at least subsequent generations will find it more difficult.
We were all very delighted here when Dr Rivett was honoured with a Knighthood. There is no man in Australia who more fully deserves the honour.
I am still Chairman of the Council but how long I will remain such I cannot say. My appointment terminates in March when I shall have occupied the chair for nine years, and whether the present Government will reappoint me or not remains to be seen. I shall be sorry to drop the work as it is full of interest and my colleagues, both of whom you know, Rivett and Richardson are delightful men to work with. I think the three of us make a very happy executive.
I have four grandchildren now, the last of whom is a boy, so that there is a chance that the family name will be carried on.
Trusting that you and yours are well, and with kindest regards,
Yours sincerely
G A G.

31^st of January 1935
My dear Cousin Florence,
I was very delighted to receive your note of the 19^th November, with which you forwarded such a long and interesting statement regarding our family. In it you gave me much information that was quite new and which altered completely my Family Tree so far as the earlier generations were concerned.
I have tried to put down the information that you have just sent me in the form of a tree, and I send you a copy herewith. I do not want to get the final reduced copies made until I know whether what I have done is correct, and, of still greater importance, whether you know of any other information which might be included.
Two or three things I find a little difficult to follow in your description. On page 4, for instance, you refer to the six younger children of William of Basseterre, whereas from the dates which you give of the deaths of two of these young daughters, they must obviously have been born before John, and you will notice in the chart therefore that I have put them in, in front of John; Susannah 1728 to 1729, and Martha 1732 to 1741. John is 1733 to 1815. I have tried also to get all the other members of the family in their correct place, but of course some may still be wrong because we have no date as to either the birth or death.
There is another family of the name of Julius in Australia who have been in the country for a great many years and who have always believed that they belonged to some British family. As I have always been told that we were the only family of the name of Julius in Britain, I have often tried to ascertain from these other people the names of some of their ancestors, so as to ascertain whether or not they could be linked up with us, and I have just learnt one significant fact. A very early settler in the Northern Rivers District of New South Wales, was a man named William Warner Julius whose father's name was Edward Julius and whose mother's maiden name was Margaret Warner. You will notice again the name William appears. Further also, it was a son of William Warner Julius who gave me these particulars, and he says that he remembers his father mentioning a great uncle whose name was Charles Fox Julius and whom he thought was a clergyman of the Church of England. It is most improbable that any other member of the name of Julius would also have amongst its members another Charles Fox Julius such as occurs in our family. On the other hand, from the information you have sent me, Charles James Fox Julius cannot have been an uncle or great uncle to any other Julius because he had no brothers, but there is often considerable confusion in families between second cousins and great uncles.
You remember also you mentioned that Julius Caesar Julius married and Susannah Kerr by whom he had three children Richard, Jenny and Lucretia, Charles James Fox being the son of Richard. You stated also the Julius Caesar Julius married a second time a widow named Susannah Brodbelt on 12 August 1769, which was according to the register at St George's Basseterre. You referred to the fact that from some other record you learn that Julius Caesar Julius was supposed to have died in 1744. By comparing dates it seems that that he cannot have died in 1744 because he cannot have been married much before 1750 if he was a younger brother of John who was born in 1733. It may be therefore that the record of his death is wrong and that he did in fact marry Susannah Brodbelt in 1769. If he had any children by Susannah Brodbelt then such children would be half-brothers to Richard, father of Charles James Fox, and their descendants might well have regarded Charles James Fox as uncle or great uncle. I mention this because it seems it might perhaps be worthwhile to determine whether there was such a second family.
Another point concerning which it would be interesting to get information, is regarding John the only son of the John who was president of St Kitts. This younger John you remember had two sisters, one who married Jedidiah Kerie, and the other Aretas Estridge. There seems to be no information regarding this younger John's birth or death or whether he had descendants. If he had then it would be quite possible that Charles James Fox might have been regarded as a great uncle, whereas he would in fact be a cousin of sorts.
I should very much like to be in England and to have the opportunity of taking somebody who could write shorthand to see you so that we might get a record of the interesting family history that you have collected. It seems such a pity that it should be lost.
The one outstanding fact on the completed Tree is the extraordinary uniformity with which the male members of the Julius family went off to distant parts of the Empire - the West Indies, India, Ceylon, Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
I feel of course as time goes on it becomes increasingly difficult to get hold of these past records, and now I have started on the job I should like to be able to make the record as complete as possible. If you know of anyone, or of any place in England where further records might be found and would let me know, I would set enquiries on foot so as to try and fill up some of the gaps. In the meantime I would be very grateful if, with the help of your daughters, you could look through this amended chart which I now send to you, so that before I again make the completed chart with all the subsequent generations, I may be sure that I have got the facts as correct as possible.
With kindest regards,
I am, your affectionate cousin,
G A G
PS I am also sending you four copies of the original chart, but these of course I will replace when I have the corrected chart completed.

Page 1 missing
-2-
Sir George Julius
21.3.35.
I have also been advised that the West India Committee, of Trinity Square, EC 3, possesses early books on the West Indies, and it is my intention to pay a visit to that office as soon as possible, and gather such information as may be possible. Unfortunately the terrible rush of the last few weeks has kept me here until well after most of these offices are closed, and it is for this reason alone that I have been unable to expedite the enquiry on your behalf.
This letter is being typed by Mrs Roberts, who I am pleased to say has been engaged to assist me for the next six months. You may well imagine that I am delighted to be associated with Mrs Roberts again, and I am only sorry that she is to be with us for such a short time.
With very kind regards to Lady Julius and yourself
Yours sincerely
A.W. Stuart Smith

A letter on this subject from Charles Francis William Warner Julius.
Kings Lynn
Kirribilli Ave
Sydney
19 July 1935

Sir George Julius
Sydney
Dear Sir
As I said I would I have written to my aunt and asked her if she could give me any information about my grandfathers family in St Kitts. She was very interested to hear of the records you have been able to trace, and thinks that, considering the size of St Kitts and the uncommon name, the two families must certainly be connected. Unfortunately she is in Melbourne at present (and will be there for some time) so that, though she has a number of old letters and so on at home, the only information she can give me is from memory.
My grandfathers name (as you probably already know) was William Warner Julius, his father was Edward Julius of St Kitts and his mother was Margaret Warner of (I think) Trinidad. My grandfather left St Kitts and went to sea while still in his teens - his mother having died and his father having married again. He never returned to the Island, but while still a very young man he came to Australia as a ships purser. He remained here at first growing sugar at Sunnyside near Brisbane but later in partnership with John Robb of Melbourne he built the sugar cane mill which is still standing at Cudgen, on the Tweed River - but all this is not much help.
My Aunt also mentioned Charles Fox Julius as a relative of whom her father had often spoken and whose name he gave to one of his sons. Another relative was a Church of England clergyman in St Kitts. She does not remember his name but thinks he was an uncle or great uncle of he fathers. The only other point was that she remembered her fathers brother Edward visiting Sydney when she was a small child.
This is not much, and may not be useful at all, but perhaps I shall be able to let you have a few more facts later.
Yours faithfully
Charles

St Mark's College
University of Adelaide
46 Pennington Terrace,
North Adelaide
September 2, 1935

Sir George Julius,

Dear Sir George,
I am forwarding the Handbook on St Kitts. The local historian is Mr George King, Post Office, Basseterre. He seems very pleased and willing to supply the information.
The following are the best research works, published fairly recently.
Higham C.S.S. "The development of the Leeward Islands under the Restoration 1660 - 1688. Cambridge, 1921.
Pitman F.W. "The development of the British West Indies 1700 - 1763". Yale, 1917.
Rogatz L.J. "The fall of the Planter Class in the British Caribbean 1763 - 1833" the Century Coy. New York, 1928.
Newton A. P. "The European Nations in the West Indies" 1493 - 1688. A and C Black, London, 1933.

