Baragwanath, George Ernest (1903 - 1995)

Baragwanath spent his entire working life with the Victorian State Electricity Commission, starting as a Junior Engineering Assistant and finishing as a deputy Division head. His particular area of interest was brown coal.

Born Ballarat, Victoria, 26 July 1903. Died 1 June 1995. Educated University of Melbourne (BSc 1927). Spent all of his working life at the Victorian State Electricity Commission: Junior Engineering Assistant 1922-34, seconded to the Fuel Research Station, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, London 1934-38, Scientific Adviser to the Agent-General for Victoria 1938, worked on the design and operation of the Richmond gas compressing station during World War II, after the war involed in an overseas mission which led to the Lurgi gasification plant under a new body, the Gas and Fuel Corporation of Victoria, the establishment of the Fuel branch of the Commonwealth Department of National Development and the establishment of fuel utilisation research on brown coal within CSIRO, deputy head of the Scientific Investigations Division in the 1960s, sharing in decisions in the establishment of the Herman Research Laboratory. In 1981 the Australian Institute of Energy established the Baragwanath Lecture/Award, which is presented at the AIE's biennial Coal Science Conference for individuals making major contributions to Australian coal science. Foundation Member of Royal Australian Chemical Institute. A large bequest to the University of Melbourne enabled the setting up of the Baragwanath Scholarship in Geology, within Earth Sciences.

• 'Baragwanath, George Ernest (1903 - 1995), Biographical Entry', in Bright Sparcs, 2001 edn, 2001, http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/biogs/P002546b.htm.