The most interesting contemporary printed document I have encountered was Jeaffreson J.C. "A Young Squire in the 17^th century" 2 Vols. London 1878. This is of first rate importance as dealing almost wholly was St Kitts.
Books such as Higham and Rogatz contain detailed bibliographies. Higham deals particularly with St Kitts.
I must apologise for the delay in sending you this information. I have been very rushed with the work of the "Centenary History of South Australia" which some of us are editing.
With kind regards and remembrances,
Yours sincerely
A. G...... Price


A. W. Stuart Smith, Esq.,
Australia House,
Strand WC2
4 January 1936.

My dear Stuart Smith,
Very many thanks for your letter of the 24^th October which came to hand whilst I was away in New Zealand. I am afraid my enquiries have been an awful nuisance to you, and I am very grateful for all the work that you have done.
Whilst of course one would like to carry back a family tree as far as possible, if such can be done without much difficulty, I am not particularly worried about going a long way back, nor am I looking for a coat of arms. Before completing the tree, however, I would like to "tie up the loose ends". I am very grateful for the offer that Sir Gerald Wollaston has made, and I can quite understand that to make the kind of enquiry that he has in mind might easily cost a lot of money. I am not however prepared to spend very much in that direction.
There is, however, as I have mentioned to you before one group in Australia which it ought to be easy to trace. The people in this group are unquestionably related and whom therefore I would like to tie into the family tree, if it can be done relatively easily. I have every branch tied up, except this one. The representative whom I know is Edward Julius, who was for many years Conservator of Forests for South Australia, and he retired from that position last year. He has a good many relations in Australia, nephews, nieces, sisters and so on, but is singularly ignorant regarding his ancestry. His father came to Australia in the 1860s, his name being William Warner Julius. He was born in the Island of St Kitts, and for that reason therefore it is perfectly obvious that he must be related in some way; in such a very small island it is not likely that there would be two entirely distinct families of the name of Julius.
Edward Julius also told me that his mother's maiden name was Margaret Warner, also from the West Indies, and that she was related in some way to "Plum" Warner, so well known in the cricket world. "Plum" Warner's people also came from the West Indies.
Edward Julius's grandfather, who was born and lived all his life in St Kitts, was also named Edward. The only other fact that he can remember is hearing his father refer to a great uncle named Charles James Fox Julius. If any other proof were needed of relationship with our family, that should be sufficient, because there was a Charles James Fox Julius in our family.
I have actually given you all these particulars before in my letter to you of 31 January last year.
It is quite apparent that Edward Julius and his family are descended from Julius Caesar Julius, through Richard Julius, whose son was the Charles James Fox Julius previously referred to.
I know that the earlier records from the island of St Kitts were destroyed by fire, but I understand that these were the records of the 17^th and early 18^th centuries. It seems to me that the link between Charles James Fox Julius and this Northern Rivers family would be established by a mere inspection of the records of the late 18^th century and early 19^th century, and I expect that all these records are available on the island of St Kitts if not in London.
I do not propose therefore to do anything further in the matter other than if possible to establish this particular link, and to learn whether there are any members of Edward Julius's family still living in the island of St Kitts and if so, who they are. In other words, the data that I want is only two or three, or at most four, generations back. It may be of course, that the connection is through another "mesalliance" such seem to have been fairly common amongst my ancestry, though in those days I do not think this was peculiar to our family only!
If therefore you could just get some of this missing information, either in London or alternatively get some authority in the Colonial Office to get it from the island of St Kitts; or again, failing that, let me know to whom I might write in the island of St Kitts, to ask them to turn up the records for me, I should be very grateful. It is a pity just to leave the family tree with this one missing connection.
My wife and I had a delightful trip in New Zealand and I found my old father, now 88 years of age, still very well and still driving his motorcar.
I note that the Science Congress that was to have been held in London last September is now proposed for next September, and we have received a communication asking for recommendations on the matter. Personally I shall do all I can to arrange that Sir David Rivett should attend it, although I should thoroughly enjoy another trip to the Old Country.
Mr and Mrs Gervas Huxley are at present in Sydney, and I have been doing what I can to help Mrs Huxley to see all that is to be seen in connection with the work of CSIR, concerning which Mr McDougall wrote to Sir David Rivett. She went all over the McMaster Laboratory with me on Thursday, and I arranged for her to spend some days on Sir Frederick McMasters station at Dalkeith. She then leaves for Melbourne and Adelaide, where she will visit our laboratories, and on her return to Sydney, en route to England, she will go out to our field station at Hinchinbrook. Like most of these visitors, she is trying to see Australia in three weeks, but at least she will go back with some knowledge of the work of CSIR in which apparently she is very much interested.
Trusting that you and yours are well and with kindest regards from us both.
Yours sincerely,
G A J


His Honour the Administrator,
Government House,
Basseterre.
St Kitts.
West Indies.
10 January 1936

Dear Sir,
I am taking the liberty of writing to you, in an endeavour to obtain certain information regarding some of my ancestors, who for five generations lived on the island of St Kitts. I realise, of course, that you yourself will not be able to find time to deal with this enquiry, but as I know no one on the Island, I thought you would not mind referring it to some officer of your Government who might perhaps be able to look for and let me have the information I require.
Just a word or two as to myself. I am a Consulting Engineer, carrying on a practice for many years past in Sydney, Australia. I have, however, a great many activities outside my professional work, and have been (and am still) Chairman of the Commonwealth Council for Scientific and Industrial Research since it was formed in 1926. I am also Chairman of the Australian Standards Association; President of the Australian National Research Council; Past President of the Institution of Engineers, Australia; Chairman of the Australian Advisory Committee of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London; Honorary Lecturer at the University of Sydney, and so on. I was knighted in 1929, as reference to any volume of knighted will show.
My father is a Londoner by birth (incidentally I also was born in England, but have been in Australia for 52 years). He is still living, although retired, and was Archbishop and Primate of New Zealand. He is the senior Anglican bishop by consecration in the world.
My family for several centuries at least, has been established in England, although from the name "Julius" it is obviously of Latin origin, and the family must, at some early date, presumably have come from a Latin country. I shall very shortly become the head of the Julius family, which is one that has always sent its members, for many generations past, to distant parts of the Empire, the West Indies, India, Ceylon, Australia and New Zealand. For that reason members of the family are scattered all over the Empire, although I think the greater number are in Australia or New Zealand.
I have been asked by many of my relations in England to try to get together a record of the family, to build up, so far as possible, the family tree. This is not easy, with such a scattered family, but I have practically completed the tree. There is one link however which I have not yet established and the only place from which I am likely to obtain the necessary information is from the island of St Kitts.
The earliest known member of the Julius family settled in St Kitts somewhere early in the 17^th century. His name was John Julius, and we do not know whether he went over to St Kitts with Sir Thomas Warner, who founded the settlement there, but if not, he must have gone over as one of the very early settlers.
John Julius was married twice his only daughter Elizabeth marrying Thomas Westcott of St Kitts, and all we know about Westcott is that he was born in 1659. John's second child was another John, who was a Commander in the Navy, and who died in 1697 so far as we know without issue. His other son William (the first "William") was also a Commander in the Navy, was born in 1665 and died in 1698, and is buried in Westminster Abbey this William had a son and daughter. The son was named William (the second "William") and he was born at Basseterre in 1695 and died in 1752. He married Frances Mary Charles, of whom all we know is that she died in 1737. They lived all their lives in St Kitts. Of his only sister, Jemima, we know nothing.
The second William's eldest son was also named William and he (the third "William") was born in St Kitts in 1726. He lived there practically all his life, until he went to London in 1779, dying in 1780. He married Jane Smith Edwards of Jamaica, who was born in 1734 and died in 1823. He had several brothers and sisters. The next brother named John, was born in 1733 and died in 1815. He married Mary Wharton, and from the records he would seem to have been President of St Kitts and possibly also of Antigua on more than one occasion. John had two daughters and a son (John), but there are no male descendants as the son died early.
One of the daughters whose name was Ann Wharton, married Aretas Estridge in St Kitts, and I note from the "Handbook of St Kitts" written by Katharine Janet Burdon, that in 1920, in the parish of Christ Church, Nicola Town, there was a property of 902 acres owned by someone of the name of H W Estridge. Perhaps this is a descendant of the original Aretas Estridge.
There was a third brother, whose name was Julius Caesar Julius, who was born and lived in St Kitts, and was twice married. I will refer to him again later.
The eldest brother, the third "William", born in 1726 had a fairly large family, his eldest son being William John who was the fourth "William", born in 1755 and died in 1810. He was ordained and instituted by the Bishop of London to the living of St Anne, Sandy Point in 1781, and later to St Paul Capisterre. He never married. I understand that he is often mentioned in the Register of the Island as "officiating at baptisms" etc. He had estates which he left his cousin, Elizabeth Mary Julius, who had married Jedidiah Kerie, also of the island of St Kitts.
The next son of the third "William" was John Julius, who was born in St Kitts in 1763 and died in 1837. He married Susanna Frances and had two children, Henry, who died as an infant, and a daughter named Anne, born in 1801, of whom we know nothing.
The next son, George Charles Julius was born in 1775 in St Kitts, and when quite young he was sent to England, where he married in 1795. Subsequently he spent many years in India, where all the earlier children were born, and finally he died in England in 1866. Incidentally, he was Court Physician, I think to George III.
I am the senior descendant of my generation from this "George Charles" and as such will therefore ultimately become the head of the family. He was my great-grandfather. His third son, Frederick Gilder Julius, was born in England in 1811, and died in 1886; he was my grandfather.
From that date I know practically the whole of the traceable male members of the Julius family, with the exception of one group. There is living in New South Wales, at the present time, a family of "Julius", who settled on the Northern Rivers of New South Wales somewhere about the year 1862, and there are many descendants of the original settler who are occupying good positions in Australia. The family, however, seem to know very little about their ancestry.
I happen however, to have discovered two things. Firstly, that the Edward Julius who settled in Australia about 1862 came from the island of St Kitts, and was born there, and secondly that he had at least one brother who lived and died there. I also learnt that in his family he had uncle or great uncle whose name was Charles James Fox Julius, and there was a man of that name in our family. These two facts, birth in St Kitts, and such an uncommon name as Charles James Fox Julius as a member of both groups, makes it clear that this group is related to my own, but I have not been able to discover the "link".
Charles James Fox Julius, who died in 1872, was the son of Richard Julius, who in turn was the son of Julius Caesar Julius. As before mentioned, Julius Caesar Julius was born and lived in the island of St Kitts as also was his son Richard Julius. Richard Julius, however, spent a great deal of his time in England and was a personal friend of Charles James Fox, then British Prime Minister, who became godfather to Richard's son. Hence the name Charles James Fox Julius.
So far as we know, Richard only had two sisters, who did not marry. Also, so far as we know, he only had one son, Charles James Fox Julius, and a daughter. Concerning the daughter we know nothing. Charles James Fox Julius had a curious history. As a youngster he was sent to London and articled to a solicitor. When there, he had a quarrel with a fellow pupil, the son of this employer. He challenged him to a duel, and unfortunately killed him. As at that time duelling was illegal, Charles James Fox was hidden in England for a period, and then returned to St Kitts where he lived until his death in 1872. He married Barbara Louisa Amory, who died in 1866. It is said that owing to the circumstances of the duel he did not make claim to certain properties in St Kitts. He was consequently badly off himself, and left his children badly off.
So far as we know, Charles James Fox Julius only had two daughters, Ruth and Sarah, and one son, whose name was Abraham Whitehouse Julius. The latter was born in 1843 and died in 1865, I think in St Kitts. Of Ruth we know nothing, except that she was born in 1835. Sarah was born in 1837 and died in St Kitts in 1907, in great poverty. A relation in England sent me a long newspaper cutting which I think was published in St Kitts giving the story of Sarah's life and something regarding her antecedents.
From what I have said it is obvious that unless Richard Julius had another son than Charles James Fox Julius, or one or another of the two daughters married and the husband took the name of Julius he could not have been the uncle or great uncle of any Julius descendant, because he had no brothers, so far as we know; and yet this family in Australia have a recollection of a Charles James Fox Julius in their family, and they came from the island of St Kitts.
I am anxious to complete the tree, because the longer it is left the harder it becomes to collect the earlier data, and as stated, I think I have the story complete with the exception of this one link. I have therefore ventured to write to you, in the hope that possibly somewhere in the records of the Island one might find information which would give something regarding the earlier history of this odd branch of the family, who certainly came from the island of St Kitts, were living there at least earlier than 1860 (and I think some of them later) and who almost certainly descended from Julius Caesar Julius. I have tried without success to get the information in England; hence my letter to you.
We have been informed that it is not easy to get data regarding the earlier records of St Kitts, as many such records were destroyed by fire probably during the endless troubles between the British and the French regarding the early ownership of the island. I should have thought, however, that the records of the 19^th century would have been available, and I think the missing link between the two branches of the family, if it is to be found would be during that period.
I enclose a print showing the early members of the family, so far as I have been able to discover them, and I think that with this information and the matter contained in this letter it should be possible for some official in the Island perhaps to help me.
I trust you will excuse my writing to you but unfortunately I know no one living in that part of the world now. At the same time I am naturally extremely interested in the early history of the Island, and would like to get all the information that is available.
I have often thought of paying a visit to the Island on the way from Australia to England, as I believe it is possible to do so if one goes home via Panama, by leaving the boat at Panama and going to St Kitts via Curacoa. So far, however, I have not been able to spare the time.
I should also be grateful if someone could advise me as to whether there are any books dealing with the early history of St Kitts, of which possibly I might be able to obtain a copy in England or elsewhere.
My postal address is:
Sir George Julius,
Box 2653 E.E. G.P.O.
Sydney. Australia.
Again apologising for writing and worrying you on this matter.
I am,
Yours faithfully,
G A J


Government House,
St Kitts W I
6 April, 1936

St Christopher-Nevis
No 131/36
Your Letter of 10.1.36.

Sir George Julius,
Box 2653 E.E., G.P.O.
Sydney
Australia

Sir,
I have the honour to transmit to you the document in the annexed schedule.
The Administrator.
Minute dated 2 April 1936
Minute from Chairman Historic Sites & Records C/tee on the subject of the Julius family in St Kitts.
2 Copies of family tree of JULIUS family (returned)

It seems that I have been able to find the "missing link". The Julius family appeared to have been chiefly connected with the Cayon and Nicola Town districts some of them representing these parishes in the House of Assembly for a number of years in the 18^th and early 19^th century, but no record bearing on the family tree seems to be available there. I have however found in Basseterre certain entries in the St George's baptismal register that should settle the question of Charles James Fox Julius having a younger brother.
The entries are as follows:
William, son of Richard Julius and wife 6^th of July 1800
Charles James Fox son of Richard Julius deceased and wife born 27^th of July 1798.
Ann Susannah daughter of the above parents born 29^th of July 1805.
The two latter entries are under date 17^th of April 1807 which points to the probability of the two children having been born elsewhere and their births recorded in Basseterre after the death of their father. I think therefore that the New South Wales family may be traceable to William, younger brother of C.J.F. Julius. The last named was known as Fox Julius, he kept the school which my father attended. He is also reputed to have unwittingly blessed Basseterre by accidentally setting it on fire, and so causing it to be rebuilt on better lines. All the names that Sir George mentions, Estridge, Wharton, Whitehouse, Kerie, etc, are familiar to readers of our records. No charge has been made by the church for searching the records though there is a scale of fees therefore. Perhaps Sir George might forgive my suggesting that an honorarium to the church which is badly off might be his pleasure.
(Sgd) Geo. H. King
Chairman, Historic Sites and Records Committee.


His Honour the Administrator,
Government House,
Basseterre,
St Kitts West Indies.
2 December 1936.

Dear Sir,
I have the honour to acknowledge your communication of 6 April, the reply to which has been delayed owing to my absence from New South Wales.
I am very grateful for the information that you have sent me, and in reply thereto have written direct to Mr George H King, to whom you referred my enquiry. I have asked him to locate some further information for me, if he is able to do so, and I'm also forwarding through him a small honorarium to the church which made a search of the records.
Yours faithfully,
G.A.J.


Geo. H. King, Esq.,
Chairman, Historic Sites and Records Committee,
Basseterre,
St Kitts, West Indies.
Hand written note "Money Order 70384"

2 December 1936
Dear Mr King,
His Honour the Administrator of St Christopher-Nevis forwarded to me on 6 April last information in reply to my letter to him of 10^th of January 1936, with regard to certain family records in St Kitts. He also sent me a copy of your letter to him of 2 April 1936.
Replies to these letters have been somewhat delayed, owing to my continued absence from New South Wales. I am, however, very grateful for the information you have sent me, as it appears to go some way in clearing up the missing information regarding the various members of my family who were resident in St Kitts. It seems clear from what you have told me, that the Julius family resident in Northern N.S.W. and which came from St Kitts, must be descended from William, the younger brother of Charles James Fox Julius.
I much appreciate the trouble that you took in the matter, and also the Church authorities in searching the records, and I am very glad indeed to fall in with your suggestion that I shall send an honorarium to the church, in recognition of their help in the matter. I therefore have pleasure in enclosing here with a money order for the sum of L5. In this connection, I have not the faintest idea regarding the scale of fees usually charged for such work, and would be grateful for information on the subject from you, particularly as I am now anxious to have a further search made.
In my reply to His Honour the Administrator, I have informed him that I am writing you direct on the matter, as apparently in your position as Chairman of the Historic Sites and Records Committee you are the one whom I should approach on the matter.
I am now anxious to fill in the last gap in my enquiries regarding the descendants of William Julius, son of Richard Julius and his wife, born 6 July 1800. I am anxious to link them up with the William Warner Julius, who came to Australia from St Kitts somewhere about 1862. William Warner Julius was the son of Edward Julius, and his wife's maiden name was Margaret Warner.
I understand that the William Warner Julius who came to Australia and founded the family resident now in Northern New South Wales had at least one, if not more brothers, who, so far as I can learn, remained in St Kitts. I should judge that William Warner Julius in 1860 or thereabouts was a man in the early twenties. His father Edward Julius, was probably therefore a son of the William Julius who was born in St Kitts on 6 July 1800.
What I would like to get, therefore, would be a further record of William's life that is to say, the name of his wife, when they were married, and some particulars as to who his wife was, and the records of their descendants. So far as the descendants of William Warner Julius, who came to Australia, are concerned, I can obtain information here, but I am anxious to establish the link between him and William Julius, and particularly regarding his relations in St Kitts.
I would be interested to know whether there are any Julius's now resident in St Kitts; as stated above, I know that the William Warner Julius who came to Australia had at least one brother who was resident, so far as I can gather, in St Kitts. There may have been other brothers, and possibly also sisters.
As so often happens the family now living in Northern New South Wales seem to have lost all record of their relations in St Kitts, and I can obtain very little information from them regarding their family. The member of the family that I know best is Edward Julius, a man now of about 65 years who is the son of William Warner Julius, and who told me that he remembers his father mentioning that he had a great uncle named Charles James Fox Julius. If that was a case then William Warner Julius who came to Australia in 1862 must have been a grandson of William Julius who was born in St Kitts in July 1800. Edward Julius told me that his mother's maiden name was Margaret Warner and that she came from the same family as the Warner who is so well known in cricket circles in England. I believe the name Warner is also one that has been closely identified with the history of St Kitts.
Again thank you for the help that you have already given, and apologising for still further worrying you.
I am,
Yours sincerely,
G A J


G.H. King Esq.,
Chairman, Historic Sites and Records Committee,
Basseterre,
St Kitts. West Indies.
1 Dec 1937.

My dear Mr King,
I have to acknowledge your kindly note of 14 June unfortunately, mails between Australia and the West Indies are very infrequent, and letters take an unconscionable time en route.
I am sorry that you have so far been unable to obtain any further records of the Julius family in St Kitts. I cannot quite understand it, because undoubtedly a Julius came to Australia from St Kitts about the 1860s, or perhaps a little earlier and I know also that he left relations in St Kitts, a brother at least. Somewhere or other, therefore in some of the parish records, there should be mention of the birth of the various members of that family.
I have worried you a great deal in this matter, but the only link that I am now trying to establish is that between William, son of Richard Julius and his wife born on 6 July 1800, and the William Warner Julius who came to New South Wales somewhere around and about 1860, and who was married to Margaret Warner.
I also have a record of a Miss Sarah Julius, who died in June 1907. This record is an extract from the St Kitts "Advertiser" of 25^th of June, 1907. She died on the . . . June in the Cunningham Hospital, having died a pauper, or very nearly so. She was 70 years old, having been born in 1837 and was a daughter of Charles James Fox Julius, to whom you refer also in your letter of 2 April 1936.
The extract from the St Kitts "Advertiser" gives quite a lot of information regarding various members of the Julius family who were resident in St Kitts. The William Julius of whom you sent me a record as having been born on 6 July 1800, would have been an uncle of the Sarah Julius who died in 1907 there should therefore be somewhere a record of the birth of any children to William Julius.
I notice in the "Advertiser" extract that Miss Sarah Julius was buried in the Morovian Church.
Once I can get that one link between William Julius, born in July 1800, and Edward Warner Julius (who I think must have been his grandson) who came to Australia in about 1860, then I have the whole story complete.
Many thanks for the photograph showing said Thomas Warner tomb. The connection with our family is a very remote one, being only through the Edward Warner Julius who came to Australia in 1860 as his mother was a Warner.
I do not want to abandon my attempt to complete these records without just this last effort to see whether somewhere amongst the various parishes in St Kitts there may not be records of the link I am trying to establish. I can get here the story of Edward Warner Julius's descendants, who are all in Australia, but I know nothing of the brother of his who was said to have remained in St Kitts. Apparently the name has died out now in your part of the world, although there are a great many of the family in Australia and New Zealand.
Yours sincerely
G A J


The Julius Tote.
As mentioned George was an active inventor as was his father, but to understand the international significance of his invention of the automatic totalisator one must visit the magnificent work by Brian Conlon who has traced its fascinating history and operation from its start.
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~bconlon/index.html#intro
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~bconlon/atl.htm
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~bconlon/julius.htm
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~bconlon/ttopics.htm
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~bconlon/atljpg.htm
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~bconlon/gallery.htm

GEORGE JULIUS
By CHRIS MCCONVILLE
From Time Magazine
His electric totalisator transformed the culture of gambling, helping to bring a popular passion and its vast revenues under state control
Posted Wednesday, Nov. 03, 1999
On the first Tuesday in November, some of the world's most expensive horses will thunder down the Flemington straight in the final Melbourne Cup of the 20th century. Minutes later, even before the last horse has passed the post, state totalisators will have added up all the bets--last year they totaled more than $A110 million--and flashed up winners' dividends.
The automatic totalisator was invented by George Julius, a sometime locomotive engineer and the son of an anti-gambling bishop. It transformed racetrack betting worldwide. For unlike the bookmaker, who must set accurate odds to survive, the tote adds together all bets, deducts operators' percentages, and distributes the balance as winnings: it can't lose. Today many bookies are struggling, while totalisators are at the heart of vast state-backed businesses which harness the popular love of punting to help fill government coffers.
Julius was an unlikely catalyst for the gambling industry. His father, Churchill, arrived in Australia as Anglican archdeacon of Ballarat in 1884, when George was 11. Six years later he moved to New Zealand as bishop of Christchurch, where he earned a reputation as a fierce opponent of gambling. Churchill Julius liked to invent things--among them an automatic tea maker--and his son took after him. After graduating in mechanical engineering from New Zealand's Canterbury College, George went to Western Australia as a railway engineer. In his spare time he built a remarkably accurate vote-counting machine, which was promptly rejected by local politicians.
It was in Sydney, where Julius settled in 1908, that he was taken to his first race meeting. Struck by the eagerness of punters betting against primitive "jam-tin totes" (in which betting slips were placed in tins bearing the horses' names), he speedily converted his voting machine into an automatic totalizator. The first commercial model--a room-sized contraption of whirring wheels, pulleys and bicycle chains--was installed at Auckland's Ellerslie racecourse in 1913. Western Australian trotting tracks adopted the Julius tote in 1916.
Within a year, Julius had founded a company and converted his machines to run on electricity. He later adapted them to display changing odds and dividends and to accept doubles and place bets. By the late 1920s, the "Julius apparatus" had largely replaced the "pari-mutuel" (named for Paris, the city where the first crude totes appeared) at race tracks around the world. Julius himself supervised the installation of one of his totalisator's at Paris' famous Longchamp racecourse in 1926.
With the Depression looming, electric totes were also introduced at Melbourne racetracks. Here they allowed women, long excluded from the bookies' betting ring, to wager openly. The Julius tote at Flemington took its first bets on the Melbourne Cup in 1931, when 3-1 favourite Phar Lap struggled into eighth place.
On Julius' death, a Mrs. Ekberg wrote to the Melbourne Herald, claiming that her father-in-law, a Swedish-born doctor who had practiced in Canterbury, New Zealand, had invented an automatic tote. Julius never denied that others had preceded him. But he pointed out, correctly, that his electric machine was the first commercially viable one: only it was speedy enough to handle thousands of bets between races.
By the 1960s, the tote was no longer confined to the track but had expanded, in New Zealand and Australia, into a network of off-course betting agencies run by government-controlled Totalisator Agency Boards, or TABs. Today the tote is computerized and many TABs have become private companies, with boutique outlets where patrons can play gaming machines and punt on a variety of sports.
Streamlining the business of betting wasn't Julius' only interest. A tireless champion of applied science and scientific education, he took time out from running his company to serve as founding chairman of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, which became the CSIRO, and as president of the Australian National Research Council.
The egalitarian Julius, who counted building model railways among his hobbies, always referred to himself as a "simple plumber." In his many newspaper articles, he insisted that practical scientists could find solutions to all kinds of social and environmental problems, from prickly pear infestations to unemployment. Yet it was in the irrational world of gambling, driven by greed and haunted by superstition, that this rigorously rational man made his greatest impact.

Chris McConville is a senior lecturer in Australian Studies at the University of the Sunshine Coast. He is writing a book about the cultural politics of gambling in Australia From the Oct. 25, 1999 issue of TIME magazine

For more on the Julius Tote.
<http://tote-history-atl.net.au>

SALE; OF JULIUS TOTALISATOR.
LONDON, Saturday.
The "Morning Post " states that a syndicate has purchased the rights of the Australian Julius Totalisator, for a sum
in excess of six figures.
Ref: Daily Examiner (Grafton, NSW) Mon 30 Jul 1928

The Times Thursday 22 May 1930, ran a large article headed:
Totalisators Limited
History and Position of the Company
The Julius Machine
Effects of Stock Exchange Action
Attitude of the Betting Control Board
Major Cape's Review
The first ordinary general meeting of totaliser it is limited was held on Monday at Canon Street hotel London EC. . . . .
(The article reports on the history and finances of the Company then:)
Patents of Julius Machine Obtained
Realising that a company such as Totalisators Limited without any machine at all would not have much chance of being employed it was decided to obtain, if possible, the patent rights in this country of the best machine in existence. After careful consideration the Julius machine was found to be undoubtedly the best in use. Some of the then directors went to Paris towards the end of March 1928, and negotiations were entered into for the purchase of the patent rights of the Julius totalisator from Automatic Totalisators, Ltd, of Australia, whose representative was then in Paris, where their largest and latest machine had just been installed.
On April 11th 1928 negotiations were finally concluded, as the following copy of cable handed to one of your then directors by the vendors agent indicates:
"We will accept offer for rights Great Britain and Ireland L.100,000 together with half % royalty, annual minimum royalty L.2000; L.10,000 to be lodged escrow upon signing contract, balance of L.90,000 to be paid immediately Totalisator Bill enacted. . . . . . The matter must be finalised this week as we have other offers"
Five days later on April 16, 1928 the heads of agreement with the van door company were initialled by the respective solicitors. . . . .
However having obtained the rights to the Julius totalisator in Britain Totalisators Limited ran into considerable political and vested interests from the Betting Control Board and the Jockey Club who at the time of this meeting were actively excluding the Company from supplying the Julius tote at horse racing tracks in the spite of its enormous success at Longchamps in France.
The researcher is unsure whether this company survived, the Julius tote was first installed at dog racing tracks in Britian in the 1930's.

NZ Card Index
Auckland Library
JONES, Edward O.
Discusses Sir George Julius and the totalizator he helped to install in 1918 - machine is being given to MOTATp. 143 ASB. October 1964-
NZCI000183401.

5 April 2009
Powerhouse Museum Sydney
Jewel: George Julius and his Totalisator Model
listen now <http://www.abc.net.au/cgi-bin/common/player_launch.pl?s=rn/artworks_item&d=rn/artworks/audio/items&r=aks_05042009_1048.ram&w=aks_05042009_1048.asx&t=Jewel:%20George%20Julius%20and%20his%20Totalisator%20Model%20-%205%20April%202009> | download audio <http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2009/04/aks_20090405_1048.mp3>

Working model of an automatic totalisator
full image <http://www.abc.net.au/rn/artworks/galleries/2009/2533942/image.htm>
Today we're at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney with Matthew Connell, the curator of Computing and Mathematics. His Jewel is not so much an artwork as it is an invention.
It looks like an old-fashioned, ornate, carved wooden cabinet, the sort for displaying your best crystal, except that inside this cabinet there's a gloriously complicated machine with shiny brass knobs. It was built in 1914 and it's the world's first successful totalisator model. It was invented and marketed by Sir George Julius, who was actually trying to make a vote-counting machine, but found there was much more interest at the time in develping a machine to calculate the odds on horse races.
Show Transcript <http://www.abc.net.au/rn/artworks/stories/2009/2533942.htm> | Hide Transcript <http://www.abc.net.au/rn/artworks/stories/2009/2533942.htm>
Transcript
Amanda Smith: Today we're at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney with Matthew Connell who is the curator there of computing and mathematics, and his 'jewel' is not so much an artwork as a wonderful object and a world-first totally Australian invention. It looks like a small old-fashioned carved wooden cabinet, the kind you'd display your best crystal in, except inside this cabinet there's a gloriously complicated machine with shiny brass knobs. It was built in 1914 and it has a very specific purpose. To find out what it is we have to go down into the basement storage area of the Powerhouse Museum where we're surrounded by rows and rows of storage shelves. Here's Matthew Connell.
Matthew Connell: We're walking down this main aisle here, down the middle, and instead of going into the cages I want to draw your attention to these shelves over here on the right where we keep some of the larger items that don't fit into the compactors, and if you look down here to the bottom shelf you will see this beautiful item here which, to my mind, is one of the great treasures of the Powerhouse Museum.
It's the proof of concept model and the prototype of the first successful, fully automatic totalisator machine that was ever built. Totalisators aren't used often these days. It does refer to a machine and it refers to a system. I think the system is actually known as the pari-mutuel system and it's a system for betting. People don't usually see the word spelled out, but it's the T from TAB, the Totalisator Agency Betting. So the totalisator betting is an alternative form of betting to betting with a bookmaker. It was invented in the 1870s by a Frenchman, Joseph Oller, and he wanted to design a system of betting that excluded bookmakers. For some reason he took a dim view to bookmakers.
There were a number of devices that were devised to help with the tote system. Variously 'jam tin totes' they called them, where you would throw a marble into a tin for a given horse, but usually that was run by an army of clerks using blackboards, and it inevitably got behind, which meant that the payouts weren't determined by the end of the race. So sometimes they'd hold up the horse race, which annoyed people who hadn't been in that race. But if you ran the next race without having determined the payout for the previous race, you committed the cardinal sin which was not making a punter's winnings available to bet on the next race.
There was a bit of a race on actually to come up with a device like this. At the same time as people were coming up with systems to administer tote betting, there were quite a lot of machines and systems being organised for a number of. . . . .I suppose you'd call them information technologies. And the other one that if you looked at the patent records you see machines or devices for tote betting, and you also see devices for vote counting at the end of the 19th century, early 20th century.
The person who designed this machine, George Julius, he maintains that he was actually trying to design a vote counting machine when he came up with this mechanism, it's just that no government was interested in his vote counting machine. A friend of his, he said, told him about this other issue, this tote betting. Julius was actually the son of a bishop and maintains that he'd never been to the track before, but he went along and saw that the vote counting and tote betting were almost essentially the same thing, and so he adapted his machine to tote betting instead.
This beautiful model, it's done in brass and steel and it has a beautiful wood and glass case. No effort has been spared in making it beautiful. It's a lovely piece of precision machining. It would have to be in order to operate as effectively as it does. But it's also an object of desire. You can tell by the decoration that's gone into that timber frame that he wanted people to be impressed with it, because he took that around the world with him to find customers for his system.
He started building that. . . . .George Julius was a young engineer. . . . .he'd been working in Western Australia as a railway engineer, came to Sydney to work actually with a timber company, and he was building this model in his back shed in Woollahra between 1907 and 1912, that's when he completed this machine.
I always just like the idea that the tote was Australia's contribution to computing but I never really suspected that there was any direct link between the tote and developments in computing. But in 1996 there was an anniversary celebration for CSIRAC, Australia's first computer which is now in Melbourne at the Melbourne Museum, and we discovered, after bringing together a lot of the pioneers for the development of that machine, that David Myers who had established the Mathematical Instrument Section at CSIRO that has built this digital computer CSIRAC was in fact still alive. He was a very elderly man.
An historian from Melbourne, Doug McCann, went to visit him and interviewed him and asked him about his life, and he told Doug that when he was a 14-year-old schoolboy he'd attended a lecture by Sir George Julius, and Sir George Julius had demonstrated a machine, a small calculating machine, this machine in fact. And David Myers said he was so impressed by the lecture by Sir George that he left the lecture having decided to devote his life to research and development in calculation and computing.
I think he was well off, he was Sir George Julius by the time. . . . .by 1929 he was knighted. He established an engineering consultancy called Julius, Poole & Gibson, which was the longest-running private consulting engineer company in Australia. He was the first chairman of the CSIR, so he helped to establish the CSIRO. He was a foundation president, I believe, of the Institution of Engineers, so he's a very prominent figure in engineering and science in Australia during the 20th century.
Amanda Smith: Yes, other countries invent pneumatic tyres, the Spinning Jenny, the hydrogen bomb, and we invent a machine for betting on the gee-gees. Matthew Connell is one of the principal curators at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, and his favourite object, Sir George Julius' 1914 totalisator model, the world's first successful tote machine. It could have been used for counting votes but we had a much better use for it.

  Other Records

1. Pictures from George Julius Life.
Pictures over the years - third from left in hat from Time 100 Magazine (Australia) Oct 25 1999
George a subject for cartoonists
His Tote in model form
His Knighthood medal.

2. Census: England, 3 Apr 1881, 44 Milner Sq Islington London. George is described as a son aged 7 a scholar born Norwich Norfolk

3. Article on Sir George: by John Boland, 7 Apr 1945, Sydney.
JULIUS: TOTALISATORS, BEES, & DOGMATISM
By JOHN BOLANO
Sir George Julius: engineer, inventor and chairman of the Council "For Scientific and Industrial Research, proves that dogmatism pays providing you are right most of the time SIR GEORGE JULIUS, the son of an archbishop, never bets on horses because he doesn't . know one horse from another. Yet he invented an automatic totalisator that is used in most countries where men bet on horse races.
Nor is he a scientist (although now he has an honorary degree of Doctor of Science), yet he was chosen 19 years ago to direct scientific research in Australia as chairman of the Council for Scientific, and Industrial Research. And despite the criticism of people who expect Julius' scientists to solve problems as fast as his tote works out race dividends, his direction of Australian research has been as successful as his racecourse invention. The council's work has saved Australians millions of pounds. Julius thinks clearly and talks straight. He is assertive and dogmatic, and has a peculiar ability, for getting everything done the way he wants it done. This capacity of making a nuisance of himself till he gets his way is the secret of his success, and makes up for his lack of specialised scientific training. His chairmanship technique is his own. At board meetings no one can get a word in if Julius does not want it. He can very politely talk people down, and does not like changing his mind. One of his confreres on the C.S.I.R. said that he would convince the Almighty. There's a story, that a barman once said that no man wishes to argue; he merely wishes to state his opinion without fear of contradiction. That, definition sums up Julius. Julius speaks fast, just as he thinks fast, and people soon find it is useless to interrupt until he has finished his part of the conversation. He has a great memory for facts, and will throw in a prompt "No" if anyone's story digresses ever so slightly from the truth. He then proceeds to explain the facts. He is a jovial conversationalist. His wit and personality put new acquaintances quickly at ease. But he is dogmatic, and he knows it. He is as ready as his friends to talk about his manner. For the first 53 years of his life, Julius, engineer and inventor, played and worked with mechanical gadgets. For the past 19 years he has been among bees, bugs, sick cows, and bottles, until it is hard to say whether he is a chemist, an engineer, or a horse doctor. He remains by profession a consulting engineer, and, so his friends allege, a good engineer gone to the pack. He calls himself a plumber his friends call him a bug-hunter most other, people, remembering his tote, call him an inventor.
The word "inventor" as applied to Julius is misleading He thinks quickly in analysing a mechanical problem, and in seeing a way of overcoming it. He has a developed, ability of seeing things in his mind without laboriously putting them on paper. He has solved problems galore in a particularly natty and neat way. He is an inventor by reason not by intuition. His solution of a difficulty seems simple once it has been done. He makes it look easy. Other engineers wonder why they have not thought of it before. His genius lies in knowing which easy solution to use. Much of his "inventive" ability comes from his retentive memory. He remembers things accurately for years. In his office he will say: "I know I saw that in the third drawer 20 years ago", The thing is invariably found Where he says it is. People come to him with their inventions hot off the brain. It is not uncommon for him to say: "This is not new. I remember' seeing this somewhere 25 years ago." And after a search through books, sure enough, the invention is discovered. It had never been used. Some years ago he got the idea of making meshed, crinkled wire by machinery. He set towork to design a machine. It is now being used for the required purpose. He made a calculator which was used on the Maroubra Speedway for counting laps done, laps to go, and positions in the field. Recently he made a milling , machine without using a blueprint. However, his list of patents, is almost negligible. He invents for the fun of solving a mechanical problem. The auto tote, his masterpiece, illustrates Julius desire to invent and solve a problem. He wished this big gadget to work, just as he wanted - small gadgets he tinkered with to work. He succeeded. The commercial side had the least, if any, attraction for him. He is probably the only man who always wins on the tote. His dividends come from the company which makes and operates the tote. He has interests in new manufactures and new installations, and is consulting engineer and also a shareholder in 'Automatic Totalisators, Ltd. In addition, he receives dividends from his firm of consulting engineers, Julius, Poole, and Gibson, and £1250 a year as chairman of the C.S.I.R. Julius has always had one' hobby- his workshop. All his spare time, and a lot that is not so spare, is spent there. It is a model of order and neatness, with everything in its right place, down to the smallest screw in its labelled drawer. Much of his interest in engineering was inherited from his father, Churchill Julius, a clergyman. Even when Archbishop and Primate of New Zealand his father continued to play around with machines and tools and a treadle lathe which had come from the work shop of his own father. That lathe is now in Sir George's machine-shop at Killara. He tells how, at the age of five, he used to treadle it for his father generally doing no more than getting in his father's way. When over 90 Archbishop Julius drove his car 30 miles, to hold Sunday services. He was warned by the police for speeding when he was 87. His machine shop was the admiration of son George, who later modelled his own workshop on it. To know Julius is also to know his, work shop. It has helped to keep him saner than most scientists are considered to be. In it he has a telescope bearing the engraving, "Troughton & Simms, London." It belonged to his grandfather, and later to his father, who lent it to the explorer Scott for his voyage to the South Pole. "Of course, I know nothing about it," Julius says to you, as he proceeds to 'show you how it works. George Alfred Julius, who was born at Norwich, England, 72 years ago, was 11 years old when his father was appointed Archdeacon of Ballarat, Victoria. When George was 12 he went from Ballarat to Melbourne, and was educated at Melbourne Grammar School. In 1889, his father was appointed Bishop of Christchurch, New Zealand, and so George finished his education at Canterbury College, New Zealand University. He was the University's first engineering graduate. A fellow student at Canterbury College was Ernest (later Lord) Rutherford, who became world famous as the first scientist to disintegrate the atom. It was the New Zealand University which a few years ago conferred on Julius the honorary degree of Doctor of Science, in recognition, of his contributions to science. From New Zealand Julius went to Western Australia to become an engineer at Fremantle railway workshops. He also lectured classes for apprentices. His research study into Western Australian hardwoods is classic, and later, in Sydney, Julius was an authority on Australian timbers. In 1907 Julius came to Sydney as a consulting engineer Julius Poole and Gibson now hold a leading Australian practice of consulting engineers. It was in Western Australia that he invented the automatic totalisator. The Julius tote was not the first to count the bets on a racecourse. The French Pari Mutuel was established in 1872 by M,Oller. Fifty seven years ago a Mr. Ekborg installed a tote at Christchurch, New. Zealand. These hand-driven totes had many deficiencies They were slow, and did not indicate the odds. In Western Australia Julius had a machine for counting election votes. Someone suggested that he might adapt it to make tote machine. Julius asked what a tote was knew nothing of racecourses or betting. It was explained to him. The problem interested him from a mechanical angle.
The big defect in the existing, manual totes was that they were slow. The wheels generally took 20 minutes to stop revolving by that time even the slowest horse should past the post. It made fraud possible inside the tote. Stewards made a regulation that the wheels should be stopped, before the race started. Horses were then kept standing 20 minutes at the barrier. This was not a good tonic for race nerves, nor for the horses temperaments. In 1913 the first Julius tote was working in Auckland, New Zealand. The automatic tote replaced the manual tote. It was electrically driven, and fast. Bets were instantaneously recorded. A steward at the barrier pulled a switch the instant the race started. This automatically locked the whole tote. Fraud was impossible, and race nerves improved. In 1914 Julius made an improvement to the tote by making the issuing of tickets and the recording of the bet simultaneous On the first tote the tickets were pre-printed and permitted another kind of fraud besides wasting many tickets. The auto tote is the quickest ticket issuer in the world. The time between the printing of a ticket at the sales window and the recording of the sale on the indicator is less than a second. Adding units instantaneously record all the tickets sold, the total investment on each horse, and automatically the whole investments on the race. Until 1928 the odds were not displayed on indicators. The tote showed only the investment on the race, and the total investment on each horse. Bettors could calculate the odds for themselves. It was when Julius was in England in 1928 that the idea of indicating the odds came to him. He went to a race meeting watched people laying their bets. All betting was done with bookmakers. He imagined a tote machine on an English Course- a machine which did not display the odds. The humour of the situation dawned on him. He pictured the consternation among the conservative British punters when they were told if they looked up at one window they could see the total investment on the race. Another would tell them the investment any horse. To get the odds they would have to divide one into the other, then subtract the percentage for taxation, and the number they had left would be their dividend if their horse were fast enough. It would have been too much- for the British racegoer, who simply wanted to hear the bookie call the odds, 5 to 1 He knew immediately what he would get for a win what he would lose if his horse was too slow. Julius returned to Australia, and by ingenious invention adapted indicators to his tote. Bettors could see at any moment what the odds were on any horse. The tote counted the bets (added or "toted" them), then took of the tax, divided the investments on every horse into the total investments, and by a tape on the indicator showed exactly what a win or a place would pay. The mechanism of the odds indicator is actually very simple when we see how. It is based on a mathematical theorem of proportional sides in a triangle; which school boys know.
Today's tote is much simpler than the earlier ones. What is more it is fool-proof and fraud-proof. Fifteen years ago there was an error of five shillings in a total of £125,000 invested one afternoon at Randwick. But things have improved since then. Delay in displaying the exact price paid on winning or placed horses is caused by a compulsory manual check imposed by the racing authorities. Moreover, the officers at the scattered pay windows have to be notified of dividends
in writing before they pay out.
There are 83 Julius totes- 25 of these being in Australia. Others are in England, Scot land, Wales, Canada, New Zealand, South France, Federated Malay States, Burma, India, Ceylon Malta, Fhilippines, and the Straits Settlements
In 1926 the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research was formed. S. M. Bruce, then Prime Minister, asked Julius to become chairman and to select his own colleagues on the executive. He chose another engineer, W. J. Newbigin, and the Professor of Chemistry at the Melbourne University, Dr. (later Sir) David Rivett. It would be impossible to find a universal scientist, an authority on all the branches dealt with by. the C.S.I.R. Julius is certainly not an expert on every thing.

However, it is not so much his scientific knowledge as his ability to direct that makes him a successful chairman. He sticks to the things that he thinks ought, to be done, and has a faculty for seeing that all necessary strings are pulled together. He has a political mind, and knows beforehand who is for him and who against. The establishment of the National Standards Laboratory is greatly the reward of his getting something necessary done. Julius does not always get his own way. But it takes reason and great persuasive power to best him. Two members of the C.S.I.R., Sir John Madsen, Professor of Engineering at Sydney University, and Mr. John Tivey, chairman of the Australian National Research Council, can do it.

Dull council meetings have been brightened by a committeeman who, now and then, for diversion, sets Julius and Tivey against each other. Once Julius and Tivey debated with unusual vim. Only reason and convincing argument would do any good (short of strong language, which was barred). Witnesses say that the reasons put forward by both men were most convincing, and neither would allow himself to be led aside by any extraneous matter. Still the argument did not, wane. The verdict was given as a draw, for though they continued the discussion with even stronger arguments, it was observed that each had convinced the other, and was defending the case he had set out to oppose. The headquarters of the Council were in Albert Street, East Melbourne. A widespread and adaptable organisation was established, and six State committees were set up to avoid undesirable, centralisation. At the outset Julius and the Council realised that many difficulties confronted men on the land. Animal and plant diseases, water and soil difficulties required research. Individual farmers could not possibly solve these problems. It was different with industrial difficulties. Some large firms could afford to set up their own laboratories and experiment on mechanical and chemical problems. Work in primary industries was therefore of first consideration for the newly formed research council.
Julius divided its work into divisions dealing with plants, soils, insects pests or useful parasites - animal health, food preservation, and transport of foods. These continued for 12 years to be the main activities of the C.S.I.R. The executive was not expected to solve any of the problems. There were expert research officers trained in all specialised branches of science and engineering. One of the earliest problems set the . Council was provided by apiarists. They had been losing many of their swarms due to a disease in bees, and sought a remedy. Julius received a letter asking if the Council would undertake a study into the cause of constipation in bees. He tabled the letter before the executive. He glanced over at the other engineer, Newbigin, and pushed the letter towards Rivett. The joke was on him. He was a chemist, and should know something of bees and constipation. But Rivett came, to the surface quickly. Pushing the letter back to Julius and Newbigin, he said "This is where you two come in, it's a plumbing job." During those early days the Council had to put up with a lot of mistrust and occasionally open hostility. People wanted solutions swiftly, forgetting that research often took months and years. Once the Minister-in-Charge of the Council was asked by a farmer to have a piece of scientific work investigated. The Minister sought the opinion of Julius, who told him that the problem was beyond the resources of the Council. The Minister told the farmer that his request could not be met. "It has been declined by a competent authority," said the Minister. "What authority is that ?" asked the farmer. The CSIR. "Yes, two bloody plumbers and a pillroller." The work of the CSIR was ridiculed. The expense was regarded as a waste of public money. Moreover, results of research did not strike the popular imagination. Expenditure of £9000 to fight the menace of prickly pear was considered extravagant in the depression year of 1930. So, too, was £10,845 spent on animal health. The extinction of the prickly pear from Australia is one of the romantic tales in our history. The money spent to combat it has paid high dividends. In their fight against the prickly pear the Governments of New South Wales and Queensland received valuable assistance from research conducted by the C.S.I.R. About 100,000 square miles of Australia's best land (for the prickly pear grows only on good soil) were saved by the discovery that the insect cactoblastis cactorum would kill prickly pear. The C.S.I.R. had marked success in its first 10 years. Julius says that the control of blue-mould in tobacco allowed the development of tobacco in Australia. , Blue-mould had cost the export trade £100,000 a year. Checking black disease in sheep has saved pastoralists £1,000,000 a year. Investigation into the control of the sheep blowfly have been partly successful. This pest can cause a loss of £4,000,000 a year. Effective methods have been found for pre serving timbers from white-ants. Wheat pests have been lessened.
World-wide interest has been taken in the control in Australia of mastitis in dairy cattle. Losses have been considerably lessened. Control of footrot in sheep and improvements in the quality of wool by improved pastures will have a great bearing on the future of Australian wool and its competition with synthetic fibres. In 1937 the Lyons Government widened the activities of the CSIR to include secondary industries. This was fortunate for Australia then had a good background of technological developments at the outbreak of war.

War improvements in the technological field would have been impossible without those few years of research. When war broke out Australia was in a good position to get on with the manufacture of war equipment.
The original five divisions were increased to 12. Industrial chemistry, aeronautics, radio-physics, biochemistry, and general nutrition, and the National Standards Laboratory have been some of the additions. Information on much of this is secret, but Australia's advances- during the war in plastics, machinery, lubricants and bearings, aeronautics, and radiophysics need no advertisement. Investigations into rubber plants have been intensified during the war. Hundreds of different kinds of plants contain caoutchouc, with or without resins. The supply for the world came mainly from the plantations of Ceylon, Malaya, Netherlands East Indies, Burma, Thailand, and India, which produced 1,000,000 tons of rubber a year. The loss of most of these plantations has directed attention to other less known and less-productive sources.
There are in Australia, - particularly in Queensland and other parts of the north many plants, both native and introduced, which contain some caoutchouc. Of the many available plants present investigations are chiefly concerned with three cryptostegia, guayule, and taraxacum. Preliminary analyses for rubber content indicate that the percentage of rubber is of the same . order as that obtained in the U.S.S.R. High yields per acre cannot be expected. Seed is being tested.
These investigations illustrate the difficulty the C.S.I.R. has of showing immediate results.
Direction of effort has been Julius main contribution to all this. Generally it is he who has to battle for new funds, and getting money in lump sums is no sinecure. The National Standards Laboratory has been a branch of the C.S.I.R. nearer to his own heart than cattle-tick or blowflies in sheep.
The National Standards Laboratory at Sydney University was a recent establishment of the CSIR.
All its work so far has had a defence; aspect.
Examination of gauges and measuring equipment has . been its object. In England there is the National Physical Laboratory, and in America the Bureau of Standards. These keep national standards of measurement. Distinct from the National Standards Laboratory, and having no connection with the C.S.I.R. is the Standards Association of Australia. Julius was its chairman for 20 years.

It is necessary to set up some uniformity of standards to eliminate the multiplicity of types of products and materials due to the fancy of engineers. Julius will tell you that every water board had its own specification for water taps. There were in Sydney 11 different standard half-inch taps. There were needless different types of hospital supplies and products of all types. As yet there is no compulsion on engineers to use the standard gauges. So there is still much waste. Machines made in Melbourne, for example, cannot be fitted with parts made in Sydney. Some firms still make three or four different "standard" parts for use in different States. But the foundations for better' things have been laid. Julius too is a member of the Army Inventions Directorate.
He says that the percentage of good inventions submitted in Australia is about the same as it is in England or America. About six in 1000 are able to be used. People often make absurd suggestions, he says "Someone suggested we should freeze the clouds so that no bombs would drop through. He did not say how it was to be done." But Julius'administrative work with the C.S.I.R. dwarfs his other contributions to the world of realities.
His interest started from the moment he was asked to cure bees. Now in his capacity of adviser Julius is handing on to youngsters the knowledge that he has gained through years of experience. He likes helping others, particularly the young. Four years ago a model city, he had made was displayed in Sydney and Melbourne to raise money for charities. It had working canals, mines, railways, dredges, farmyards everything down to the smallest detail, all electrically worked by remote control. It represented years of labor, and an expert knowledge of engineering. He began it as a hobby to interest his sons, Awdry, Rod and Pat. When they were working in the shop they learned - wisely, enough - to anticipate what tool was required. Father thought fast, and his sons had to try to keep, a fraction of a thought ahead of him. It is no wonder the sons followed their father's footsteps. Awdry is now: consulting engineer in the firm. Rod, who was killed in a plane crash in 1937, had always been interested in aviation. He held an agency for the Taylor Cub, a small American machine. He flew around Australia in his Cub at the cost of a penny a mile. While travelling to an aerial display at Dubbo he became lost over the mountains, which were enveloped in cloud and crashed into the side. Pat, the youngest son, is also an engineer.
A long, severe illness last year has taken from Sir George some of his old robustness. "The doctors tried to explain to me what was the matter with my heart, he says, "but if they'd told me they wanted to grind the valves in a bit I might have understood them"
During his illness his workshop was out of bounds to him. . But Julius knows only one pastime. The best- substitute for his lathes was an immense jig-saw puzzle. He would spend hours cutting out and then piecing together a jig-saw of thousands of pieces. One measured about four feet square.
Workshop, jig-saws, cigarettes, and tea are now his vices. He used to be a heavy pipe smoker, but he is content how with cigarettes. The cigarette holder is a part of his profile. He is fond of reading and music, but prefers listening to music on the radio and gramophone at home to going out to shows. He is a home-lover, and attends public functions grudgingly.
In 1898 Julius married a daughter of Mr. C. Y O'Connor, the man who built the water pipeline from Perth to Kalgoorlie the only engineer in Australia to whom monuments have been erected.
Lady Julius is at present State Commissioner of the Girl Guides, a member of the Council of the Kindergarten Union, vice-president of the Lady Gowrie Model Centre, director of the board of the New South Wales Society for Crippled Children and honorary superintendent on . the executive of the Australian Comforts Fund. Her simple generous manner has added to the happy home life of the Julius family.
The Julius's home at Killara is built among trees and shrubs, and is surrounded by lawns and gardens. The picturesque property stretches 500 feet back from Stanhope Road. Every moment that Sir George can spare from his professional duties and from his workshop he spends in his garden. He enjoys listening to the birds. Of course, I know nothing about them," he will tell you, "but I love them just the same." Homelife is his greatest pleasure, but his public activities often take him away. As he sits in his study surrounded by his books, with their fly-leaves and margins well annotated he is watched from the walls by his bearded ancestors. His father died at 91, his grandfather at 97, and great-grandfather at 89. Their photos are a pleasure to him. Among them he is still a young man. He told me that he was not as strong as his forebears, because he has lived a more energetic life. He looks full of life and energy, and good for another 20 years. But he said that he is not what he used to be.
Knowing Sir George's persuasive powers, I did not say what. I thought because it would have been a contradiction. And no one contradicts Julius and gets away with it.
Ref: Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1931 - 1954) Sat 7 Apr 1945 Page 10
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/248011547?searchTerm=Julius%20dogmatism

Pictures that accompanied the above article:
Bishop Julius family
George in earlier years
Cartoons bottom one the Archbishop speeding in his car
George in his workshop Ref: Time 100 Magazine (Australia) Oct 25 1999
Plastcine sculpture by Australian Tanner
Part of the minature town George built for his family.
Julius tote at Randwick 1917.

See also <http://tote-history-atl.net.au>

George married Eva Drongsia Odierna O'CONNOR [578] [MRIN: 169], daughter of Charles Yelverton O'CONNOR C M G [1497] and Susan Laetitia NESS [12772], on 7 Dec 1898 in St John Freemantle W.A. (Eva Drongsia Odierna O'CONNOR [578] was born in 1878 and died on 5 Jul 1972 in Wahroonga NSW AUS.)